Face-to-Face with Dakuwaqa!

It is definitely always Shark O'Clock on Shark Reef - click for detail!

Great stuff!

Behold Joanna's post about her visit with us.

Joanna is the current Our World-Underwater Scholarship Society Australasian Rolex Scholar, and we are proud that she continues in the hallowed tradition of making Fiji the first destination in her year-long itinerary. Should you be interested, you can follow her adventures on Facebook, Instagram and on her blog.

Vinaka Joanna.

From the team, we wish you fair winds and following seas - and above all, heaps of adventure, inspiration and fun! And to our dear friend, the indefatigable and adorable Jayne who had to sit this one out: get well, and see you real soon!

Enjoy Joanna's post!
 

What Shark is this??

Notice the caudal peduncle - click for detail!

Behold!

This is from the second 15m dive at Shark Reef a few days ago. 

For once I was not diving, and the footage is courtesy of Martin who is here for his yearly Bull Shark fix. I'm being told that the Shark was curious and circled above - but with a gaggle of Bulls dominating the feed, she remained wary and never tried to join the mêlée. 

At a reported 3 meters in length, this is a big Shark.

When they first told me, they stated that she was an emaciated, sickly Bull Shark - but from the video I can instead discern that despite of the tumor and the buckled first dorsal, she is in rather good shape. I also notice the elegant sinuous way she moves, and the keel-like bulge on her caudal peduncle, both of which are not at all diagnostic of Bull Sharks, sickly or otherwise.

So what is this?

Years ago there was another mystery Shark with a similar shape of the caudal peduncle. Back then, somebody stated that it was a Dusky - but that's a Shark living off continental shelves and we are obviously on an island, so today I'm rather skeptical.

I got my thoughts but would love to hear yours.

Opinions welcome - here on the blog and not on Facebook please!

Thank you!

PS! - May, 2022: having now sadly witnessed several moribund bull sharks, I can state with absolute certainty that this is one of those - likely Lumpy who had a large tumor and was getting ever more emaciated last time I saw her. Those Bulls are real badasses and will fight, and even compete for food til the very end.

Beqa Adventure Divers presents!

Thank you Tom.

As always he is delivering in spades.

Behold his awesome little promo video, and blog post about our latest conservation initiative, My Fiji Shark that illustrate perfectly his rapid progression from researcher to professional conservation photographer and scientific journalist to now also filmmaker and editor. 

Work with him!

As a quick reminder.

This is all about assisting Government in the implementation of two key commitments it has made at the 2017 Ocean Conference: Fiji-wide Shark and Ray conservation and management where stuff is happening behind the scenes; and improved coastal fisheries management where we have already embarked on an aggressive schedule of anti-poaching patrols together with the Ministry of Fisheries.

Big kudos to the project team.

Our stalwart Peni and Mans are looking back on close to a decade of scientific and awareness work for BAD, and it certainly shows both here but also in our publications and in the reviews where their passionate surface interval talks are consistently being praised by our customers.

Guys, Vinaka Vakalevu for your commitment, dedication and loyalty.

And then there is Tashi Blue.

Our indefatigable Conservation Director has hit the ground running, and My Fiji Shark is entirely her very own, very personal initiative from initial concept to weeks upon weeks of preparations to final implementation.
In fact she has, and continues to personally curate every single aspect from the stellar logo to having personally built the entire website including every single description of the Sharks, every single element of the Adoption Pack and every single Upgrade. And now that everything is up and running, she personally writes every single post on Facebook and Instagram and every single report, personally shoots and edits every single video, personally sources every single garment and bespoke jewelry and personally manages every aspect of outreach and marketing, like she will then personally oversee all disbursement and related conservation initiatives once they will finally eventuate. Talk about unbridled passion, meticulous attention to detail, utmost professionalism and total commitment!

Thank You. I'm proud of you. And I love you.

Anyway.

Enjoy Tom's video!

Please, Adopt Your Shark Now!
Thank you!
 

Goodbye, Doc.

