How to manage Shark Populations

Very interesting paper!

Coming from a fisheries biologist, the intrinsic (and correct!) assumption is that Sharks can be fished sustainably provided that they are being adequately managed. For that, one of the factors that must be taken into account is the capability of depleted stocks to rebound - and when it comes to Sharks, it is obviously not good news.
What I found interesting is to discover that different habitats, life histories and adult sizes have resulted in different species-specific reproductive strategies that need to be considered when formulating those management measures.
Highly recommended reading for everybody!

Abstract

A demographic technique is used to compare the intrinsic rates of population increase of 26 shark species hypothetically exposed to fishing mortality.

These rates (r2M) are used as a measure of the relative ability of different sharks to recover from fishing pressure.
The method incorporates concepts of density dependence from standard population modelling and uses female age at maturity, maximum reproductive age, and average fecundity. A compensatory response to population reduction is assumed in pre-adult survival to the extent possible given the constraints of the life-history parameters.

‘Rebound’ productivity was strongly affected by age at maturity and little affected by maximum age.
Species with lowest values (r2M <> 0.08) were small coastal, early-maturing species. Sharks with mid-range values (r2M = 0.04–0.07) were mostly large (> 250 cm maximum size) pelagic species, relatively fast growing and early maturing.

Possible selection pressures for these three shark groups, management implications, practical applications for the derived parameter r2M, and recommended areas of research are discussed.

Discussion

Compared with other marine fishes, sharks have relatively low productivities, but nevertheless there is a wide range among species, which have differing abilities to withstand, or to recover from, exploitation.
The range is at the lower end of the scale compared with most exploited teleosts, many of which have high turnover rates and fecundities (e.g. Pacific sardine, Sardinops sagax, r = 0.34, Murphy 1967). The resulting spectrum of r2M values offers a unique view of the relative productivities of the species examined and should prove useful to managers in considering the intrinsic rebound potentials.

Although we found no obvious patterns by taxonomic category, the results do reveal an interesting pattern along the productivity continuum with regard to adult shark size and certain life-history traits.
In general, there was a tendency for smaller-sized species to mature earlier, to be shorter-lived, and to have higher intrinsic rates of increase r2M than larger species, as expected from ecological and evolutionary theory.

Sharks with the highest rebound or r2M capabilities (r2M > 0.08) were smaller, inshore coastal species that mature early and tend to be comparatively short-lived (smoothhounds, Mustelus spp., bonnethead, Sphyrna tiburo, and sharpnose shark, Rhizoprionodon terraenovae).
These species may be naturally selected for fast turnover in the protected and predominantly benthic environment of inshore coastal areas, especially shallow bays and channels of estuaries and reefs. These sharks are undoubtedly vulnerable to predation throughout their lives because of their small size, so have countered by evolving short generation times to outproduce their production losses to predators. By maturing early, they benefit from a higher probability that their offspring will survive to reach maturity and begin reproducing.

Those with the lowest recovery capabilities (r2M < 0.04), tended also to be coastal species but were generally medium to large-sized sharks, slow growing and late to mature (Pratt and Casey 1990) (e.g. leopard shark, Triakis semifasciata; dusky shark, bull shark, Carcharhinus obscurus;C. leucas; seven-gill shark, Notorynchus cepedianus; lemon shark, Negaprion brevirostris; sandbar shark, Carcharhinus plumbeus).
These medium to large-sized coastal species appear selected for a long reproductive life. While slow growth and delayed maturity lowers the probability of a juvenile reaching reproductive age, it also makes possible a long life span, large adult size, and larger, more fit offspring (which the large-sized adult females are capable of producing) (Stearns 1992). This long reproductive lifespan helps to bridge lean years, when vagaries in prey availability may compromise preadult survival, for unlike their smaller counterparts, finding and capturing food in a more open and less predictable foraging environment is probably a greater problem for these sharks than predation. Thus, a multi-year reproductive effort may be essential for ensuring that each adult, on average, successfully replaces itself during its lifetime with at least one other mature adult. As mentioned by Stearns (1992), delayed maturity permits further growth and increases in fecundity with size, as well as initial higher fecundity or more fit offspring. In terms of productivity, this can outweigh advantages of early maturation, but only to the point where fitness gained through increased fecundity or juvenile survivorship is balanced by the fitness lost through longer generation time and lower survival to maturity. The r2M rates for these slow-growing, late-maturing species are similar to the rates of population increase estimated for dolphins and small whales (see Reilly and Barlow 1986; Perrin and Reilly 1984).

The sharks within the mid range of r2M-values (0.04–0.07) were mostly large (> 250 cm maximum size) pelagic species, relatively fast growing (Branstetter 1990; Pratt and Casey 1990) and early maturing. These include the blacktip, Carcharhinus limbatus; grey reef, C. amblyrhynchos; silky, C. falciformis; Galapagos, C. galapagensis; mako, Isurus oxyrinchus; white, Carcharodon carcharias; tiger, Galeocerdo cuvier; and blue shark, Prionace glauca.
These sharks from the middle of the r-continuum seem to be selected for size and predatory capabilities. For those living a pelagic existence in a lean though relatively predictable environment, it seems vital to reach a large size quickly to enable the swimming speeds needed to capture swift prey and to cover large distances within vast ranges in search of widely dispersed prey. Larger animals can travel farther between feeding bouts and with greater energetic efficiency than can smaller animals (Schmidt-Nielsen 1972). These fishes appear to invest early in somatic growth, thus delaying sexual maturity but subsequently living longer. Perhaps the most important management application for these rates is for use in examining and ranking various shark species, and for tailoring management strategies that better address areas of vulnerability for the three life-history types described here.

