Guadalupe - I stand with Mike!

Source.

Oh FFS.
 

Read this and then, watch this  pathetic shit.

I'm being asked to comment, so there - though for you who are eagerly expecting the usual epic pile of blood and gore, I got bad news as the following has been edited by Tashi Blue and is consequently way nicer than the usual fare on this blog.

So sorry! :)

Anyway.

First and foremost, this is obviously very sad.

Stouffer has definitely been grievously injured and may indeed have perished after they managed to shake him free of the cage. But although it sure looks that way, we do not know for sure - and considering that those GWS are incredibly resilient,  he may also have survived against all odds. In fact some guests on that cruise did claim to have seen him again, behaving "strangely", once activities were resumed after the accident.
So fingers crossed that he turns up again in the future.

Secondly.

Mike Lever is a good man and personal friend.

He is a co-founder of GSD and in many personal conversations and decisions I have witnessed, I have found him to be highly ethical, intelligent, professional, and conservation and safety conscious to the max.

But most importantly.

When the authorities issued the new rules, it was actually Mike who first implemented the new cage design - and this incidentally very much against the wishes of some of his clients, see e.g the stupid comments by the insufferable Ms. Cobb right  here!

And this?

CONANP (who  have incidentally done nothing wrong - and have also most certainly taken no bribes!) are clearly mistaken as the relevant measurements are not between vertical bars as wrongly suggested in the infographic here.
Instead, there must be no more than 35 centimeters between horizontal bars as clearly stated in the regulations (= 5.6) here and here, and in the legally binding “Wildlife Sighting Permits” from SEMARNAT.
Now you know - you're welcome!
 
And guess what.

The distance between the horizontal bars of the cage of the Nautilus UnderSea is fully compliant!

Detail detail - but it is all-important!
In brief, the fact of the matter is that Mike Lever's cages are fully compliant, and that claiming anything otherwise  is defamation pure and simple.

And just to be clear: there was no fault by the crew, either.

That Shark was clearly interested in something or somebody inside the cage and decided to change course and charge the cage, twice, entirely voluntarily = it is crystal clear that there was no error in bait handling, no teasing, no goading, nor any other nefarious human behavior leading to the entrapment of the Shark. In fact several experts testify that this is unusual behavior - tho considering that this is a predator and a male, I'm personally not terribly surprised to witness what to me looks like aggressive behavior!

In any case, this is clearly just a freak accident and incredibly bad luck.

Which brings me straight to those pathetic FB posts.

The dude is some insignificant animal molesting macho self promoter who however appears to have great media outreach in Mexico. I note that despite of claiming to be a conservation activist, or whatever, he has never done anything for Mexico's Sharks despite of the country's infamous Shark fishing tradition that is specifically leading to the demise of not one but many of those endangered and protected GWS in Baja.

In fact this was his comment on the Solmar accident.
IMPRESIONANTE huh - and what about him and his YouTubers pals illegally feeding from the cages to attract the GWS who then slam into them. Nice, respectful marketing, too!
Hipócrita anybody?

But that was then - so why the outrage and media circus now.

And why the appalling xenophobic focus whereby the people's anger is being directed more at Mike's nationality than at his claimed breach of the rules.
 

Let's maybe look at some circumstantial evidence shall we.
 

There is the issue of the origin of that video.

This is not the footage from a single camera but actually, it is a small edit from two cameras filming from two different cages. Having been shown this precise edit a while ago, I know for a fact that there's only one possible provenance, and that is from the Nautilus Fleet itself.

And bingo.
Having looked and also asked questions, there's clearly one disgruntled employee who  has a big axe to grind, had access to the video and disposes of good contacts to the media - and lo and behold, she is indeed busy running her foul little mouth behind the scenes.

Yes she did indeed once again manage to get fired.
But not because of some nefarious conspiracy by Mike but instead, for her unbecoming public behavior when she was partaking in a cruise on the NBA as an employee - and yes there are plenty of witnesses to that = you staunch defenders may want to reconsider your position as right now you are frankly looking like total suckers!
BUT, I also notice that it is asserted that

she stated clearly that this was an accident and not the result of human negligence. She also stated that the vessel’s cages are compliant with regulatory requirements and that the crew did everything possible to save the shark, while ensuring the safety of the divers. She did everything, ethically and professionally...!

And then there would be little media man Mauricio.
He doesn't appear to mind helping mooching foreigners as long as they do his bidding - but I hear that he is not amused by Mike's continued collaboration, and support of Domeier and Nicole, and by Mike's opposition to the mooching Sharkwater.
And, he is some sort of consultant to the park authorities who were given the footage. So may the leak have originated with him - and are we really to believe that he does not know the precise rules he helped draft? Questions questions!
And anyway, everybody knows that he will do anything to please those $harkettes - and in turn, Ocean Barbie is all-too-happy to propagate the lies, the more as doing so will undoubtedly add to her reputation - and trust me, it has!
And so it goes, same old same old!