Doc and his lovely family. Source.

What a tragedy.

I had been away, and had missed the horrible news of Doc's passing.

No, no eulogy here - others knew him so much better.

We did meet a few times and did like each other, and have corresponded frequently, sometimes also for this blog. My recollection of him can be summarized in "larger than life": brilliantly intelligent; utterly fearless; eminently entertaining and charming, and ludicrously witty; opinionated, authoritative and passionate; zero tolerance for mediocrity, bullshit, posers and charlatans; lived life to the fullest. Mensch.

And he was such a brilliant scientist and mentor who has given us so much and above all, touched so many lives.

Please read Ila's brilliant biographies.

And then, there are Jeremy's book, and his synopsis. And of course, the eulogy by the Sharklab, and the many loving testimonials.

And this.

Such a lovely man - I will miss him greatly.

My heart goes out to Marie and the family.

 

Fur Seals vs. Great White Sharks!

Source.

Wow - watch.

15 Years of BAD Videos - Coming of Age!

And here we are!

Needless to say that we're mighty proud - and after much trial-and error, it also looks like we might be finally doing something right! :)

Anyway, notable more recent clips include:

Howard and Michele!



Fiji's first National Marine Park!

Happy, and very funny clients - and the FOOTAGE IS 100% REAL! :)

Philippe!



Jason!



Juerg and Kerstin!





16:55ff: Tashi Blue and My Fiji Shark!

Lemme tell'ya, it has been quite the adventure!

And although the job is by no means done, we're certainly getting there, baby step by baby step, with BIG NEWS looming in the not-too-distant future!

To be continued!

And THAT's a promise!

15 Years of BAD Videos - Getting There!

Happy days.

And the saga continues.

Among many, many short and long film productions:

Behold the Fiji Shark Sanctuary that wasn't.

And lest anyone forgets: thank you Julie Andersen and her disastrous Operation Requiem for sabotaging years of hard work!

 

Shark Free Marinas in Fiji!



My favorite trailer for David's Of Shark and Man, filmed in 2011.




Hello Projects Abroad!



Jero and Ana of Pelagic Life in Fiji!



Shark Reef video!



Goodbye my friend and hero, Ron Taylor.



RIP my friend and buddy, Rusi.



To be continued!

Mystery Wedgefish?

The CITES CoP18 will be held in Colombo in May. 

Among the species proposed for listing are the Wedgefishes and Giant Guitarfishes that are both being persecuted mercilessly for their fins, and ever more threatened with extinction as a consequence.
 
Above is a Wedgefish from Fiji - click for detail.

The pics are from the FB page of the Waidroka Bay Resort, i.e. from just around the corner. Our local Wedgefishes are a bit of a mystery and consistently being misidentified, mostly as Rhynchobatus djiddensis which this one is clearly not - so which one is it?

Brand-new ID guide right here.

Thoughts?

PS: indeed R. australiae or laevis - or yet another undescribed Wedgefish from that species complex. That said, Kerstin has already identified australiae by DNA barcoding back in 2015!
And, remember?
 

15 Years of BAD Videos - Growing up!

Our Viking BAD girl Lill dove with us for most of 2009 and provided us with a steady stream of great pictures - this is Chopper.

Welcome back! :)

So here are some videos from our middle years.

I had just come back from a rather traumatic multi-year hiatus in Tonga, things were challenging with first a coup d'état and then a constitutional crisis in Fiji, and a recession globally; and then to top it off our land lord went bust and we were temporarily shut down - and thank you Frank for personally saving our ass with a strategically placed phone call!

And yet we did progress in leaps and bounds, did really crank up the scientific work and also greatly refined our protocols.

And then there was the International Year of the Shark!

We coordinated the only nation-wide roll-out of this initiative and produced Fiji's first Shark PSA, to wit.

This is a nice little program we did with local Mai TV.









The following two productions are incidentally both by Basque visitors.





And finally, more goodies by Mai TV, this time about our early work in the river nurseries.