The slow-growing, late-maturing sharks with lowest r2M -values should be least resilient to fishing mortality, and protecting their reproductive stock should be the priority.
Their delayed maturities and long life spans suggest that all the years during which each female is reproductive are necessary simply to ensure that at least one pup of each sex survives to adulthood. There should be protection at least during the peak reproductive years, possibly by establishing minimum and maximum size limits based on the size at which females first reproduce and the size at which fecundity declines with senescence or beyond which further survival is low. There may also be benefits from fishing only the oldest adults if they exert a constraining pressure upon population growth. Removals from the more numerous immature stock (many of which will die of natural causes during the extended juvenile phase) may well have less impact than removals of the reproductively valuable, adult females. And for some species, both females and young may need special protection if vulnerable in reproductive or nursery habitats (especially in coastal areas that are highly accessible to fishermen or to environmental disturbance).

The more oceanic species with mid-range r2M-values and relatively fast growth rates should be better able to withstand fishing pressure than their late-maturing coastal counterparts.
Some stocks in this group should also be less prone to depletion because of the greater likelihood of continual ‘seeding’ by conspecifics from other areas within their extensive oceanic ranges. But these species are also among the most marketable and vulnerable to the extensive and productive oceanic fisheries, which sustain high exploitation rates. In addition, there are insufficient data with which to adequately assess the extent of this direct and incidental harvest, no regulations or requirements for reporting the shark by-catch in the Pacific oceanic zone, and little monitoring or management of the by-catch in the Exclusive Economic Zones of most countries (Stevens 1996). For this reason, continued catch monitoring and trend analyses are needed to ensure that harvests do not exceed the rebound capabilities of these species. Also, to definitively assess the impact of exploitation upon these large pelagics, much more needs to be learned about the geographic extent of their populations, their habitats, and how different population segments are related.

The small, inshore coastal sharks appear to have the highest rebound potentials to buffer and recover from fishing mortality.
To some extent these species may also be protected from commercial exploitation by their small size and low yield potential, but the proximity of their habitats to centres of human population also makes their entire populations vulnerable. These species are highly accessible to fishermen and relatively easy to capture. If subjected to direct or indirect harvest, not only should they be fished at levels no greater than their r2M values, but special protection should also be imposed for vulnerable stages of their life cycles, particularly the reproductive stages. And even though their rebound rates are the highest among the sharksexamined in this study (8–14%), these rates are still comparatively low for fishes and actually more comparable to the rates of population increase estimated for certain pinnipeds (see Barlow et al. 1995). Furthermore, these sharks are limited in their compensatory flexibility because their already low average age of female maturity (which limits the option to breed earlier), small adult body sizes, short life spans and small brood sizes interact to limit abilities to increase productivity.

Conclusions

These findings reaffirm that when dealing with elasmobranchs, certain paradigms developed for teleostean fisheries management must be put aside.
For instance, rather than thinking in terms of maximizing yield, the focus should instead be on ways to preserve reproductive capability, allowing for the survival of adults through their most-contributing reproductive years.

Also, because adult stock size and recruitment are so closely linked, we need to abandon the assumption that recruitment overfishing happens relatively late in the history of a fishery following growth overfishing.
Recruitment overfishing refers to that level of population reduction at which the rate of entry of new recruits into the fishery also begins to decline. But with elasmobranchs, this condition, unless the stock is continually replenished by an influx of conspecifics from adjacent areas, will occur almost immediately because of the strong link between stock size and recruitment of progeny.

Furthermore, unlike ‘r-selected’teleosts, there is little chance of the trend being reversed by subsequent large, successful year classes entering the fishery.

Many sharks, especially coastal species, may require certain protections as a basic condition for continued fishing at any level

PS: Having been outed by Patric (thanks) and before anybody starts to hyperventilate, let me clarify where I stand on the topic of banning all Shark fishing:

• In general terms and on a global scale, I support sustainable fisheries (for all species), meaning that fishing is OK provided that yields remain below the level at which stocks can replenish. For many species of Sharks, stocks are however already severely depleted, meaning that they must be first allowed to recover and need to be strictly managed thereafter.
• I fully support regional efforts aimed at banning Shark fishing locally as they offer a counterweight to the global onslaught and preserve pockets of biodiversity in view of a possible (although alas not probable) replenishment of depleted stocks elsewhere.
• Shark finning is a specific fishing technique that is both wasteful and extremely cruel, and it needs to be completely banned.
• Trophy fishing for Sharks sucks and the record keeping by the IGFA is totally anachronistic and needs to be reformed.
  

SRMR - Step by Step

The Shark Reef Marine Reserve continues to deliver.