Anyway - long story short?

This is nothing more than an orchestrated hit job on Mike.
 

If one can reproach him anything, it is that he has obviously failed to grasp the potential gravity of the situation and missed getting ahead of the curve and media feeding frenzy by being the first to publicly report the accident. But then again, considering that this was clearly a freak accident, there seemed to be be zero upside in engaging in public self flagellation.
So they did what appeared sensible then, ie inform the authorities and hope that the video would not surface - and NO, there was definitely no need, let alone right for the public to see those horrible images!

But be it as it may, it remains crystal clear that Mike objectively holds no blame for what has happened to Stouffer - not legally which is obviously all-important but also not ethically as nothing unusual/nefarious was done by the crew.

• His cages are fully compliant with the regulations - and therefore, the whole story that he was asked but refused to change their design is nothing but a total fabrication


• He holds no responsibility for the Shark choosing to slam into the cage


• There was an observer on board who immediately informed his superiors about the incident - which totally negates the accusation that Mike was trying to hide the accident from the authorities - and why would he. And he has also neither bribed anybody, nor has he lied.

In fact I am sure that he will be fully exonerated.

And then, there needs to be a reckoning.
The way I see it, Ms Domingo is in an ocean of legal trouble.
Mauricio as the stated source of the leaked video edit quite likely too.

The little macho dude?

He is either fully complicit in fabricating and spreading the slanderous lies, or just simply reckless, unprofessional and stupid for allowing himself to be used. But he is also gleefully milking this story for the advancement of his own reputation as activist and media influencer = $$$.

And for that alone, were I Mike, I would sue his sorry ass for his patently brazen and reckless attempt to destroy my credibility and livelihood  which only serves to deprive Mexico of millions in Shark eco-tourism revenue, and thousands of shark divers from realizing their dreams to observe these majestic creatures.
But that's obviously entirely up to Mike.

To the smirking competitors, THINK.
This is quickly morphing into a runaway train that may well endanger the industry as a whole. Whether you like it or not, and whether you like Mike or not: you're all in this together. So be smart, stop the backstabbing and show some public solidarity. And once it blows over, you can resume hostilities.
But not right now - and anyway, you know the man and know he did not do it.

And the pathetic media frenzy?

It is what it is and like always, it'll blow over - but to you all-knowing couch farting Shark tourism experts and self-appointed criminal investigators out there who know NOTHING but continue to regale everybody with your ultracrepidarian diarrhea: scripta manent, and we shall most certainly remember.
And yes I know I know....

Remains the question of those cages.
I notice that those idiotic proponents of out-of-cage diving with GWS, foremost of which that horrible slimeball Amos, are using this to slam cage diving as being bad for the Sharks.

Obviously there needs to be change.
Rules or no rules - over the years, a few Sharks have died and several have been injured during caged dives, and that is just not acceptable.

But this can be remedied.
E.g. by even more stringent bait handling rules and above all, by even smaller cage openings all the way to using sturdy aluminum mesh like they do in South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.
And to avoid the Sharks getting in and/or the people leaning out, those large openings for the photographers' big dome ports may have to go completely, or be replaced with some sort of transparent viewing ports like in  Hawaii - and fuck the vociferous likes of Ms. Cobb who are financially irrelevant anyway.

But going cageless is nothing but a fool's bet.
Private ventures by intrepid thrill seekers, and professional shoots are one thing - but let there be no doubt that when it comes to commercial Shark tourism, cage diving is the only way to conduct safe and long term sustainable dive operations with White Sharks.
In brief, the cages need to stay - and like I said many, many times, let's please not have the inmates run the asylum.

Anyway.

Let's go Shark diving - sustainably!

To be continued no doubt.

PS - personal declaration, or whatever, by Domingo here = much personal ass covering and vindictive verbiage  - but I equally notice that she does not state that the cage was illegal, or that the crew did anything wrong.
Her assertion that it was she who first informed the authorities because Mike would not is a bold faced lie = during that trip, there was an observer from CONANP who immediately informed his superiors - and no, it was not at all clear, and still isn't, that the Shark had perished.
Plus, again, she was not fired in connection with this accident but instead, for her conduct whilst on a cruise on the NBA - which is of zero importance here anyway.

PPS - Domeier here. Agree - but there can, and should be improvements.

PPPS - Ramon  trying to get his 10' of fame here. Ever since Nicole, he is desperate to remain relevant, with little success - and this total stupidity only makes him look like a cheap opportunist.

PPPPS - Patric here. Agree and disagree. 
YES - getting ahead of the curve would possibly have been good - tho back then it wasn't at all clear that the Shark had likely perished (and even now we do not NOW - see Craig's comments below) = there was most certainly no perceived need for a public mea culpa. 
NO - right now when everybody is hyperventilating, remaining silent is the way to go. 
AND - there will undoubtedly be a reckoning = keep watching this space!

