A tale of two Atolls!

Juvenile Galapagos Shark, by Thomas Peschak. Source.

Great job!
Watch.

Story here, in depth coverage here.

Which once again goes to prove that it is possible to enjoy excellent Shark media without having to endure the stupid clap trap, gratuitous drama and narcissistic self promotion of those media whores!

Kudos!

Silkies vs Grey Reefs - Paper!

Source.

Very interesting!

Abstract here.

Juerg will be delighted.

He is currently formulating his newest paper that deals with the relative abundance of Sharks within Shark Reef, and this is really going to be helpful, albeit maybe more by juxtaposition that by analogy. 

We, too, have experienced notable changes over time but contrary to what has been observed in Jeddah where declines are being attributed to fishing, I believe that what we witness is the result of competitive exclusion, possibly coupled with the effects of the establishment of a (completely different) competing Shark dive in the near vicinity.

But that's for Juerg to analyze, so take it with a grain of salt.

And the other topics?

Boldness vs numbers.

Where our observations coincide is that like in the case of those Silkies we, too, observe an increase in boldness with increasing numbers, this certainly with respect to our Bull Sharks that have become positively pushy during the hand feed, forcing us to continuously adapt our procedures. 

At the same time, when away from the immediate feeding area, they however appear more habituated to humans insofar as they appear less reluctant to approach whilst at the same time behaving way more relaxed all the way to having practically stopped engaging in agonistic behavior like jerky swimming, gulping and bumping. Notable exception: our ever irascible Marlen who will immediately retaliate against any attempt at manhandling her!

This may possibly apply also to the Blacktip Reefies that from being frustratingly shy 10 years ago have become increasingly feisty - this with the caveat that although their numbers have certainly increased, this is most likely attributable to conditioning and learning.

Aggression.

I was intrigued by the observed lack of intraspecific and inter-specific aggression in the Red Sea - especially considering that the Grey Reefs are notorious!

Here, we clearly observe the latter whereby the Bulls will bite and hustle away other species, and when it comes to the former, we observe no overt aggression but never the less detect clear signalling of dominance, this usually by the larger and/or bolder individuals.

Individuality.

This once again confirms the findings of all Shark behaviorists and incidentally, all Shark divers that Shark behavior is context driven but also individually diverse - see also the other Silky Shark paper by the same Chris Clarke et al here that hypothesizes individually diverging foraging strategies.

And since yer at it, read this, too!

And there's a bonus point!

When googling the mysterious Danah Divers, Marine Research Facility, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia where Chris apparently acts as the Operations Manager, I stumbled across this remarkable story by Tom Campbell. So now you know how the SOSF has come about!

And incidentally, have a look at this - now THAT's what I call a dive boat!!! :)

But I'm digressing as always.

All in all, really very nice - kudos!

Love not Loss - great Videos from SA!

Source.

Very nice!

Lauren is of course absolutely correct - please re-read this and this!
And this - very interesting!

Enjoy!

And in keeping with that spirit.
Here's a nice video about her project!

Really cool BRUVS Footage!

 Typical BRUVS - Source

I've just received the newest SOSF newsletter .

Among many other things, it informs me that

This year, Save Our Seas Foundation received over 200 grant applications, requesting a total of over US$ 5.5 Million in grant aid for the 2013-2014 funding year. 53 of these applications were invited to submit Stage 2 applications. These figures do not take into account projects that are already receiving funds from the Foundation; some of these Principal Investigators will be invited to apply for continued funding next year.

Pretty darn impressive!

One of those endeavors is an innovative pilot project that aims at exploring the viability of using  Baited Remote Underwater Video Stations, or BRUVS to document the underwater fauna of False Bay, South Africa. As the project synopsis explains, BRUVS may be a cost effective, non extractive way for census and long-term monitoring of MPAs. Should you be interested, you can always check on the project's progress here. 

As always, there are challenges, as documented in this great little video about a thieving octopus.

As far as I know, BRUVS were first developed by AIMS.

Be it as it may, here's a very cool compilation of what appears to be some of their "best of", including a rather devastating intervention by a Tiger Shark that aptly demonstrates the effectiveness of its very special dentition which appears specially geared towards sawing through solid objects, foremost of which Turtle carapaces - remember those basic can openers?