Here's another recent publication by Juerg - please click on it for details.
You may be surprised that it does not focus on Sharks - but ever since its inception in 2004, the SRMR has been the backdrop for a whole array of scientific research projects ranging from Fish Taxonomy all the way to Shark Behavior.
In a way, this a sort of open air laboratory where experiments can be predictably replicated and observations cover a large uninterrupted time frame, allowing us to record unusual behavior but above all, long-term changes throughout the seasons and as overall local conditions improve owing to our stewardship, thus attracting more species and more individuals.

This little piece was published in Coral Reefs.
It adds yet another footnote to the life history of the ubiquitous Sharksucker, Echeneis naucrates. It eloquently illustrates how disposing of such a unique research station enables to discover behavior that would otherwise remain largely undetected.

Absolutely Nothing to be proud of!

The Warsaw Grouper, Epinephelus nigritus, is critically endangered.
This means that it is facing an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild.

Sad story here.

Shark Savers PSA!

Nice video!

Will it be effective?
For this to work, tens of millions of Shark fin soup eaters will have to take the pledge.
For that to happen, this video will need to go viral - not just anywhere, but specifically, among the eaters of Shark fin soup, i.e. principally in Asia and within Asian communities elsewhere.

So there.
Dear readers, please circulate this wherever you can!

BAD Sharks!

This is Nick. Award-winning pic by our friend Sam Cahir.

Please check out our Bull Shark Page.

The growth in the Bull Shark population has been truly stupendous.
Whereas in 2004 when we started, seeing 10 Bulls would have been absolutely spectacular, we've just recently recorded our all-time high of at least 60! Talk about having to constantly adapt our safety procedures!
There are several possible explanations for this trend, the most plausible being that over time, we've created a Churchill, Manitoba for Bulls, meaning that like in the case of those Polar Bears, an ever increasing number of essentially solitary alpha predators have chosen to aggregate in response to the regular availability of food - and who knows, maybe also because of the chance of exchanging some reef gossip, the availability of sexual partners or the spectacle of clumsy bubble blowing divers!
Or because they all love Rusi!

Does this harm the Sharks?
We believe it does not. We've now named just a couple short of 100 individuals and keep tabs on their appearance, and from what we can discern, none of them appears restricted to Shark Reef.
Instead, they turn up for a couple of days or weeks but then disappear for weeks on end, leading us to the assumption that they are just pursuing their usual Sharky agendas. This coincides with observations of ranking and spatial distribution patterns that have been reported from other Shark feeding sites.
These are huge animals and the Tuna heads we feed them are quite lean and bony and highly unlikely to provide for enough calories to sustain such an important population - the more as quite a few of the regulars never feed at all!
Go wonder!

Since deploying the boat, we've collected and posted quite a number of ID shots.
Take a look at them, and maybe when you come visit us next, you'll be able to identify a couple - or, you may even discover a new one and be given the right to name it!
Good luck!

Shark Tournaments - increasing Traction for Catch&Release Format!

Those game fishermen continue to kill Sharks.

But the tide is clearly turning.
Congratulatory reports like this one are thankfully disappearing.
Instead, the media are increasingly adopting a much more critical view by focusing on the ethical implications of those feats, or whatever and the plight of the animals that are being targeted.
This is specially apparent in the case of those horrible Shark kill tournaments.

Case in point, this article from Bermuda.
It bemoans the wanton killing of eleven Tiger Sharks (for Lobster bait?) and contains references to the Shark Free Marinas Initiative, the work of the Guy Harvey Ocean Foundation and the Ultimate Shark Challenge. All-in-all and despite of the appalling circumstances, this is excellent pro-Shark advocacy and kudos to James Whittaker for having listened to the right people!

And then, there is this post by the Consortium for Ocean Leadership.
Very unfortunately, it provides a platform for once again highly problematic statements by a Shark researcher, this time by one Lisa Natanson who appears to be a habitual groupie of the East Coast's kill tournaments.

Yes, taking samples from Sharks that have already been landed by fishermen is vastly preferable to lethal sampling.
But to then go as far as to become a vocal public apologist for the kill tournament format is totally unacceptable. Will those people ever learn to just keep a low profile, do their job and keep their mouth shut?
Thankfully, other more enlightened colleagues raise their voice in dissent

While acknowledging the scientific benefits that can accrue from tournaments, Dr. Robert Hueter of the Mote Marine Laboratory in Florida nevertheless believes that the pressures on sharks are too great for tournaments to continue.
“I’m not saying that we aren’t gaining useful data from this sort of sampling,” he says. “But scientists have been taking these sorts of samples at tournaments for nearly 50 years.
It’s questionable that the research benefits gained at this point justify the cost to shark conservation.”

Exactly!
How many more vertebrae does Ms. Natanson need to collect before waking up to the reality that Sharks are endangered and require protection and advocacy - especially by the people who research them? Will people like her ever overcome that apparent pervasive fatal disconnect between their research and the required ethical sensibility?
Yes, what may have been OK in the past is not OK anymore - how about some adaptive evolution!

Once again, kudos to Bob Heuter for having spoken up.
Having very much been part and parcel of the Guy Harvey Ultimate Shark Challenge, he knows what he's talking about and represents the future of Shark research, as do Neil and of course Juerg!
Well said!

Nature Management

Very interesting!

Obama has a new Ocean Policy and you can read about it here.
I did quickly skim over the relevant document and found this remarkable paragraph.