PPPPPS - truly remarkable comments by Craig Ferreira right here. Could not agree more, see above!

PPPPPPS - a friendly GWS cage diving operator writes,

FYI Re: Cage design, I found that shark penetration problems are largely resolved in the positioning, or complete removal of the (trapping) VERTICAL bars within the viewing/camera gaps ... in particular in the corners. Our vertical bars are centrally positioned in the viewing gaps and nosey sharks slide out sideways through the corners.

Excellent suggestion - thanks!

PPPPPPPS -  Craig again here. To cite another authoritative voice,

The sad thing is that the uproar created around this incident does affect shark cage diving around the world, a non-consumptive tourism activity, whilst shark demersal longliners are decimating our shark populations and this where the focus should be. In South Africa, we are seeing a real impact on our shark populations and even our protected white sharks are accidentally caught, but not reported. If only the social media warriors would not be hypocrites and focus on the overfishing versus cage diving which in South Africa is the only official monitoring and conservation of this species taking place

PPPPPPPPS - more pathetic xenophobic showboating, and outright defamation by Allende here. 

PPPPPPPPPS - gloves are definitely off. Talk about being a total hypocrite. But, ride bene chi ride ultimo = keep watching this space!

Comments policy: please comment here and not on FB.

These are our social media platforms and not public chat rooms, and we thus reserve to monitor and/or delete all and everything we do not like. 
Our media our rules!

Are we ready for more Sharks?

Source.

Good question!

Read this.

It pretty much completely summarizes this timely little scientific article, so no need to write synopses etc. In brief, those Shark conservation successes may turn out to be be fleeting - especially in those highly populated and/or highly tourism-dependent areas where Shark-human conflicts may increase as a consequence, see e.g. the situation in Cape Cod where IMO we're already only a few Shark bites away from the next Shark/Seal cull.

The authors write,

While widespread success in recovering elasmobranch populations is some time away, scientists, advocates and managers need to be prepared for societal conflicts that may arise when and where it does occur. In particular, implications for current and future conservation management need to be considered as part of conservation strategies in the context of how humans will interact and potentially compete with recovering species.

This will require, from the outset, increased public education and outreach regarding the potential future implications of conservation success and strategies to reduce conflict in order to avoid negative responses to successful conservation outcomes or the thwarting of future conservation endeavours.

That is certainly correct. 

But education and outreach can only go so far, and methinks that akin to what is happening in the highly intractable and complex issue of terrestrial human-wildlife coexistence and human-wildlife conflict mitigation, all will have to be highly species-, location- and context-specific.
And in some cases = where and when other less invasive approaches fail, we may well have to accept that some individual animals may have to be sacrificed so that their populations can continue to survive - see the paper's example of the Galapagos Sharks vs the Hawaiian Monk Seals that is highly reminiscent of Eric's Shark profiling proposal.

As always we shall see shall we not.

And anyway, I say, wouldn't that be a nice problem to have = so first and foremost, let's please make sure that Shark populations recover!

But back to more pleasant matters. 

Let's go Shark diving - sustainably!

PS - Michael Domeier here.
Like him I abhor the illegal out-of-cage diving with GWS and especially, the Shark riding and molesting. But unlike him I really do not believe that any resulting bites would have any implications whatsoever on Shark conservation - rather, nowadays the victim would be rightly berated for having been a fool and the news cycle would quickly move on.

 

Hawaii - Shark Feeding and Shark Bites?

Yes this stupidity will eventually get you bitten - click for detail. Source.

Here we go again...
Have you seen, and above all, watched this?

Yes those Sharks are definitely conditioned.

And like Michael, I am 100% certain that they are being fed, be it via suspended bait crates and/or by feeding surreptitiously off the bow like described here, and/or by chumming secretly via the bilge pump like I've been told on the qt.  But whilst I concur with most of what Michael has posted, there are still aspects where I strongly differ.

So there.

First things first: shit happens.

Baited Shark dives are risky and despite of even the most stringent protocols, bites do happen - yes, even to us! But as long as one carries the adequate first aid equipment and as long as the staff are adequately trained (in client relations, too!), those situations can most certainly be managed. In fact and in general terms, Shark dives remain orders of magnitude safer than SCUBA, and regulation is really the very last resort - so let's not get carried away, the more as attributing causality is always gonna be more than a stretch!

And anyway, let's never forget that the folks who generally feed and condition Sharks are not the few Shark diving operators but the thousands of fishermen and spearos - with the known consequences e.g. here and here among many, many such examples!

And in this particular case?

The above matters little as Shark provisioning in Hawaii is illegal both in state waters and according to Domeier, in federal waters, too - tho in view of little Marco's recent and ultimately aborted legislative attempt, I find the latter rather surprising? Be it as it may, it is shit legislation and back then I've been opposing it vigorously - but that was in favor of Stefanie's Hawaii Shark Encounters who keep their clients in total safety inside of a floating cage.