Anyway: enjoy!

More info about AIMS's BRUVS research here.

Peter and the Sharks!

Blue Shark off the Algarve - source.

Remember Peter?

He and Georgina have just been in Portugal to kick off We Like Sharks.
This is a multifaceted program including Shark awareness, Shark research and hopefully, maybe even the establishment of Shark tourism in the Algarve. From what I can see, the local team is going through all the correct preliminary steps by involving the local stakeholders and trying to collect some baseline data before thinking about throwing in the first tourists - so best of success to them all!
Here's a report in Portuguese.



Notice the Tiger Shark?
Here's some better footage of that encounter in South Africa, with a plug for Peter's brilliant book about Sharks.



And have a look at this!
This would be Peter documenting the GFSC in April, in totally shocking visibility - maybe now you understand why I am so impressed by the results! The question being, who's the 90-year old Dutch Divinggirl? :)
Enjoy!

July: Fijian Bull Sharks!

Click for detail and save as to download!

Great!
The SOSF has posted its July Calender and guess what, these are our Sharks, photographed from the exact same spot where we placed Lill! Needless to say that not being one of the dreaded semis but a full-time pro, Peter Verhoog was awarded full honors - and no, his bodyguard did not scream like a girl, either!

Having said that, there was plenty to body guard!
The viz was absolutely dreadful, meaning that the Sharks were frisky and in yer face - very much to the delight of Peter but very much not to that of Tubee! BTW, this is a major cleanup job in Photoshop, so kudos to the photographer for both, the pic and the post production!

Do you like it?
If so, you can download it in lowest resolution from the top, or there are much higher resolution versions available here, along with the past months. And you can check out many more pics from the SRMR right here - stellar stuff!

Peter: Hartelijk bedankt!

Great Fiji Shark Count - last Day!

Nice article in the Fiji Times!

I had to laugh out loud when I read the descriptions of this month's Great Fiji Shark Count by Helen and our Nani: encouraging and interesting signify that alas, much of this month has been affected by the floods and then, the really horrible weather and that as a consequence, many operators in the Coral Coast, the Mamanucas and the Yasawas have only been able to properly unleash in the past week or so. But having said that, feedback from the other islands has been stellar and of course Pacific Harbour will contribute a plethora of sightings.

Among them, this totally unexpected find.
We saw it from the boat off Frigate's Passage right under the surface, and due to its spectacular coloration, the ID is pretty much unequivocal, the more as I've seen heaps of them in Cocos.
Check it out, here from the Azores - what a beautiful animal!


But I'm digressing as always.
The next week is devoted to obtaining all the sighting reports from the participants and then Helen and a gaggle of volunteers will embark on the tedious task of analyzing and formatting everything before passing it on to Christine. Expect a first informal analysis at the Dive Fiesta and a proper review in a few months.

Once again, thank you so much to the partners and sponsors.
The latter are are, in no particular order, the Shark Foundation, Ocean Soaps, Shark Savers, Save our Seas Foundation and yes, also the Shark Reef Marine Reserve which is the conservation brand of BAD.
And a huge thank you to Helen, Christine and Stuart - and to Nani, too!

So here's to the GFSC 1.2 in November.
Le roi est mort - vive le roi!

Getting there!

For Georgina: Peter is working real hard - click for detail! :)

Poor Peter!

He's been rained in solid for the past ten days, and the viz has been oscillating between crap and impossible.

BUT, things are finally improving!
The viz today was OK and we were finally able to get him face-to-face with some real biggies - and this is the result. Once again, I am totally impressed, this is about as good as it gets, especially considering that conditions are still far from ideal!
Click for detail!

AND the weather will remain rather stellar.
Just for the record, I'm posting tomorrow's weather chart because somebody has repeatedly doubted my impeccable weather forecasting skills, a fact that shall not be forgotten!

And on Saturday and Sunday, it will be equally great.
If you're in Fiji, this is the weekend to come and count Sharks!
So what are you waiting for!

Great Fiji Shark Count - post by SOSF!