The time has come for a comprehensive national policy for the stewardship of the ocean, our coasts, and the Great Lakes.
Today, as never before, we better comprehend the links among land, air, fresh water, ocean, ice, and human activities. Advances in science and technology provide better and timelier information to guide decision-making. By applying the principles of ecosystem-based management (which integrates ecological, social, economic, commerce, health, and security goals, and which recognizes both that humans are key components of ecosystems and also that healthy ecosystems are essential to human welfare) and of adaptive management (which calls for routine reassessment of management actions to allow for better informed and improved future decisions) in a coordinated and collaborative approach, the Nation will more effectively address the challenges facing the ocean, our coasts, and the Great Lakes and ensure their continued health for this and future generations.

Precisely!
Forget the notion of there remaining some remote and pristine corner worthy of being called Wilderness!
We are everywhere – physically, but also in the air, in the climate, in the water, in the soil, from the tip of the Everest to the bottom of the Marianas Trench. And those who profess the contrary and are advocating hands-off policies and a return to Rousseau’s views of noble savages living in harmony with nature are either hopelessly naïve (or hopelessly optimistic) or fatally subjected to the fallacy of shifting baselines, or both.

Granted, panta rei.
But this is not some natural change dictated by the slow progression of geological and evolutionary processes: this is an explosion of anthropogenic extinctions and habitat degradation that is simply unprecedented, a full-scale war on biodiversity that for the most part is completely irreversible and seemingly unstoppable.
May I be a tad overly melodramatic? On the contrary – just look at the mess we’ve made!

But whereas we cannot change the past and ever bring back what we have irrevocably destroyed, we can at least try and halt the onslaught.
I’ve said it before, if we choose to do so, we may indeed succeed in preserving some highly reduced, less diverse, less attractive resemblance of what once was. But whatever we will call it, it will never again just be, it will be something that we will need to continuously defend and to actively manage.

As the Pew correctly remarks
The policy reflects a "modern outlook that doesn't mistake the oceans for wilderness, but a work zone where we need zoning,"

The sooner everybody understands this, the sooner we can embark on a common route aimed at achieving realistic, tangible and above all, sustainable and long lasting results.

About booking the Fiji Shark Dive

There seems to be some confusion, so there.

It is really this simple.
In order to experience the Fiji Shark Dive, you will need to have a confirmed booking with Beqa Adventure Divers and you will need to board one of our vessels that will take you to Shark Reef Marine Reserve.
You can book with us directly - or via an intermediary, i.e. one of many reputable international travel agents that market our products, one of the local hotels we co-market with or one of the many local tour desks and hotels throughout Fiji we co-operate with. They will help you make a booking with us and earn a commission in exchange.

This is what does not work.
We generally cannot cater to last-minute walk-ins as we tend to be fully booked.
And above all, and contrary to the past, we just cannot anymore accommodate other dive shops wanting to join the Shark dive by taking their clients to Shark Reef on their boats. Specifically, at present, we do not have any such deals with any of the resorts situated on Beqa Island. Thus, anybody booking Shark dives when staying with them will not be joining our dive.

The reason for this is that this was never about maximizing our profit.
We will thus never run a cattle dive but instead, we will always try to provide a professional, personalized, enjoyable and above all, extremely safe experience and have thus decided to limit the number of customers on any one Shark dive to 20 only. Even on the rare days where we may not reach those numbers, we prefer that our customers enjoy that special feeling of exclusivity and will still turn away other operators.

The one exception to that rule are special charters.
At present, the price for such a charter is FJD 2,800, non negotiable, for which we will run an exclusive Shark dive even for other operators. But having said this, we will still limit the dive to 20 customers and we will retain full control of the dive and continue to enforce all of our procedures, inclusive of the rules about capturing images.

I hope this will help avoiding any further misunderstandings.
Vinaka!

Free Diving with the Big Ones?

Great pic by Fred Buyle - and yes this is a link!

You may want to check out this video clip.
Will it be kept online, or will it be retracted?

It shows what I believe to be an investigatory bite by a large Tiger Shark.
I hear that the free diver (no it was not a dummy) was not hurt in the process, which is great. If I may venture a hypothesis, the animal does not look highly motivated and may also not have liked the taste of rubber.

As to the diver's apparent total lack of reaction, hmmm...
Playing possum may well be a life saving reaction once one is being cornered by a Grizzly - but from everything I've ever experienced, the correct way of addressing the unwanted attentions of Sharks is to confront them. Mostly, a determined stare and a small shove will do the job but sometimes, the reaction needs to be way more assertive - before one ends up in the animal's mouth! To remain completely passive, to me, equals surrendering the initiative to the animal and hoping for a positive outcome - not really what I would consider the best of survival strategies!
In the softest possible way - there are lessons to be learned here and no, this is not proof that Tiger Sharks are harmless!

Which brings me straight over to the subject at hand.
Safe free diving with large predatory Sharks and other large marine predators is certainly possible, as witnessed by countless such encounters in South Africa - and not only there! Now, some of the same highly experienced free divers are mounting a commercial expedition to the North-Eastern Pacific. And yes this includes Guadalupe and having asked, NO it does NOT include cage-less commercial encounters with Great Whites - whether free diving or on SCUBA!