Nowadays I see things quite a bit differently.

Partly for these reasons - but I must also confess, very much also because of Ramsey and her retinue of self promoting Shark molesters!

I'm the first one to grant that her heart is probably in the right place - but for me to ever respect, let alone endorse them, the whole exercise is just too slick and vain and profit-driven, and there are just too many inconsistencies and outright falsehoods, starting with her own name, to her claimed academic credentials, to her claimed research, to her claimed conservation achievements (no they did not "introduce" that legislation, some senators did), and the list gets longer every time I bother to look.
 

But apart from all that misleading BS, the principal problem remains that those disrespectful media $tunt$ are making a whole generation of young people want to jump into the water and hug sharks - and that those folks continue to spawn and endorse copycat commercial undertakings, see e.g. the Florida troglodytes, or this stupidity featuring this absolute genius in French Polynesia, or the persistent illegal shenanigans in Guadalupe, or little Riley who still just doesn't get it.
 

And whereas I just personally despise all that gratuitous Shark molesting, I also personally believe that throwing unprotected snorkelers into open ocean is not long term sustainable tourism - especially not in baited conditions where they immediately become part of the food chain!

Which brings me straight to that Shark bite.

The victim has since outed herself in a highly scripted statement and all I can say is, q.e.d. - may she learn the obvious lessons, stop following pied pipers and above all, stop molesting Sharks!

Anyway.

Let's go Shark diving - respectfully!

Ramsey: Shit Show in Hawaii!

Source.

Oh well.

I'm sure you've seen the news.

Three very large and very rotund female GWS were seen feasting on a dead Sperm Whale floating off Oahu.

This could have been such an inspiring moment.

• One could have marveled at the exceptional serendipity of witnessing such a rare and wonderful natural event, as per the beautiful and respectful description of who experienced the first mesmerizing encounter.


• One could have mentioned Michael and Nicole's seminal paper about the life cycle of the NE Pacific GWS population, and speculated whether those females may be actually pregnant (not a given!) and bulking up in the SOFA and beyond like described therein, or whether they may just be very chubby after gorging on whale meat.


• One could have marveled at the fact that not one but three such large females have made it to Hawaii and speculated about the possible reasons (Climate Change? El Niño? Just happenstance? An outbreak of Wanderlust?), and could have tried to identify them based on Nicole's Guadalupe ID Guide (= that Shark with Ramsey is not Deep Blue). 


• One could have reminisced about this small paper about very large GWS scavenging on whales, and wondered whether the placid disposition of those Sharks may have been an indicator for postprandial torpor.


• One could have mentioned all the scientific questions that still remain unanswered.


• One could have even wondered about the wisdom, or lack of, of dive operators throwing in all those unprotected snorkelers atop large scavenging Sharks, and this in open ocean - and about the uncritical willingness of those punters to be thusly thrown, see further below!


• Hell, one could have gone so far to engage in idle speculation about why those mamas did not chomp on the aforementioned punters! The torpor and/or energy preservation, coupled with a far easier, better smelling and way juicer meal nearby? An already nicely filled belly? No search image for humans as prey? Too much commotion? No attack on alert prey by what is essentially an ambush predator?  Pervaded by the Aloha Spirit?

Not gonna happen, alas.

Like she has obviously intended, the token disrespectful self-promoting bimbette and her selfish shit show have sucked all the oxygen out of the room.
But thankfully and likely not as intended, the reactions by the public are overwhelmingly negative - and have you seen how now she is squirming and obfuscating trying to justify her feat?
Girl, dozens upon dozens of people have far more experience with Sharks, have done far more for them, and yet never put themselves in the foreground!
 

But first, watch.

Source.

I mean, seriously, what a fucking fiasco!

No don't worry, I'm not gonna unleash.

I'd rather defer to others who are way more intelligent and have spoken up much more clearly and politely than I ever could, to wit Michael Domeier's post about the total hypocrisy of "Ocean" Ramsey. 

Indeed, see any resemblance whatsoever between Ramsey's sanctimonious description and her frantic barging in ahead of everybody else and harassing the Shark in the above video?

You may also want to read and above all, understand this post about the likely consequences of that selfish shit. But Oliphant will do every I can to make it happen again! 

Obviou$ly!

And the fucking, old and tired Raising Awareness, yada yada?

Michael and David are absolutely correct: this is nothing but a serial Shark molester harassing a Shark (watch - did anybody say 6 meters? Hmmmm....), and this solely to pose for image$!
But you sure gotta love the praise by the hypocritical King of Shark Porn for the hypocritical Queen of Shark Molesting - legendary shark conservationist my ass!
And poor Riley STILL just doesn't get it!

Anyway.

It's same old same old - really hardly worth a mention were it not for those poor naive fans and followers who are being conned by the slick media and all those insufferable platitudes, and continue to admire all those hypocritical media whores and their disrespectful feats.