Fiji Bulls - great shot by Peter Verhoog despite of dismal conditions!

I must say, I am really impressed.

What Peter Verhoog has produced is nothing short of miraculous.
He is the CEO of the Save Our Seas Foundation that has been sponsoring Juerg's research for close to a decade and is currently one of the principal sponsors of the GFSC. Being also a prominent underwater photographer, he has traveled to Fiji to document the count but also, in order to get a first-hand look at our other activities.

Well what can I say, so far it has been challenging.
We've lost a week due to the floods and for the past several days, the weather and consequently, the viz have been dismal, alas with no real end in sight. There's however heaps of Sharks and people sure get to see them as we attract them close to the customers - but getting any useful shots is really terribly difficult as everything is dark dark dark and murky as hell.
I for one don't even bother to switch on the camera!

With that in mind, Peter's pictures are just simply stellar.
The attributes of real professional underwater photographers include getting the shot - and Peter sure delivers in spades, as only a very few others like Doug Perrine do!

You can admire Peter's pictures in this post on the SOSF website.
Enjoy!

Tracking Oceanic Whitetips!

Sorry for the silence.
We're currently incredibly busy, not least with getting the Great Fiji Shark Count under way, and time is just simply slipping away. Talking of which, please do check out the list of participants: if you haven't already done so, book with one of them.
Those are the businesses who truly care about Sharks in Fiji.

Anyway, Mahmood is tracking OWTs from Cayman.
You can read about the details here and here but above all, you can peruse this stellar interactive tracking tool.
This is as good as it gets - kudos!

Incidentally, Mahmood is about to start publishing his first findings about the global Bull Shark genome research to which we have been contributing samples for several years - keep watching this space!

The Great Fiji Shark Count - Info!

Let me give you some background information here.

This all actually started with Juerg and Christine Ward-Paige.
Christine did publish this excellent open source paper about the value of having recreational divers count elasmobranchs and in the lively discussion that ensued, Juerg proposed and Christine very graciously accepted to test the concept here in Fiji. Christine has currently another job but she will provide for the scientific oversight and analyze the data under the umbrella of eShark, and this completely on her own time and with no incremental funding! Potential donors: hint hint - funding this will make you shine for many years to come!
Christine thank you!

Fiji is of course the ideal destination for this endeavor.
Thankfully and in spite of the recent highly disturbing developments, we do still have a reasonable number of Sharks and Rays, and even Turtles.
Plus, the dive and tourism industry is tight knit and forward looking, as witnessed by the many past initiatives that were able to unite everybody around a common goal.
In 2008, we had the first tourism-based Great Butterflyfish Count that was repeated in 2009 and then alas fizzled out for lack of funding.
In 2009, Fiji organized the only nation-wide initiative to celebrate the Year of the Shark, the Fiji Shark Conservation and Awareness Project with various government departments, the tourism industry and several NGOs contributing to make this Fiji's first country-wide Shark campaign. 2009 also saw the only nation-wide drive to contribute to the Shark Free Marinas Initiative where to this day, Fiji is one of the principal participants.
In 2010 we took a breather to launch our own initiative aimed at protecting vital habitat and Shark nurseries whilst cleaning up our carbon footprint, Mangroves for Fiji, only to announce mission accomplished late last year.
2011 then saw the rolling out of the Fiji Shark Sanctuary Campaign where a plethora of largely unheralded events further contributed to Shark awareness all the way to the local grass-roots level.
Long story short: there sure is track record!

