Broadreach - Trip Reports!

Source.

Wow.

Time sure flies!

Broadreach are once again in town with their incomparable sharky High Scool and College summer programs - and having checked, it very much looks like this may well be year 11 in a row!

Just amazing - and still as rewarding!

And like always, there are trip reports!

College here - and here are the High School reports inclusive of the awesome news that after a three-year hiatus, our incomparable friend Lindsay is gracing our shores for the fifth time, undoubtedly in order to check on her beautiful and sweet yet always feisty and badass namesake!

Enjoy the great reports!

 

Beautiful and Peaceful!

And I cite,

Desmond Ng I knew so little about sharks before I came here... they are beautiful and peaceful creatures :)

And THAT is why we do it.

Norman the Nurse Shark - Kickstarter!

Source - watch it!

Damn.

It sure is a creepy world out there!

So to make things perfectly clear, Duncan, no spanking  for you!

Anyway.

Check out the video.

This is, again, great stuff. 

Although I'm not generally a huge fan of those micro-NGOs doing nothing but awareness & education (= instead of having amateur enthusiasts go visit school classes, wouldn't it be more rational to advocate having it included in the official curricula for it to be taught by the pros?), Jillian's science-based Sharks4Kids continues to go from strength to strength and is definitely the cream of the crop.

Plus, I just like those folks, so there.

Here's the kickstarter page - please, if you can, give generously.

Thank you.

Sharks4Kids - Great Hammers!

Source - read it!

Nice!

Not the video - the music!

Just kidding (tho I love dubstep) - once again Duncan excels as a shooter, and Jillian excels as an educator.
And those Sharks are just fantastic! :)

Enjoy!

Luke - Sharks Don't Scare Me!

Just got this in the mail.

Happy 2015! 
Help me launch my first children's book series

G'day!! 
Looking into 2015 I'm very excited as I'm launching my first children's book series!

As you know, I've spent most of my life traveling and working on the ocean as a scientist and TV presenter. Sharks have always been a huge part of my career as has promoting education and science to children so the first book, 'Shark Don't Scare Me', seemed an appropriate place to launch my series.

Pre-order now at over 15 % off list price

The 'Aquatic Aussie' is an adventurous character that will introduce children to his amazing world while making friends along the way. Beautifully illustrated, the series is written for children of all ages and promotes a healthy fascination for the ocean, its animals and the scientists that commit their lives to the pursuit of knowledge and conservation.

Now, as you know, the publishing world can be tough, so for this book to be successful I need your help.
Please click on the provided "Buy from Amazon" link to pre-order your copy at a heavily discounted price. I would also be grateful if you would share this email with your friends.


By supporting my dream I will in turn make the commitment to continue to create educational and fun literature for your children and the young at heart. Thank you so much for your support, I wish you a happy and successful 2015!

Sincerely
Luke Tipple

Pre-order now at over 15 % off list price
Outside USA? Pre-ordering is currently not available outside US, please purchase on Jan 7th as first day sales are critical to a books success!

I say, buy buy buy!

Thank you!

Imagine then, an Ocean without its Monsters; loveless and boring.

 And I cite.

After fishing out the big sharks from the east coast waters, either through fishing methods that involve a lot of bycatch like long lines and gillnets, or through targeted shark fisheries, the ecosystem changed.
In the absence of large predators, a sizeable population (for which we had no fishery) of adorable cow-nosed rays began foraging in the eelgrass for their preferred shellfish food. I don’t blame them. It would take very little to convince me to rummage face-first in the mud for fresh scallops. The mechanical disturbance of foraging rays to the eelgrass, uprooted those plants. The habitat for all of the invertebrates and fish that need it for shelter was lost. By that same token, the rookery habitat for the juvenile fish for which we had our own fisheries was lost; damaging the fisheries and our economy. Our fishery economy was further damaged by the loss of shellfish to ray predation. Without shellfish to filter the water, pollutants were retained and plankton bloomed, causing a depletion of oxygen and creating dead-zones and poor water quality.

Plankton bloomed?

I like this guy - for obvious reasons!

I've found his long 5-part treatise about Sharks, from trophic cascades to Shark strikes, by pure serendipity when searching for a picture of a PSAT tag. Please do take the time to read it in its entirety, from first to fifth post as it is really as good as it gets - highly entertaining, intriguing, exhaustive and remarkably erudite.

Fifth post here, with links to the preceding ones.

From what I understand, the author is likely Chris Reeves - this guy.

In any case - kudos, well done!

Goin' College!

Great picture, huh?

Taken with a tiny pocket camera by one of this year's junior Academics!

A very gracious post by Patric (Thank You!) has just reminded me that this one of our most stunning and rewarding success stories.
Not only because this is apparently one of Broadreach's most popular programs and thus likely to run for many years to come; not only because of what we are obviously able to achieve in terms of creating future Shark Protectors by changing perceptions; not only because it dovetails so well with our holistic approach and is so much fun and such a welcome change of pace, especially for our more junior staff - but very much also, because it is the brainchild of one of our very own BAD Girls!