So, people, THINK - especially you researchers and operators who continue to associate with, and even defend those folks despite of all the evidence!

In diesem Sinne - let's go Shark diving!
Respectfully!

Comments Policy: please post your comments here and not on FB. 

FYI this is not a chatroom, comments are being monitored and I reserve the right to publish, or to delete whatever I please - and no, this got nothing to do with freedom of speech and everything to do with Dunning-Kruger!

My blog my rules! :)

PS - Indeed (and here).. and this is just sad....

PPS - Martin here!

PPPS - well yes maybe - but then again, coming after a decade of  very public Shark harassment, it sounds hollow; the more as the punters that are so obviously clue- and reckless may be taking those risks precisely because of all the publicity, and glorification of her feats, and the public belittling of the associated dangers!

PPPPS - Patric here. Well said, Sir - eloquent and totally on point as always!
And I cite, The same stunt with bears, wolves, tigers and gorillas would land you in jail, if done with the exact same shark at Guadalupe Island you would be fined and jailed. 

PPPPPS - Well said Danny! :)

PPPPPPS - great post by Michelle here - torpor included! :)

PPPPPPPS - Indeed!

PPPPPPPPS - more hypocritical rubbish by the King of Shark Porn. Well, maybe there would not be such a need to change perspectives and creating massive global awareness had you not been so successful in creating the media that demonize Sharks in the first place, to wit e.g. this horrible piece of horse manure you produced!

PPPPPPPPPS - sweet, we got ourselves a tussle among Shark bimbettes! How quaint! I swim with them for pure enjoyment = not for camera? Right, hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.....

PPPPPPPPPPS - and we got ourselves yet another beauty! Yay! This would be one of Mauricio's illegal out-of cage freedivers  scientific collaborators (case in point!) disparaging another - by posting a pic of the illegal irresponsible and selfish behavior that certain individuals have been promoting as conservation science for years... Again, how quaint!

PPPPPPPPPPPS - more by Michael here and here!

PPPPPPPPPPPPS  - And for god's sake, whether you believe Lemuria is modern day Hawaii or not, leave the poor dolphins alone! Figure out how to talk to them from the shore or something. Hahahahahahahahaha!

PPPPPPPPPPPPPPS - the bloody Whale carcass has drifted back onshore - and hopefully stays there!

PPPPPPPPPPPPPPPS - and we got ourselves one more visitor - which begs the question, what is going on: is this exceptional or is it the norm, and we are just finding out about it now? 

PPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPS - The question is, how can we interact with animals and leave their habitat better than we found it? This is why shark diving and shark tourism in marine protected sanctuaries (where fees collected by dive operators and government go towards habitat preservation) are an inspiring alternative. Hear hear!

Five-Meter GWS?

Mako vs GWS - awesome pic by Ozzie Sam. Notice how wide the caudal keel is!   
Source - click for detail

Watch.

Hmmmmm.

For what it is worth, methinks that that Shark does not move with the gravitas of a 5-meter animal but rather, like a much smaller individual; and the very pointy snout and very wide caudal keel appear more indicative of a Shortfin Mako, at least to me.

But who am I to say.

Both species inhabit the Med, with the Mako being far more common, albeit locally threatened like all Sharks there. And do re-read this post about the rather fascinating theory about the Australian origins of the Mediterranean GWS population - paper here!
But my call remains that this is a sprightly Mako of 2-2.5m.

Original FB post here, story here.

PS - Bingo: Michael Domeier here!
PPS - compare to this clip of a Mako @ approx 0:20ff!



PPPS -  and now we got ourselves some experts...

SOFA - quod erat demonstrandum!

The SOFA: a humongous area in the NE Pacific where GWS disperse to forage.

Behold - and yes it is long!

Synopsis here - and yes this is impressive as hell.

And here's a nice, and short video about the technology - again, very impressive in terms of scope but also cost!

And now, re-read this.

See what I mean?

• The GWS are by no means "aggregating" but instead, they are actually dispersing in a huge area after having aggregated at the coast! I mean, seriously: watch the first video at 42.12: does that look like congregating to you?


• In the SOFA (which is the much better name than Café) they very much appear to be foraging and not mating: case in point, just listen to what Barb's got to say at 1:21ff of the first video where she explains how the data illustrate that those Sharks engaging in ROD are most likely targeting prey like Bigeye Tuna.


• Which obviously means that the GWS are mating in the known coastal aggregation spots like Domeier had postulated all along!


• And those infamous, and totally cockamamie hypotheses by Jorgensen and Chapple, respectively, that they may be lekking or, gasp, sniffing for female pheromones?
  Right...


• And oh yes that would very much be a q.e.d - just saying!
  And no this time I'm gonna be magnanimous and refrain from mentioning sniffing glue and the like! :)
  

But I'm digressing as usual.

Keep watching this website and also, keep watching this space.

To be continued no doubt!

Scavenging by Tiger Sharks - Paper!

Click for detail!

