Helen about preventing Shark Strikes!

Source.

Have you seen this?

Shocking!

To be mentioned in the same article as those preposterous (bravo Megalobomb!) Shark repellent wetsuits is the peak of ignominy! But of course we are highly grateful for the plug, and for the equally honorable mention at 20:00ff in her podcast.

Thank you, very much appreciated!

But Helen has of course fallen into the usual trap.

Because with all due respect (!) for the concerned, those Shark strikes are actually totally irrelevant.

They are so incredibly rare, and the variables influencing them, so numerous and complex that any attempts at ever fully understanding, let alone fully preventing them will always fail. With a very few notable exceptions, those poor people that got bitten and sometimes killed did nothing "wrong" besides being in the wrong place at the wrong time - and nothing we will do will ever fully eliminate that infinitesimally small risk.

Obviously there are situations where the risk can be mitigated.

Wherever adequate and possible, ocean pools and Shark exclusion nets work 100%. Some technical solutions appear promising for protecting relatively small areas. Adequate, mostly common sense behavior and risk management can reduce the number of avoidable strikes, as could e.g. seasonal avoidance or even closures of known aggregation sites, etc.

Personal protection devices, not convinced.

Be it e.g. the Shark Shield or those darn wetsuits, they are ultimately untestable and quite possibly nothing more than placebos - but herein lays the danger insofar as the perceived protection may well lead to riskier behavior by their users.

Anyway.

Ultimately, it's all much ado about nothing.

Like Branson remarks, all the noise is actually counterproductive - and many, more savvy tourist destinations have learned that hushing things up may well be the best strategy. 

Because noise or no noise, cull or no cull, stripes or no stripes - people will continue to get bitten by Sharks.

And that's perfectly normal and as such, perfectly OK.

Podcasts - thank you Helen!

Helen Scales: unabashedly monstrous - and yes that is a link!

Yeah I know I know...

Three days and STILL no rant - but fear not, evidence is being collated! :)

But not now.

Good stuff has happened in my absence, and it needs to be mentioned first. Case in point, two rather brilliant podcasts on the BBC by the equally charming, witty and erudite Helen about her experience on the Fiji Shark dive. You can listen to them here and here, and the sharky bits are around the 22 and 27 minute marks, respectively.

Very nice, thank you! :)

Enjoy!

Shark Bait!

The BAD boyz and a shiver of researchers (and yes this is a link!).

Remember my announcement of dire consequences?

Alas, no such luck

I always wanted to throw one of those despicable splitters to the Sharks, and have even managed to lure him over to Pac Harbour - but alas, the Bulls didn't oblige.

So Joshua Drew has lived to split another day.

He will undoubtedly regale us with even more darn Damsels, the more as he has just returned from Vanua Levu with a bagful of fin clippings and pickled specimens - and to add insult to injury, he's even got the audacity to boast about it!

But there is always hope.

Joshua has threatened to return and if so, I shall ambush him again.

And that's a promise!

Shark Feeding - Part deux!

Helen and Fiji Bull Shark - pic by Michael Sealey of Biodiversidad Ibérica

Bless Helen!

Here is the second installment of her post.

I could not agree more - including the fact that there is a local effect, this however not so much precipitated by the bait that is actually all being eaten and mostly leaving Shark Reef in the stomach of the Bulls.which do not reside there. For them, those Tuna heads are just a snack, and not very nutritious at that, and I have no doubt that they continue to prey naturally and fulfill their ecological role in their habitat.

Like I said elsewhere, we are very mindful of our impact and have completely stopped any indiscriminate dumping of bait a long time ago. As a consequence, the composition of the Fishes has changed from a rather low species count of 260 that was being dominated by small scavengers and predators, to now 480+  that is highly representative of any (non-fished) fringing reef along one of Fiji's principal islands.

The effects I detect are more behavioral.

Juerg is writing a paper on the subject, so I don't want to preempt his findings on the subject, the more as I'm yet to see any draft. 

But apart from the obvious conditioning whereby we are actively teaching our Sharks to behave in certain ways, I believe that I'm observing inter-specific aggression all the way to competitive exclusion among the various Sharks. And also believe that we've interfered with the diel patterns of at least the Whitetips that are usually crepuscular but on Shark Reef, leave their hidey holes to come and feed at midday. 

But at this stage, I'm obviously speculating, and Juerg will also need to answer the question of so what - even if there's an effect, does that necessarily mean that it is bad?

Anyway, thank you Helen!

Her endorsement is far from trivial.

For years, Shark provisioning has been the target of much skepticism from researchers and NGOs alike, and only recently do I detect a slight shift in positions away from outright hostile to at least benevolently intrigued. This is largely due to the realization that baited Shark tourism, whilst certainly presenting its specific challenges (especially when conducted poorly!) is never the less  years ahead of the alternative = Shark fishing. 

And recent research is also showing that whilst local, hitherto unqualified and unquantified effects persist, effects at large temporal and spatial scales are negligible. 

Sharks, it appears, are just different.

Whilst bony Fishes show all the typical negative effects of conditioning that lead to the well known numerous bites by Groupers, Moray Eels all the way to those notorious swarms of pesky Sergeant Majors, Sharks simply don't do that - that is, provided that who feeds them does so responsibly, see the reports about beggar Sharks from, say, Tiger Beach!

Long story short?

Come and see for yourselves - this is still the top season for high numbers!

So, what are you waiting for!

Will feeding Sharks teach them to associate People with Food?

Source.

That is indeed the question!

Behold Helen Scales' cliffhanger blog post!.

Helen obviously made it, just, or she wouldn't be blogging - but what about the BAD boyz and the other customers on that dive?

Aahhh the unbearable suspense!

Anyway, it has been a real pleasure meeting her.

The term that comes to mind here is Renaissance woman: seriously erudite but not at all geeky, seriously passionate but not at all dogmatic, extremely well documented about the details whilst aware of the big picture, foremost of which the realities of the anthropocene - and seriously witty and charming to boot! Were it not for her decision to associate herself with a bunch of despicable splitters (and here!) I would have really liked her!

But I'm digressing as usual.

With bated breath and whispering humbleness, eagerly awaiting Part 2!