Tiff (she's gonna kill me for posting that link...) joined us as a volunteer in the Marine Park Project when we opened our doors in 2004, but then had to make a decision for a "real" job and opted to go and do what she likes most, and that is, to work in Marine Education.
Nobody could have been better qualified to set up this specific program - but it still took months of dogged groundwork in order to hammer out the curriculum and above all, to convince a skeptical Board that putting some Teenagers in front of huge predatory Sharks was not the apex of total and utter lunacy!

And look at it now!
With the Teenager program thriving, it is even being expanded to College Students!
More "academic' in scope, the new curriculum will undoubtedly benefit from the presence of our very own Marine Scientist Eroni - and vice versa! And are we already discussing a further expansion into a year-round multifaceted program comprising proper internships and the like?
Most certainly!

Tiff, again, well done! I'm impressed!
Very much looking forward to it all!
 

Olympic Shark Savers

The Beijing Olympics are less than two weeks away and the celebrations will undoubtedly include thousands of portions of Shark fin soup.

This dish is one of the principal causes for the global extermination of Sharks, at a staggering rate of somewhere between 40 and 100 million killed every year. As a result, the numbers of some species have dropped by as much as 80% over the last 50 years, with devastating consequences for the ecosystems they once lived in, where the food chains and the fisheries depending on them are collapsing .
A comprehensive and chilling summary of the Global threats to Sharks can be downloaded here.

Much of the trade in Sharks' fins is derived from fins cut from living Sharks; this process is called finning. Because Shark meat is worth much less, the finless and often still-living Sharks are thrown back into the sea to make room on board the ship for more of the valuable fins. When returned to the ocean, the finless Sharks, unable to move, die from suffocation.
Apart from being wasteful, the practice of Shark finning is brutal, cruel and unethical.
In case you've never seen it, you may want to watch the following clip.

Many Shark diving operators like us are trying to buck the trend via Sustainable Tourism, Habitat Protection , Education and by sponsoring Research, often with help from NGOs like in our case, the Shark Foundation and Save our Seas Foundation.
Other more powerful organizations operate mainly via media campaigns and by influencing legislation. Two of those, WildAid and Oceana have captured the occasion by airing a series of smart video clips featuring two of the best-known, and most charming American Olympic swimmers.
We say: Well Done and Good on You!

Here is Tara Kirk.



And here, Amanda Beard.

Shark Studies in Fiji

Winter has finally arrived along with balmy breezes and fabulous visibility - and our junior staff have suddenly turned on their very best behavior and sharkiest smiles.

Yes, Academic Treks' yearly gaggle of junior Shark aficionados have descended upon Pacific Harbour and Andrew is bracing himself for the usual mixture of adventure, charm, chaos, giggles and broken hearts.
May the Fun begin!

But seriously, welcoming a group like that could not be more rewarding.

When James, our senior Staff and I decided to embark upon this wonderful adventure called BAD in 2004, we agreed that our Project was to hinge on: Conservation, via the establishment of several Marine Protected Areas like Shark Reef Marine Reserve, the Fiji Shark Corridor and very soon, Combe Marine Reserve; Sustainable Tourism, via the direct involvement of the local Community and direct village payments to the tune of more than 30,000.00 dollars each year; Shark Research, by providing for the logistics and access to an ideal location allowing for largely uniform, predictable and safe encounters.

And Education.
In that regard, nothing quite matches the satisfaction of being allowed to transmit our love and awe of the Marine Environment to the next generation.

Locally, we try to achieve this via our Village Project where we train up, and hopefully then employ, three young prospects each year. Our Watisoni, Tubi and Peni are of chiefly stock and will once become leaders in their villages; Lo and Sivo are the daughter and son of native fishermen. All of them have already had a huge impact in their villages, by changing perceptions and helping to convince their communities that sustaining our Conservation efforts is in their very own best interest.

On the client side, we believe that anybody experiencing our Shark Dive will already leave with a new understanding and respect for those magnificent animals, this completely without the need for overzealous brainwashing from our side. For the more motivated, we also run special Shark Weeks where a select few can interact with scientists and contribute to their research.

Academic Treks' Shark Studies however go well beyond that, and we're proud in having been able to play a role in the development of the curriculum. On top of the fantastic diving and active participation in our ongoing research and conservation projects, it encompasses lectures in Shark Biology, Ecology and Conservation, but also village visits, cultural immersion and a great deal of sightseeing, relaxation and pure and simple fun. After last year's successful pilot project, the current program is already off to a great start.

Curious? If so, you may want to vicariously follow the kids' latest adventures through their daily web journal (click here for SS21) and check out their Fiji video.

Enjoy!