Very nice!

Watch.

Paper here, press release here.

That's quite a handful of prominent authors - but in essence, this is a re-interpretation of some of the data collected by Richard, Adam and Ian whilst on the venerable Undersea Explorer that have already led to this paper from 2012 I posted about here.

Which is why the authors stress that much of the above is speculation.

The experimental design was aimed at deciphering long-term movements, and the present fine-scale analysis is very much based on inference rather than actual scientific evidence; but having said that, Richard and Adam have logged hundreds of man hours at Raine, and tell me that actual predation events on healthy Turtles are very rare and tend to be confined to the start of the breeding season when there are less Turtles and the Tigers are just arriving hungry. On a busy year, Raine will yield up to 2,000 dead Turtles, meaning that after a while, the Tigers are more than sated and really could not care less about chasing after healthy Turtles.

Like I said, very nice - but now things are changing.

BHP the mining giant is giving a lot of money to the Raine Island Green Turtle Recovery Project, and the island is being made more Turtle-friendly by eliminating features that could kill them and by protecting the nests against inundation. This means that less turtles will have accidents, and that any distressed Turtle will be aided by the turtle lovers and consequently, adult Turtle mortality has already been reduced by 50%.

And the Tigers?

What happens at Raine is part of a system - and if you tinker at one end, it stands to reason that there will be consequences at the other.

Will the Sharks predate more on healthy individuals whilst expending more energy in the process - and if predation increases, will that have an effect on the behavior of the Turtles? Or will the Tiger Sharks gradually stop coming? And what are the effects of this diminishing resource on their population?

Here's what I think - and yes I'm totally speculating.

Research in Hawaii has shown that those Tiger Sharks are able to regularly exploit determined ephemeral resources, and our own observations at Shark Reef indicate the same for our Bulls at Shark Reef. In essence, one of those Sharks will stumbles upon an opportunity, is able to memorize the experience and will henceforth come back to exploit it. This is learned individual behavior, not something that is genetically encoded or communicated by conspecifics or the like.

At the same time, our observations and those of the GWS people indicate that individual Sharks will favor determined strategies, e.g. individual GWS will attack the teaser bait consistently in one determined way; and on Shark Reef where we have a hand feeding and a bin feeding tribe of Bulls with very little overlap, those specialized hand feeding Bulls will gradually stop visiting when we temporarily suspend hand feeding,

Could it be the same for Raine Island?

Could there be always the same Tigers, and could those individuals be specialized scavengers that would not switch to outright predation but instead, would eventually stop coming once there are not anymore enough carcasses to feed on? 

Dunno - but that's certainly testable, or not?

And another thought.

If one believes Domeier -and I certainly do- what happens at Guadalupe is essentially a GWS feeding and mating aggregation. Could the food pulse during the pupping season of the Northern Elephant Seals maybe even trigger mating, and could it be important for the success of the ensuing pregnancies?

And could what happens at Raine Island be the same, meaning that if the Shark aggregation slowly disperses, finding mates would become more difficult and reproduction success would be lower?

Questions questions!

Ain't science a wonderful thing! :)

Fakarava - Inverted Trophic Pyramid?

Bingo!

Remember Michael Domeier's comment to this post?

Turns out that the man was prescient - and this literally: being one of the authors, he undoubtedly knew that this was coming!

Watch.

The paper is here - read it!

And here and here are some synopses - and since I find them partially misleading, here's what I understand.

• Fakarava Atoll has two main passes, Garuae in the North and Tetamanu, where this research happened, in the South.
  Like in other atolls in the Tuamotu archipelago like e.g. the spectacular trou au requins in the pass of Apataki, they are home to aggregations of resident (and semi-resident) Grey Reefie comprising, if memory serves me right, adult females and numerous juveniles/subadults of both sexes. The passes are great Reef Shark habitat because the Sharks can remain quasi-stationary by lazily riding the currents whilst engaging in ram ventilation, and because especially Tetamanu with its comparatively mild currents supports a good numbers of resident Fishes and acts as a migratory corridor for other prey species that regularly enter and leave the lagoon in line with the tides and the seasons.


• Yet, the researchers postulate that since the pyramid of productivity inside of Tetamanu is inverted, the available prey biomass would not be sufficient to sustain even only the local population of highly resident Sharks. This means that in order for the Sharks to be able to reside there without having to forage farther afield, their food/energy requirements would somehow need to be subsidized.


• That subsidy happens over several months during the Austral Winter.
  Then, huge numbers of several species of bony Fish successively aggregate in the passes in order to spawn = in essence, as the prey representing the productivity of the adjacent lagoon travels to the Sharks, the Sharks don't have to travel to the prey.
  This opportunity attracts the majority of transient Reefies (= likely the adult males) along with the less resident ones, meaning that the Grey Reef concentration in Tetamanu nearly triples. Still, during that time, the biomass of prey is vastly larger than that of the Sharks and all Sharks have ample opportunities to feed.