The one factor that caught my eye is the emphasis on education and training.
Free diving is not snorkeling, far from it: both mentally and physically, it is a highly demanding sport requiring life-long training and dedication. And when interacting with marine life, it also requires ocean sense, i.e. a profound and instinctive knowledge of the ocean and the animals that can only be garnered in years of experience, often whilst spearfishing. No wonder that so many excellent free divers describe it as a transcendental experience!

And I may add: no wonder that many of them progress to become Shark divers - on SCUBA!
Just teasing!

Bottom line?
Like mountain climbing with which it shares many similarities, free diving needs to be tackled in increments - and if free diving with large pelagic predators can rightly be considered to be the Everest (yes I'm being facetious), it needs to be addressed in exactly the same manner: by experienced, well prepared and well trained individuals and with excellent guides.
With that in mind - may the expedition be a total success!

SyFy Stuff!

Behold the Sharktopus!

More about SyFy and Sharks in an upcoming post!

Fiji Times on Sharks!

Kudos to Samuela Loanakadavu.

He witnessed the over harvesting of Sharks and decided to address the topic.
The result is this remarkable feature in Fiji's biggest newspaper, the Fiji Times. Well researched and formulated, it clearly highlights the importance of Sharks for their habitat and why protecting them, and consequently, the reefs they live in is very much in the national interest.
In a nutshell, if Fiji looses its natural resources, we may as well kiss our tourism industry goodbye.

As to Aquatrek, bah.
What you read is a verbatim copy/paste from their website. How pathetic and once again, not the journo's fault for assuming that people don't lie in public.
And yes, I'm again being petty and yes, I'm digressing.

What needs to be added to the article is this.
It is quite correct to observe that like everywhere else, Fiji's marine resources are being over-exploited - but having been there, I can assure you that in comparison to most other tropical destinations, Fiji is in many ways a trailblazer in sustainable marine management!

As to the role of Government, it is not only aware of the situation but is actually very much working on solutions.
But this is an emerging country and the Department of Fisheries only disposes of so many resources, and a succession of Governments with varying priorities has not been helpful. Plus, the qoliqoli system whereby the villages are the trustees of the reefs requires lengthy consultations and education at the grassroots level, something that once again implies investments in time, people and money.
But despite of it and the magnitude of the challenges ranging from climate change mitigation and coordinating the Pacific Tuna fisheries all the way to re-mapping the individual qoliqoli entitlements and modernizing the antiquated fisheries laws, progress has been remarkable.

And when it comes to Shark conservation, Government has been nothing but supportive and frankly, a joy to work with. At present, under a new transparent, accountable and highly result oriented management team, Fisheries are in fact actively pursuing pro-Shark policies and having been involved in that process, I am indeed very optimistic.

Keep watching this space!

Shark Week - Prologue

Quite a coup by Discovery!

Craig Ferguson is one of my favorite comedians.
He must be one of the most pleasantly witty people out there and I was happy, and surprised to discover that has signed up to be this year's host for Shark Week.



I must also agree with George that so far, the promo we get to see is admirably neutral and like the South African clip, hinting at some genuine nature programming as opposed to the usual Shark attack garbage.



And yes, I did also like the idea of the video contest and look forward to the submissions. Shark NGOs: make us proud, here's the chance at getting out some great pro-Shark media!

Still, the whispers about Shark Porn are not going away.
Will it thus be a bag of mixed programming?
As always, we shall see!

About Biodiversity, with E. O. Wilson

The distribution of marine biodiversity varies widely throughout ocean basins. The abundance and diversity of most taxa tends to be highest near continental and island margins that are less than 2,000 meters deep. Please click to enlarge.

This is about Assumption 2.

Ed Wilson is one of my heroes.
Now 81, his mind remains as sharp as a razor.
Along with other seminal books like Quammen's The Song of the Dodo, his The Future of Life (read this great interview) is one of the publications that convinced me that something needed to be done, right now. Choosing to focus on the Oceans, and Sharks in particular, was then nothing more than a corollary and largely spawned by my life long passion for diving and underwater imagery.

Anyway, I'm digressing as usual.
Enjoy!

Tim Rock - excellent Shark Media!

Yes I'm obviously biased!

Timbo is a good friend and a good friend of BAD.
He is also a great guy, one of the world's foremost photojournalists and a staunch conservationist, and it has been an honor, and a pleasure hosting him during his forays to Fiji. The result has been a great coffee table book and a smaller book focusing on Shark Reef and our efforts to preserve Sharks, along with a whole series of articles in the adventure travel and diving media.

Now, Tim's travels to Fiji are the topic of this feature in PDN.
True to his calling, Timbo once again manages to weave in excellent pro Shark messaging - along with promo for Fiji, Continental Airlines, the books, SRMR and, yes, us! Talk about being a consummate professional!

As always Timbo: Kudos and Vinaka!

Heartbreaking!

Just look at this!



Those are Blues, Makos and Salmon Sharks being processed industrially.
And no, this is not what is commonly referred to as Shark finning, i.e. only cutting off the fins and then throwing the carcasses overboard - these Sharks have been obviously brought in whole and are now being processed for the Shark fin and maybe, the Shark meat markets.