To be continued!

15 Years of BAD Videos - the Beginning!

Oh my - how time flies!

Behold a small selection of videos from the very early days.

These are from approx 2003-2007 when we did a lot of experimenting and frankly also crazy shit, to wit the selection of bloopers and close calls in the "Naughty File".

 

Featuring Rusi and "Papa" Manasa but also David and Mini!

And this is our very first, very cheesy marketing video! :)

And talking about crazy shit.

How about Rusi a) removing a hook from, and then at the end b) mouth-feeeding Scarface!

And here's the famous BBC clip from 2006!



To be continued! :)

Sharkbait Ooh Ha Ha!

Source - click for detail!

To wit,



That said, enjoy Hannah Logan's Shark diving report!

Will Smith's Bucket List - Shark Diving!

I've finally found the embed code so there - watch.

Like it?

Frankly, I rather do - because I like pro-Shark media, because I like Will Smith and because owing to him, there's an endearing levity to it all.

But of course there has to be a big BUT - right? :)

No worry not: I'm not gonna personally unleash on little PdG who has been punished enough and is obviously just trying to cope and make a living.

But I still got to ask,
Has this production gotten any better by portraying him as a Shark expert which he is clearly not, letting him stoke the fear of Sharks by reminding everybody that they can be deadly, and then having him sell his old and terminally tired fear-facing snake oil?

Wouldn't it have been amply enough to have Will experience and simply ENJOY the dive at Tiger Beach sans all that repetitive gratuitous and totally fabricated death-defying drama - remember the stellar program with Craig Ferguson back then?

And talking of clap trap: did Nietzsche really state what Joe claims?

Anyway.

It could have clearly been better - but Will had a great time and that's all that ultimately counts. And it will of course make no difference whatsoever, one way or the other.

So all is good.

Let's go Shark diving!

15 Years of BAD - Pictures!

Rusi the man with the yellow hood and Whitenose, the first Shark we've ever named - click for detail!

So yes we're celebrating!

I really got nothing to add to what I said here and here.

Only, that there obviously has been more progress, foremost of which the designation of the SRMR as Fiji's first National Marine Park; quite a few more research papers, with several more already in the pipeline; and last but not least, our newest conservation initiative, My Fiji Shark.

So in lieu of yet another boring self-congratulatory tribute.

Behold 15 years of BADness - and should this or that picture intrigue you, you can click on it for detail, and also click on the dates for the relevant blog posts!

Enjoy!

The unforgotten Scarface - this pic is from 2003!

Two icons: Rusi and Scarface, 2005

October, 2006

Rusi and Doris, June10,2007
 

June 17, 2008

June 27, 2008

September 15, 2008

March 7, 2009

 

August 22, 2009

August 28, 2009
 

December 22, 2009

April 21, 2010

June 25, 2011
 

August 14, 2012

August 28, 2012

March 21, 2012

May 21, 2012

May 29, 2013 

July 26, 2013 

 August 13, 2013
 

February 14, 2014
 

April 4, 2014 

January 29, 2015
 

March 28, 2015 

September 9, 2015

February 28, 2016 

September 27, 2016

March 25, 2017

May 3, 2018 

May 15, 2018

January 1, 2019

February 2, 2019 

And finally, here we are!

To be continued - and that's a promise!

Yes it's true!

Watch.



There will be a proper blog post after the celebrations!
And anyway... let's go Shark diving!

My Fiji Shark on Speak Your Mind!

Behold Peni and Tashi Blue on 16:55ff!

It goes without saying that I'm fucking proud.

Should you have been living under a rock for the past 6 months: this is obviously about our latest and greatest conservation initiative, MyFijiShark. And as Tashi has hinted, something is brewing - and you can rest assured that once anything eventuates, your contribution will lead to immediate and tangible results on the ground!

And for you in the know.

Yes this would finally be the ravishing Esquire - and I will most certainly leave it at that!

Anyway.

Enjoy - and please, Adopt Your Shark Now!