• Once the spawning season is over and water temperatures, and consequently, the Sharks' metabolic requirements increase, the Reefies gradually disperse again, and residency at Tetamanu decreases as even the highly resident individuals are forced to sometimes roam in search of prey.

My takeaway?

• There is no inverted trophic pyramid in Fakarava Atoll.
  Yes in the passes there are local Shark aggregations and because of that, the trophic pyramid is locally skewed -  but just like in the case of Sala's remote islands, there are external subsidies and the Sharks also roam, meaning that the relevant area one has to consider is far, far larger than the mere area of the passes. And over that whole area that comprises the lagoons but also the outer slopes, the pyramid is clearly normal as the biomass of Sharks is orders of magnitude smaller than that of lower trophic levels.
  Incidentally, that's not that dissimilar from our feed on Shark Reef where the astounding temporary predator biomass is in no way representative for the trophic pyramid of Beqa Lagoon let alone the whole of Fiji!


• For me, these latest findings mean that until somebody comes up with solid evidence in line with the data collected by Johann et al, I will continue to call BS on Sala's hypothesis of there being inverted trophic pyramids on pristine reefs!

• And yes, we need to protect the prey and not only the predators!
  And the prey of the prey, and the prey of the prey of the prey, etc! And the habitat they reside in!
  In brief, Shark conservation needs to migrate away from a focus on species towards a more holistic approach = yes healthy reefs may need Sharks, tho the evidence is scarce and increasingly contested;
  But Reef Sharks definitely need healthy reefs!

Enjoy Johann's paper!
 

Lupe: pregnant GWS with Boyfriends?

GWS with boyfriends?

Oh for crying out loud.

Have you seen this?

So Deep Blue has a boyfriend; she and several other GWS that come to Lupe are pregnant; and they are now at danger of being killed by poachers when visiting the nursery grounds. And Mauricio wants to tag them in order to then help protect those nurseries.

How touching. 

If only this was supported by any evidence.

GWS litters have tested positive for multiple paternity = no boyfriend; GWS females at Lupe often feature mating scars = if they're mating they can't be heavily pregnant; Domeier's multiple satellite tracks do not show them coming to Lupe during pregnancy; most other specialists ascribe their girth to their age (like many other Sharks, GWS do bulk up as they get old) and possibly, recent predation = a full tummy. 

Re-read the paper by Domeier!

Long story short, methinks this is a load of crap.

I say, hombre: how about more real science and less media!

After all those years of countless donations and freebies from the Shark boats, how about finally coming up with some good old-fashioned quid pro quo = some scientific paper describing the movements of those GWS around Lupe?  Wasn't that the purpose of all that industry-sponsored acoustic tagging?

Yeah I know.

Writing papers is fucking boring, whereas all that playing at science = the television cameos, the junkets, the hanging out with the Shark crowd, and being popular on social media is much, much more exciting - but the output so far is thin, and I hear that the patience of the donors is rapidly eroding, as is the scientific relevance. Plus, is it really still satisfying to be used as the provider of permits, only to then play the token Mexican in those productions and in those papers by the gringos?

Just wondering!

Michael - telling it like it is!

Well done!

I must say that I'm impressed.

Following the tragic Shark strikes in North Carolina, Michael Domeier is warning Californians about the growing population of GWS on their coast. So far this is good news as it means that protection measures are having the desired effect. And so far, those are juveniles and small subadults, and thus rather harmless  - but one day those Sharks will reach an age where they will gradually switch to larger prey, meaning that the risk of predatory attacks on humans will undoubtedly increase.

This is of course totally in line with the recent statements by Burgess - and once again bravo to Michael for having the guts to tell it like it is!

And yes, I've, gasp, deliberately used the dreaded A word!

This is a Shark attack.

It is provoked and retaliatory.

And like I would do in the case of a Cat, or Lion, or Croc, I call it an attack because there is definitely no confusion and there is definitely intent - which in this specific situation is both totally understandable and perfectly fine!

The strikes in North Carolina?

Dunno and that's why I call them strikes - but by the same token, what makes Mr. Barrington state that the assumed Bull Sharks more than likely mistook those kids for Fish? Does he really believe that a Bull Shark is too dumb to discern the difference between snapping at a Fish and severing a human limb - or may this possibly be yet another misguided attempt at PR rehabilitation a la Neff and Hueter?

Seriously, could we please stop with the stupid whitewashing?

Can we please let Sharks be Sharks, meaning that we got to accept that some species are large predators that will from time to time both target and unless disturbed, consume a human? And that many of them will intentionally bite when molested? This makes them neither bad nor good but simply describes what they are = large predators that have every bloody right to predate, and complex animals with a broad array of behaviors among which aggression!

We don't blink an eye about properly describing the equally rare predatory attacks by the Big Cats, Bears and Reptiles - so why this obsession of trying to exculpate Sharks by coming up with lame excuses and trying to introduce politically correct lingo?