Still think that those petitions are really addressing the problem?

Gruesome story and images here.

PS yes I'm being uncharacteristically polite - more explicit and important thoughts on the matter by Shark Diver here. As so often, I could not agree more!

But amid all the bleakness, there is good news.
The goal is not, to completely eliminate fishing, which would indeed require, as a minimum, matching, dollar for dollar, the kind of unrivaled commerce with sharks we saw coming out of Japan this week. There's hundreds of millions of people for whom eating Fish is the only source of animal protein, and millions of fishermen depend on their trade for eking out what often is a meager existence - let there never be a doubt that hey have a right to exist!
The goal is to reduce fishing to sustainable levels and there, the conservation movement has excellent chances of prevailing, as in the long term, it benefits everybody. But we must act intelligently, set realistic goals and prioritize our resources - and yes, I'm very much repeating myself!

PS2 Richard Theiss here, with more excellent reflections!

Guy on CNN!

Great feature on a great Guy (!) - including the shirts and the tournament!
Transcript here.

Into the Atlantic

This is scary!



The semantics somewhat escape me.
The authors insist that this is not a prediction but rather, a possible scenario - still, to me, it very much looks like as early as this October, all of the east coast Shark hotspots might be at risk.
Especially those along the Straights of Florida between West Palm Beach and Grand Bahama - meaning Jupiter and Tiger Beach!

Possible action?

Unststainable European Fisheries

I'm obviously far for being surprised!
Still, this newest report contains an intriguing twist: Europe is not only mismanaging its own Fish stocks, it is exporting its Fish mismanagement to other countries, many of which are poor.
European fleets are expanding into global waters where they pursue the same, or even worse destructive practices all the way to outright poaching.
May European development aid be in any way linked to this?
Honi soit qui mal y pense!

From the Executive Summary

EU fish stocks are in an unprecedentedly poor state yet fish consumption throughout Europe remains high.
The EU has been able to maintain and expand its levels of consumption by sourcing fish from other countries, both through the catches of its distant-water fleet and imports. This report highlights Europe’s increasing reliance on fish products originating from external waters for its fish supplies, and provides pointers towards a more sustainable future for dwindling global fish stocks.

In a context of finite resources and growing populations, the current EU model is unsustainable.
The EU’s increasing ‘fish dependence’ has implications for the sustainability of fish stocks in other countries, which are also overfished, and for the communities that depend on them. The main message of this report is that rising fish consumption in a context of declining stocks is a model that is environmentally unviable and socially unfair.

The EU has highly productive waters that have the potential to sustain a long-term and stable supply of fish, jobs and related social and economic benefits, but only if its fish resources are managed responsibly.
The reform of the EU’s Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) offers a unique opportunity to put the structures in place to turn this situation around. In order for this to happen, policymakers need to look beyond the short-term costs that could result from reform and give priority to the long-term benefits that healthy marine resources will provide.

From the Conclusions

In the context of a steadily growing population, the trend towards the fishing of stocks to depletion before moving on to another resource (either through targeting distant-water fishing grounds or importing produce) is unsustainable, environmentally ruinous and potentially damaging for poorer countries and their development.
Many of the costs of EU fish mismanagement are being exported, with direct consequences on the fish stocks of non-EU countries, simply to meet EU demand.
Change is desperately needed if we are to break this pattern – the EU needs to focus efforts on restoring its own marine ecosystems and to move towards consumption levels that are commensurate with ecosystem capacity.

Abstract here and full report here: for once, well worth reading in its entirety!
SOSF recommendations here.

Octopus!

An octopus with an own Wikipedia page?
O tempora o mores!

Bird or Octopus?

I must confess that I hate Parrots.

That's largely due to a horrible Cockatoo named Gnasher who destroyed my titanium IWC years ago on the Lady Jenny V somewhere between Sudan and Djibouti (reminiscences by John Bantin here) - never forgotten and never forgiven!
And what about that infernal screeching!

Yes, granted, they are beautiful and according to some, highly intelligent.
But honestly, does this look like intelligent, let alone psychic to you?



Octopi on the other hand are bloody cool!
And Paul is apparently infallible on top of that!



All of which really sucks, because ever since 1974, I'm a fan of the Netherlands!
Oh well.

Guy Harvey Shirts - must buy!

It really is very very bad!
I spare you the links - but by now, the Gulf Oil Spill must surely have evolved into the worst anthropogenic marine extinction event, ever.

Action?
Have the US-based Marine Conservation orgs all re-defined their priorities and are they throwing their resources at this?
Hmmmmmm...

One that does is the Guy Harvey Ocean Foundation.
Guy being who he is has designed two new shirts and one poster that are now for sale everywhere. As he explains in his blog, fifty percent of the proceeds will go to institutions researching the effects of the spill. The data are vital as they will certainly determine the thrust of any future remediation once the spill has been contained.

Please go and purchase those shirts - this is really money well spent.
Thank you.

Humpbacks!

Big surprise today on the way to Carpet Cove: breaching Humpbacks!

Fiji is a Whale sanctuary.
But whereas there used to be heaps of Humpbacks in the 50ies, the population was subsequently severely depleted as Sovjet whalers killed tens of thousands of Humpback Whales in Antarctica and very possibly eradicated the "memory" of the migratory route to Fiji.