Enter the local project team.
She won't like me saying it but IMO, Helen Sykes of Marine Ecology Consulting is Fiji's most pugnacious, and thus most efficient and strictly (as opposed to agenda- and money-) goal oriented marine conservation professional for which she has all of my respect - and this despite her being dead-set against the feeding of any wildlife inclusive of Sharks, something that will regularly pitch us in super-heated debates where we pull no punches but always end up smiling as we both understand this to be an excellent means of furthering our knowledge! Anyway, it is great news that she has once again accepted to take the lead in this, like she did for the Butterflyfish Count of which this is the logical crescendo - and let's face it, Sharks are way sexier than Butterfly Fishes! :)
Same-same for Stuart Gow of Resort Support who has been our friend and advisor for many, many years. Among many other things, he is the current Chairman of the Dive Commission of the Fiji Hotel & Tourism Association, i.e. the highest representative of Fiji's dive industry. He is also a Director of Matava and in that incarnation, he has been instrumental in making Fiji Shark Free. Stuart is acting as our web- and spin-master, and having him help us behind the scenes is a phenomenal asset indeed!
And then there is Nani, Arthur and our new marine scientist Chris of BADs conservation brand SRMR that will be assisting in a thousand ways when it comes to keeping up the daily dialogue and coordination among the participants - and yes, yours truly will just sit back, continue hiding behind his computer and rant about others as always! :)

Please also check out our partners.
These are the people who are contributing money, or money and lots of passionate work like Samantha Whitcraft of Shark Savers. Sam is the indefatigable! driver of Shark Savers' Sharks Count program and as such, she has been an invaluable team member who has contributed money, leadership and know how but above all, an inordinate amount of work.
Then there are the pillars of reliability and generosity when it comes to sponsoring Juerg's research (blog here!) in Fiji, the unequaled Shark Foundation and Save our Seas Foundation.
And finally, there is Ocean Soaps, a division of Punjas who already greatly assisted in the Butterflyfish Count.
And I also want to mention the great photographers and friends who have donated images!
Thank you all!

And how about you?
If you so wish and decide to come to Fiji in April, you can partake in the first nation-wide Shark count anywhere!

To do that, follow the instructions here.
And before the usual geniuses start whispering that this is just about BAD making a buck: we have been counting Sharks since 2003 and thus your contribution would be most significant elsewhere! As the dive ops and resorts will start confirming their participation, the list of participants will grow and I urge you to go and help them and not us, always by mentioning that you're coming for the Count!
You can then always book a couple of Shark dives at the end as a treat and reward - and if you prove that you've taken part in the Count, we'll throw in a little something extra for you, how about that! :)

Now to be precise.
The aim is not to find out how many Sharks there are in Fiji!
For that, one would have to try and mobilize everybody everywhere, something that is impossible and would be fraught with immense costs, immense logistical problems and a staggering margin of error!
The aim here is to do a first random sampling and to then regularly repeat the exercise in the same locations. This way, we would be able to establish a first baseline and the starting point of long term monitoring via so-called transects (i.e. your dives, snorkeling excursions and even game fishing trips) which is an excellent scientific tool that will enable us to eventually detect a trend.

And the practical application?
As an example, should the Shark Sanctuary eventuate, the trend would provide for a confirmation (or lack of) of its effectiveness and thus be a great educational tool for policymakers. And should the Sanctuary not eventuate, I fear that the trend will document the rapid decline of Shark stocks and the absolute necessity of immediate conservation measures.
But that is then and it will take several years to make those statements, especially considering the fact that the vagaries of the ENSO will add a good amount of variation and unpredictability, like they have done to our own Shark data.

So, please, give it some thought.
I know it's sort of short notice: but it's cool and fun and above all, it's good solid and innovative science!

See you in April!

Bravo Alison!

Alison Kock got principles and I say well done!

Halle Berry is filming something Shark related in SA.
This is a Hollywood production and as such, a great chance for global exposure and making some serious money on top of that. And yet, when asked to participate, Kock refused - and even managed to weave in some good pro-Shark sound bites!

As the she told the Daily Mail.

"After reading the script we decided it was not something we would like to put our names to.
Our mandate is to try to change people's perceptions of sharks. The first script that we got sounded very much like it had a thriller aspect to it and a personal kind of aspect to it as well.
But fighting off a shark, or surviving a shark attack - we couldn't see the positive side of that, as much as we tried."

Well said - and see? It's that easy not to be part of Shark Porn!
Others are obviously not so fussy - but that's another story for another post.

For those who don't know, Alison is an original Shark Angel, does research on Great Whites and co-runs the SOSF Shark Center in Kalk Bay near Cape Town, SA - Blog here.
She has previously been involved in brilliant pro-Shark media like this CNN feature with Anderson Cooper who himself is a real good man.

Recognize anybody?