Which brings me to this further comment by Michael.

Spot on! Read the testimony, and read this further account, and even the most rabid Shark hugging apologist should clearly discern that this was most definitely a predatory attack - curiosity and testing with their mouth because they got no hands, yada yada, my ass!

Same old same old - especially the pronouncements by the increasingly irritating Neff! This nonsense fatally reminds me of someone else - and we all know how that one ended!

Anyway, having asked, Doc replies

In an article I write way back in the eighties, for Naval Research Reviews entitled why do sharks bite humans, I made it perfectly clear that some sharks actually consider humans as legitimate prey. We all know which ones these are.

Bingo.

I say, the serial breathy couch farting and ultracrepidarianism are bad enough - but misrepresenting Doc is just simply unacceptable!

But enough of that.

Good to see that some within the research community are finally speaking up against the creeping Dolphinization of Sharks. They are certainly not monsters - but by the same token, some of them can be extremely dangerous and need to be treated with the utmost respect and circumspection.

Nothing to do with those recent tragic events mind you - when humans and Sharks share the same space, these things are unfortunately bound to happen. But if we ever want to succeed in mitigating the consequences of this increasingly uneasy cohabitation, we must address all sides of the issue: ever more people encroaching into Shark habitat but also, in some places, more Sharks - some of which will sometimes regard people as food!

Lupe - heavily pregnant GWS?

Have you seen Mauricio's video?

That's one fucking big Shark - and not very friendly!
Named Deep Blue, here she is again.

Wow.

But did I hear, heavily pregnant?

Were she a Bull, I would categorically state that she's big and bulky but certainly not pregnant - but not being a GWS connoisseur, who am I to say!

Looks like Mauricio and Skomal are of the camp  that asserts that the GWS mate at what they dub the GWS Café - but if so, how can those fresh scars indicate mating considering that pregnancy, let alone heavy pregnancy would only be discernible many months afterwards? Can't have it both ways!

Me, I'm obviously sticking with Domeier's theory (read it!) = that Lupe is the site of a GWS mating aggregation - meaning that the hypothesis that those are mating scars is totally plausible.

You GWS guys out there - opinions?

Anyway - what a magnificent animal!

PS - Michael here - not pregnant!

Chris Fischer - flat learning Curve?

Same old same old... antiquated, unnecessarily invasive technology and procedures. Source.

Maaan... talk about being a sucker for punishment!

Read this.

Martin had posted a totally innocuous report about the Sharks of Guadalupe - and here comes Fischer whining about being ignored! Exactly like years ago when I posted about Domeier's epic paper, and when Fischer found it fit to try and embroil me in an idiotic debate that did ultimately lead to his public crucifixion by Domeier himself (read it!).
PS - and here is of course the inevitable second public crucifixion!

Here's the deal.

Nobody really gives a flying fuck about boat owners, captains and anglers. They're a means to an end, a dime a dozen, nothing but tools much like, say, the satellite tags. They drive boats and catch Fishes upon instructions from the researchers - and in some exceptional cases, when they obey orders and function as planned, they may be thanked and maybe even praised for their skills at the end of some scientific paper together with the donors and possibly other people worth mentioning.

Case in point under Acknowledgements at the end.

The stars are the animals and the researchers.

And the quality of those research papers is dependent on the rigor of the science, and on whether it provides new insights, or additional evidence for some hypothesis, etc. - not on whether the animals were caught from an aircraft carrier or a kayak, not on how long it took whom to catch them how. And certainly not on some gimmick like that tracker which is brilliant technology and great public entertainment but adds nothing to the scientific insights. Once again, in order to have any value, those data need to be interpreted - and this by a trained scientist, not some self promoting wannabee Shark celebrity!

Anyway.

A pity, really.

Some pals were telling me that the man had calmed down, was a pleasure to work with and had finally learned to put the animals ahead of his ego.

Well, so much for that.

Oh - and talking about self important jerks.

Behold Klimley in this truly remarkable document.

Yikes!

Michael!

Left-to-right: Mavoa, Michael, Api, Aceni, Tumbee at the top an Manoa at the bottom, El Diego, El Ciro and Rusi!

What can I say.

He was here.

For those of you in the know, this is nothing short of a miracle - who would have thought this possible just a couple of years ago!
But I've finally done what I always wanted to do and thrown him to the Sharks. As is usual during this time of the year, the dive was not for the faint of heart, see below - but I can report that he did not even flinch!

Yes the big females are all back - click for detail!

I must really say that Michael Domeier is one great guy.

And lucky, too - his wife Amy Grace is one helluva nice lady!

Anyway, I've had a fabulous time, and so did El Diego and El Ciro that joined us on the dive and later, for an extended round of discussions. Oh - and I'm now the proud owner of a jar of very rare and very premium Great White Honey - simply delicious, get one!

Great stuff!

Moce mada amigo - and come back soon!