Looks like the leviathans are making a tenuous comeback.
Two years ago, a lonely individual parked himself on Shark Reef - at which every single Shark , never having seen anything like it, decided to leave!
During last year's winter, we kept hearing their songs on nearly every dive and now, it appears, we're in for more encounters.

Great - provided that the Sharks remember who's the top dog!

Poetic License!

43m/30', two deco stops and 7 Bulls circling overhead?
A client assisting the feeder?
Really?

No, really not!
Tom Neal Tacker must have been madly, truly, deeply confused!
The Fiji Shark Dive is this - without exception and also, without any deco apart from the customary 3' safety stop. But with heaps upon heaps of Bulls!

Apart from that, always nice to get a honorable mention in the mainstream Ozzie media!
And: I did like the Shark conservation sound bites!

Peekaboo?

Please click to enlarge.

This sure is an unusual picture!

Some novel, previously unrecorded behavior?
Is that Reef Blacktip really turning its head to look at Sasha, as is being speculated in the post? My personal interpretation is that this is most probably a freeze frame of a Blacktip shaking its head after having grasped a piece of bait. That's what they usually do and it would also account for the open mouth and the entire s-shaped body posture.
Still - great shot!

Or - may it be a reflection of Fiji's famous multiculturalism?
As in this?

Talking of which, some minor cultural challenges persist - alas!
Enjoy!

The Running, and not, of the Bulls!

Now THATs what I call dangerous - click to enlarge!

Pamplona is about to unleash!
A big Bula Vinaka from Fiji, and may everything go well!

As to our own Running of the Bulls, it actually happens in January.
But as the El Niño has fizzled out and may well be slowly evolving into a proper La Niña, the numbers continue to be impressive, with a constant 30 to 40 big Bull Sharks on every dive!

With one exception last May.
For a whole week, numbers were positively dismal and the few scattered animals that deigned to turn up refused to feed, as described in this post by Sasha (translate it here and yes, that's yet another stellar pic from this year's crop!). And would you believe it - at the same time, the Manta Rays disappeared from neighboring Kadavu! And, I hear, from the Yasawas!
And then, just as suddenly as it started, all was back to normal and kept getting better until reaching our all time record in June.
Go wonder!

We've been scratching our head ever since - but may this be correlated to the weather phenomena that happened in May and are described in the link? And may Richard have experienced something related when he got skunked in the Bahamas?

Just goes to show how little we know!
Which by the way, is totally part of the fun of what we do!

Pseudomonas?

I was intrigued by this post by Patric.

A bug that eats oil?
Having looked it up, it apparently does just that - leading to Pseudomonas putida becoming the first ever patented organism in the world! More of the same here - and I'm sure that there's much more if you bother to go and search for it!

Will it work?
Now being my usual skeptic, cynic and whatnot self, I'm tempted to resort to my usual we shall see, lean back and start honing my sarcastic scalpel. But for Patric to go public, he must be pretty sure of what he's saying - and he normally follows through on his announcements.
Plus, I've just recently had to learn to be a bit more optimistic.

So here's to Patric and his super-bug!
The Gulf sure needs all the help it can get!

Terrible Tiger Sharks...

Roughing it in the SoPac - in a posh river front villa with swimming pool!

… and Beautiful Bull Sharks!

Yup the kids are on the loose again!
This is Broadreach Academic Treks’ yearly Shark Studies for High School kids, meaning loads of fun, chaos, giggles, adventure and drama! And new goodies for the staff!
You can vicariously follow events on What’s Up: select Shark Studies and then, SS11 or later on, as the next group arrives, SS21.

We just love it!

Marketing by lying?

Here we go again!

You gotta check this out.

I'm not blaming the journo for publishing those statements.
But the fact is that Shark Reef Marine Reserve was negotiated and established by myself (my 2003 project paper here - testimony here) and Manasa “Papa” Boulivou, period - with the cooperation and assistance of the villages, the then Minister of Fisheries Konisi Yabaki and his men under Aisake Batibasaga .

Certainly not by Aquatrek Beqa who were actually adamantly opposed to it; not by “me, Brandon Paige” who resigned from Aquatrek Beqa in 2002 and was then working on Taveuni; not even by Beqa Adventure Divers who however became the trustees of the reserve once it was established in 2004 and have been collecting the Marine Park Levy ever since.

By all means, don’t take my word for it: here are the relevant documents - click to enlarge.














The Fiji Shark Corridor comprising the Qoliqoli or fishing grounds of the villages of Galoa, Wainiyabia and Deuba and encompassing Shark Reef Marine Reserve and Lake Reef was established by Beqa Adventure Divers in 2007 and the three villages have since been compensated by us (only) for keeping it Shark Safe.
Here are the relevant documents
















q.e.d. - I rest my case.
How pathetic having to post this!
And yes, I wish I were a bigger man - maybe in another life!

Out of the Bag!

Juvenile GW with narrower teeth identifying him as a Fish-eater.

After months of quiet & meticulous preparation, Lawrence has unveiled his latest project.

