A question I'd like someone to answer is if the shark viewing is really better where they say he was than 1/4 mile away from where they say he was? Is there some feature in the State waters that is just better for shark feeding than 1/4 mile out?
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A question I'd like someone to answer is if the shark viewing is really better where they say he was than 1/4 mile away from where they say he was? Is there some feature in the State waters that is just better for shark feeding than 1/4 mile out?
Depth. It gets pretty deep in that area. In the Bahamas we feed in 20-30 feet of water, offering relatively limitless bottom time. The 3 mile line off of Jupiter can be 80-200 feet deep. ANd it drops off fast. The state water line could be in 80 feet of water, but 1/4 mile away it could be 200 feet.
It's called not adjudicating. The judge must have been convinced he didn't intentionally break the law, or his clean record swayed them.
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I still can't believe it's legal to chum the beaches and shark fish from shore. Yet they make such a stink about shark diving where there are no "swimmers."
From what I gathered, the FWC's logic is that since the sharks are either being killed or getting a negative experience from being hooked, they aren't making a positive association between humans and food. How much that matters is open to debate; as far as I'm concerned the issue of bait, people, and sharks all in the water at the same time is a far more immediate issue than whether or not they're learning bad habits. I'm betting that the number of shark attacks related to fishing from the beach is much, much higher than the number of attacks during feeding dives.
Speaking of which, went out with Randy today and did three dives on the Bonaire; the deep ledge has reportedly been quiet ever since they found a dead bull shark out there recently. We only had four bulls on the wreck that were very, very circumspect despite the blood and bait - Randy shot a big cobia off a bull and probably put enough blood in the water to ring dinner bells halfway up the state. Got the cobia up untouched and the bulls pretty much stayed at the edge of viz until late in the third dive when Randy started cutting up a big amberjack on the way up. Even then they pretty much just waited for the bits to drop down to them. Something got into the bait crate between the second and third dives; it was open and all the food was gone.
From what I gathered, the FWC's logic is that since the sharks are either being killed or getting a negative experience from being hooked, they aren't making a positive association between humans and food. How much that matters is open to debate; as far as I'm concerned the issue of bait, people, and sharks all in the water at the same time is a far more immediate issue than whether or not they're learning bad habits. I'm betting that the number of shark attacks related to fishing from the beach is much, much higher than the number of attacks during feeding dives.
Speaking of which, went out with Randy today and did three dives on the Bonaire; the deep ledge has reportedly been quiet ever since they found a dead bull shark out there recently. We only had four bulls on the wreck that were very, very circumspect despite the blood and bait - Randy shot a big cobia off a bull and probably put enough blood in the water to ring dinner bells halfway up the state. Got the cobia up untouched and the bulls pretty much stayed at the edge of viz until late in the third dive when Randy started cutting up a big amberjack on the way up. Even then they pretty much just waited for the bits to drop down to them. Something got into the bait crate between the second and third dives; it was open and all the food was gone.