Shark Eco Tourism in South Africa - Action Alert!

Please read this.

Wilfred is one of the real good ones.

His venerable Marine Dynamics stand at the forefront of South Africa's Shark Conservation, Tourism and Research and as such has been nominated to be the only GSD member from that region.

With that in mind, please sign this petition.

Contrary to many others, this one is very much linked to action on the ground whereby your signature will most certainly assist the local Shark diving operators in making their point when they will meet with the local authorities.
More here.

This is urgent.

Please, do sign, and re-post on your social media.

Thank You.

 

GWS hunting Strategies - Paper!

Marine Dynamics, serial enabler of good research! Source.

Very nice!

Check this out!

No need to write a synopsis as it is open source and also, because there are really nice ones here and here. Great to see that this is once again brilliant research that has been facilitated by Marine Dynamics, a proud member of Global Shark Diving!

And the take-away message of it all?

What once again strikes me, is how behavior is being mediated by the environment (= climate, geography, habitat but also occurrence and/or migration of prey etc) but also by factors like gender, age and of course, individuality - and this all within one and the same species! 

And yes I'm very much repeating myself!

Incidentally, that's what we very much experience here.

We basically conduct two types of feeding, i.e. by hand and from a suspended wheelie bin - and over the years, we have observed that each feeding modality has created its own Shark tribe, with only extremely few individuals switching from one source to the other. In fact, when we briefly discontinued hand feeding after the passing of Rusi, some of the hand feeders appear to have wandered away, only to slowly start coming back once regular hand feeding was resumed.

Maybe individual Sharks learn a preferred strategy early on and then continue favoring it as long as it works, which would also explain why some of the cage dive operators report that the same individual GWS appear to attack the teaser baits always in the same way.

But of course all is relative.

These are trends and not absolutes, meaning that in all likelihood, behavior happens along a continuum and very likely also evolves as prey wisen up and circumstances changes. Plus, Sharks with wide trophic niches are also likely to dispose of an equally wide array of predation strategies.

But I'm digressing as always.

Great paper, and well done to everybody involved!

Marine Dynamics awarded!

Source.

And I cite. 

Marine Dynamics provide very high quality shark cage diving experiences.
They operate in a sector where there is rightly a lot of criticism of current practice. Marine Dynamics are industry leaders, a commercial operation which operates to the highest conservation standards, where every trip has a marine biologist aboard to provide interpretation and collect data for scientific research. An operator that makes a significant contribution to conservation and the local economy.

Of course we knew that already.

Marine Dynamics is a proud member of Global Shark Diving, and those are precisely the principles that guide all of the GSD Shark diving operators.

Huge Congratulations!

Marine Dynamics joins GSD!

Source.

Behold!

Funny how this has come about.

GSD membership is usually bestowed by invitation, and I happen to be MD's patron - and I can tell you that what really did pique my initial interest in the company has been Michelle's gleeful deconstructing of all those moronic opines posted on that GWS Facebook page during the South African OCEARCH fiasco!

But of course I've since done my due diligence, and the overwhelming majority of the opinions by people I respect agree that this is quite probably the only South African GWS operator that truly walks the talk and that fully matches our three guiding principles of safety, research and conservation - and this in spades!

For the mossbacks among you - this is André's original company.

Via the Dyer Island Conservation Trust he has founded, Wilfred has since turned it into an integrated tourism and research facility, much like BAD. Should you want to know more about the pleathora of rather stellar initiatives they are involved in, please consult MD's website, maybe best starting with this page.

Very impressive indeed!

Anyway, a big welcome aboard!

And it's obviously not over yet - next stop Micronesia! :)

Dyer Island Conservation Trust - brilliant Outreach!

Check out this short documentary!

Great job!

I've been quite a fan of Michelle Wcisel and by extension, of the DICT and Marine Dynamics ever since discovering her comments on that moronic GWS FB page where she took it onto herself to gleefully and charmingly deconstruct the brain dead musings of the bunch of dipshits with an opinion and a keyboard and of the dottor dala Pavesi.

But I'm digressing as usual.
This is as good as it gets and I invite you to take the time and really have a look at the brilliant work by the DICT, and to peruse her GW blog there. Incidentally, one post links to the infamous Ocearch tracker page and although I remain concerned about publishing those tracks, I must say that I'm never the less quite impressed by the technical aspects.
And the plug for Volkswagen? I say, good on them for having landed a corporate sponsor away from the usual NGO funding sources!

My only grievance?
No teeth, blood and gore and above all, no bikini bimbettes!
Shocking!

Very much looking forward to many more such productions as announced here!
Kudos!

GWS Diving - Infographic!

Still my favorite Shark cage pic! Source.

Just got the following.

Dear DaShark

Shark Cage Diving is fast becoming the number one Extreme Travel Adventure and most talked about outdoor experience, and South Africa the best place to do it.
As a result, Marine Dynamics would like to share this awesome Infographic ‘The Great White Shark Cage Diving Hotspots of the world’ as well as a once in a life time opportunity. The infographic shows the few places in the world where people can safely shark cage dive with great whites. It includes a competition with a prize to the value of R25 000 (US$ 3400) and the possibility to enjoy a ‘Luxury Shark Cage Diving Adventure’ in sunny South Africa.
And-so-on-and-so-forth...

It's obviously a marketing gig for Marine Dynamics.
Now, were I to go GW cage diving, I'd go to Lupe - this because of the viz, because of the cool cages all the way to the SPSC and because I got friends operating there. But I'm posting this anyway, because the graphic is cool, because MD supports the excellent Dyer Island Conservation Trust but above all, because MD employs Michelle Wcisel who has impressed me by taking on the dipshits with an opinion and a keyboard!

You can click on the graphic to view the animated version.
Enjoy!