This is as cool as it gets - and really important!
He will be trying to film juvenile Great Whites as they migrate along the coast of Southern California. This is a veritable running of the gauntlet as although GWs are protected in the USA and along Mexico's Baja peninsula, many get killed as bycatch and due to poaching.
According to some sources, there may well be as little as 3,500 GWs left world wide and those juveniles are the key to the survival of the North-Eastern Pacific population, estimated to comprise only between 200 and 300 individuals.

May the quest be successful and yield amazing images!
Full -and amazing- story here.

Savusavu covered!

Make it twenty-four - Fiji rocks!

The Copra Shed and Waitui Marina have become Shark Free Marinas!
This is a personal initiative of our marine scientist Arthur who was in Vanua Levu for a talk at a community outreach seminar organized by CORAL and Sea Web.

Those are Savusavu's principal marinas and with it being one of Fiji's principal ports of call on the SoPac milk run, the signage will undoubtedly contribute to spreading the concept among the yachting community.
Who knows, maybe one of them will even sign up a marina as he travels on towards Melanesia!

In view of the pathetic snubbing by the Shark orgs, the initiative sure needs all the help it can get!

Vinaka Art, you're the man!

For real Men!

Wilson alerts me to this game.

For real men?
I'm obviously too old and technophobic for that kind of stuff - but then again, it quite remarkably appears to be completely devoid of any attacks, chomping and killing and all of those other pedagogically valuable attributes commonly associated with Shark toys and the like. So I guess that's progress and thus a good thing!

Which brings me straight over to the Are You Man enough Shark Challenge - remember?
Looks like after having been dragged there kicking and above all, screaming, Jack Donlon has seen the light: his tournament has become catch-and-release and a continuation of the excellent trend pioneered by the Guy Harvey Ultimate Shark Challenge.
And since it's popular and thus, good business, Jack plans to roll this out even further! Yes it's ultimately all about the money - but if it entertains the plebs and saves Sharks in the process, all I can say is well done, good on him and best of success with it!

Tho I still believe that those IGFA weight records must be abolished - and that, anyway, game fishing for Sharks is for wanquers !
Yes, please excuse my French!

Customer Videos!

As always, found by pure chance.

This one is quite typical for January-March, with plenty of Bulls.



And here's one for true Scarface-aholics!
Yes, she is BIG!

Opah!

Yes without an "r"!

That's the Fish this Bull Shark is chomping on!
We normally feed Tuna heads but from time to time, we get a couple of these strange looking specimen - and the Bulls love them! Look at all the yummy Fish blood, a clear indicator for good Shark bait!

The beautiful and bizarre deep-water Fish is Lampris guttatus, colloquially referred to as Sunfish or Moonfish, one of two extant species in this genus. Not really rare but rarely caught by anglers, here's a fresh one caught in Mexico.
Please click on pictures to enlarge.

BBC Shark Videos - simply fantastic!

I really did like this alot - take a look.



See?
This could have been about any other animal and its habitat.
For once, a Shark video featuring no stupid host, no fabricated hype, no gore - but also no romantic stereotypes, no scenes of finning, no doomsday scenarios, no wagnerian drama!

Instead, the clip contains all the ingredients of truly professional nature programming: excellent story line, excellent images, excellent editing, excellent commentary, excellent sound track. With Shark Week looming and increasing indications that this year's lineup will once again feature plenty of Shark porn, the BBC once again shows everybody how to produce fantastic documentaries featuring Sharks.

This is the way forward, this is how one gets the message across.
It has been successfully done with the terrestrial predators and I cannot tell you how glad I am to see that the same rules are now finally being applied to the Marine ecosystems.

More of the same below, capitalizing on the amazing insights of TOPP.
Enjoy!

Important Stuff by Neil!

One more post about Shark research!
The Dorsal Fin alerts me to this video featuring Dr. Neil Hammerschlag.



Story here.
Neil comes across as being an impressive guy doing impressive things.
He popped up on my radar when I reported about the senseless killing of pregnant Sharks in Florida and I have since followed his research blog and had a peek at his website. From what I can discern, he operates very much at the cutting edge of science and technology, is respectful of the animals and is passionate about conservation - exactly the way I believe modern researchers need to be!
Very well done indeed!

The Bull Shark Tagging Programme

Please click to enlarge.

This is Juerg's poster for his presentation at Sharks International.

The Program comprises much more than tagging only.
Over the years, it has naturally evolved into a multi-faceted project exploring all the different facets of what we do here in Fiji, from trying to answer strictly biological and conservation-oriented questions to optimizing our procedures in view of always improving safety but also, reducing our impact on the animals and the reef. This has already led to the publication of several papers, with more in the pipeline.

As always, it is work in progress and subject to change as we gain new insights.
This is such a time where we are re-defining our priorities and formulating new initiatives, some of which will surprise, and hopefully, excite you.

Keep watching this space!

Tonic

Cristina understands.

"I don't think they like it the way human beings perceive liking it... but definitely there's something positive about it that the Sharks like."



Same-same with Sharkman Mike under her guidance - and for once, a show on Discovery I really did enjoy.



All with a caveat: for professionals only!

I stand corrected!

Me and my big mouth!

I recently scorned Kevin Waterworld Costner.
Wrongly so: apparently, his gizmo works just fine!

Guess that teaches me not to always equate Out of the Box with Out there in Left Field!