The Speedo Man Controversy - Interview with Pelagic Life!

Source.

Remember?

Yes I did rant - but not much, at least not by my standards.

Even before meeting them personally, I had developed a lot of respect for Pelagic Life and didn't want to go down too hard on inherently good people who had obviously decided to set themselves a challenge and go where nobody had gone before, i.e. to do the first cage-less night dive with GWS. The speedo stunt was just that, a boisterous stunt, with the principal sin being that Rodrigo should have just enjoyed the personal experience and refrained from putting those images online. 

But having once been young and a thrill seeker myself, I do understand.

But now the speedo man has gone global.

Even after some amendments (yes believe it or not - this would be the amended version!), the piece continues to be ugly and stupid, and is tarnishing the brand that Jero and friends continue to build so carefully and so intelligently - and with some major donations and a major push forward at stake, this has now become a serious problem.

I've talked to Jero and it's obvious that he has been shafted.

But don't take it from me but hear it directly from the horse's mouth. I know this is the truth, and my full support for Pelagic Life remains unchanged - provided, that is, that the lessons have been learned which I don't doubt for a second!

Hola Jero.

My-oh-my, what a mess.

What has happened?

The article published by Mail Online (UK) is the single most disastrous publicity fiasco Pelagic Life has gone through. For the last few days half of the members in Pelagic Life have been in crisis mode to resolve this situation as swiftly as humanly possible.

Let me explain what went wrong.
Pelagic Life was contacted by Barcroft Media (UK), who wanted to publish an article about great white sharks in Mexico. After several conversations we agreed that the article had to contain some critical components before we agreed to sign off the media content:

• This was not an article to promote the general public to pursue out of cage diving with great whites 
• Professional images where to be used throughout the article
• Sharks where not to be demonized in the article
• In the article the purpose of the expedition would be illustrated: The purpose of this expedition was to capture unique underwater images in order to show Mexicans the existence and relevance of a top ocean predator in their country.

Barcroft Media returned with a news article proposal [1] containing a “decent” fit to our parameters, you can even find proof of our initial intentions here.



Two days later we are greeted with an entirely different story and get completely screwed over.
We quickly contacted Barcroft Media [2] stating the fallacies of the article and the major misalignment in our initial agreement. By which they responded by basically saying someone screwed up and sorry, but it wasn’t Barcroft Medias fault [3]. They promised that the original article would be amended but the amended version is essentially as bad as the original.
Currently we are asking Barcroft Media for the full retraction for lack of copyright and breach of contract, hopefully they will react swiftly to remove the article.

Lesson learned - at an extremely high price:
Never trust sensitive underwater images/stories to someone who has absolutely no interest in what you believe in

And those images of the speedo man?

In hinsight, we should not have published them as they are simply too controversial and distracting.

We also made a terrible judgment call by sending bundled video clips which allowed Barcroft Media to snatch certain frames to make the infamous speedo photos. The negative impact these frames brought about have taught us a serious lesson.

What’s next?

• Don’t expect to ever see those speedo photos again
• Pelagic Life will continue to produce underwater media (photo/video) to inspire protection for pelagic life. Furthermore we will continue our grass roots initiatives to protect open ocean marine life in Mexico.
• If you want to see the details of those e-mails [2] and [3] mentioned above, email me at jero@pelagiclife.com

Thanks- all clear now!

Long story short?
No goo deed goes unpunished.
Control your media - and never, ever, hand them to somebody else!
Especially not to those lying bastards in England!
David? :)

[1] Barcroft Media proposal 

COMING face to face with a great white shark is most swimmers worst nightmare. 

But these divers are happy enough to float within touching distance of the powerful predators. 

The incredible images were captured by Pelagic Life, a non-profit association which aims to promote ocean conservation by capturing all of its beauty on camera. 

The eye-opening encounter unfolded in the warm waters off the Baja Peninsula in north-west Mexico. 

Videographer Jeronimo Prieto, 27 said: "Having an animal that size let you enter its natural habitat was a humbling experience. 

"These animals are truly majestic creatures. And having the opportunity to share space with one of them was a dream come true. 

"The conditions were perfect. 

There was no current, excellent visibility and a single, calm male Great White Shark." 

They had been filming from the safety of a cage before plucking up the courage to swim freely with the world's largest predatory fish. 

But with years of underwater experience Jeronimo, and fellow divers and photographers Rodrigo Friscione, 30, and Eduardo Martinez, 32, knew they could not let their guard down for a second. 

"In a situation like this, non-one can feel completely comfortable," said Jeronimo, 

"While in the water we constantly watch each other's back and utterly respect the nature of the situation. "The three of us had to be completely on guard and extremely conscious and aware of every single move the shark made. 

"Anybody who undermines the seriousness of a situation like this is likely to run into trouble."

Jeronimo, from Pelagic Life, hopes these stunning pictures will inspire millions to better appreciate the world's oceans - and its sharks. 

"I think the more people swim with sharks, the more they learn to appreciate the shark's beauty and their importance to the ecosystem," he added. 

 "Thankfully sharks are slowly getting back the reputation they deserve."

Media Fail

I've said it before, we need to be credible.
This is especially true since we lack the institutional power to sanction the changes we seek but instead, need to convince others of our viewpoints.

That includes the media we produce.
WildAid and especially, SOSF understand that and have produced some stellar PSAs. Oceana regularly produce excellent pro-Shark publications, latest of which this one for the CITES convention in Doha.

This however is pathetic, sorry.
What is it anyway: Greetings from the Doha Summer Camp??
Exhilarating???



Is this indicative of the caliber of the Oceana delegation?
More about this once the conference is over.

Stupid!

Remember Hanlon's Razor?

That's what came to mind when I first viewed the latest Shark Diving Industry fiasco on Underwater Thrills (kudos for their post, well thought and well said!).

No I'm not talking about the operator Dolphin Dream, facilitators of underwater Kung Fu and other reckless and disrespectful Shark-related stupidities. They obviously don't give a rat's ass about safety protocols and the reputation of the Industry as long as they can make a quick buck. What has happened is not sustainable and it was their call, and obligation to put an end to the shenanigans. Shame on them.
But I'm repeating myself - and obviously, to no avail.

I'm talking about Eli.
Brother, what were you thinking?

Yes, Sharks are way cool and yes, cageless diving with macro Sharks is certainly possible and yes, one can feed them, too - that's precisely what we do here in Fiji.
But not like this!



Our procedures in Fiji are aimed at preventing any direct interactions between our clients and the Sharks. We believe that to be a prerequisite for any encounter with predatory macro Sharks.

But whenever I dare making a comment about the procedures at Tiger Beach, I'm being told that the difference to Fiji is that the Sharks never get excited as they are merely baited in with crates but never fed. Fair enough - never having been there, I have to trust the opinion of the local experts (tho after the Groh accident, I'm not convinced).

Anyway, let's assume that interaction is OK as long as the animals are not being fed: so why do I see somebody feeding a Tiger Shark out of the bait crate: is that you?
And if so, in what function? And where is the operator?

Yes, feeding Tiger Sharks is possible and cool, too: but don't you think that if one changes one side of the equation, one must change the other side as well?
As in making absolutely certain that the excited animals cannot freely circulate among the clients? Some of which are obviously absolute Shark Diving beginners?

Was this one-upmanship ("The Great Slide") even necessary from a commercial point of view?
Because this is what we're talking about: Commercial Shark Diving, not some private gratification and adrenaline rush!
On a commercial dive, customers have the right to expect that the operator -and the facilitator- will not subject them to unnecessary risks and observe the most stringent safety protocols. Fun certainly yes - but safety first and clearly, that requirement has not been met.

Do I hear: Extreme Shark Diving? As in what: Pushing the Envelope? Dangerous? Adrenaline? Macro?
Sure, that's something most of us in the Industry do, often in order to test and perfect our procedures and often for fun, too - but in private, with our closest and equally experienced friends, on our own money and from our own boat!
Never, ever with paying customers and newbies!

And: why in front of the mainstream media?
Maybe in order to change perceptions? If so, why didn't you stage a mellow and slow-paced encounter by observing the normal procedures? A dive that would have convinced the host that contrary to their reputation, Sharks are friendly and even timid, and that they deserve the very same respect and protection that is now being extended to the terrestrial Apex Predators?

Instead, the anchorman was scared to death and millions of viewers have been re-enforced in their opinion that Sharks are nothing but man-eating machines and that we're nothing but a bunch of reckless death-defying lunatics and adrenaline junkies.
Real bad news for people like us trying to conduct responsible Shark Ecotourism.

Granted, the mainstream media are overwhelmingly anti-Shark.
But we know that, don't we - so let's start being smart and let's make sure that we use them, and not they us, like unfortunately in this case.
You've been had, Eli, and that's particularly unfortunate as I know that your heart is in the right place and that you really do care about the animals.
A great shame.

As to Dolphin Dream, lemme state this clearly: Divers, don't go there.
It will all end in tears and you don't want to be anywhere near it when it does.

PS: RTSea's comments here, Wolfgang's here.

Not Sustainable!

I've said it all before...