Shark Court for Randy Emerald Charters Jupiter

[BRT]

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?

 

[Wookie]

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.

 

[HalcyonDaze]

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 also a matter of where the sharks are; it's not just a matter of bait + water = sharks. They have spots they hang around, and if you want to bring some in over the course of a few hours they have to be in the area. The sub-groups within the lemon shark population seem to have their respective "turfs," the spot Emerald and Calypso were cited for feeding on is mostly male sharks while the Esso Bonaire is entirely females and the two groups don't seem to mix much in my experience. The deep ledge is a sharky spot because it's an ecotone (boundary between two habitats); the food chain tends to gravitate towards those borders and that's where you'll find the predators making their rounds. It's like siting a business; you want to be where there's a lot of traffic.

From what I remember, my first lemon shark dive with Randy was in a location that had a lot more structure than the site that Emerald and Calypso use now. So we may have been on Lemon Drop #1 back then; #3 is what's now being used. The sharks may have been hanging out on #1 already and the operators figured they were just over the state line and would avoid trouble. I mentioned to Randy that GPS inaccuracy may not have been the issue; the map projection and coordinate system you use will affect where the system shows you to be. I did one job in the Caribbean last year where we used a 1960s-vintage projection specific to the island in our databases instead of our usual NAD (North American Datum) 1983 that we use on the east coast of Florida. Well, the coordinates we were given for our project site were in NAD 1983; when we got out there we were a ways off target and had to search a bit even though our Trimble unit has sub-meter accuracy.

 

[Keith.M]

How is a person convicted and sentenced and yet a finding of guilt is withheld?

 

[ktomlinson]

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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[Omisson]

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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More likely the prosecutors requested it to spare his boat license as he is a productive member of the sport community.

They (the prosecutors) asked for no jail - rather a restitution order to cover the investigation.

Frequently courts will grant this only on a plea deal- it's impressive to see this post jury trial.

1/4 mile to federal waters? That's awfully close - it's a shame this couldn't have been resolved before trial.

 

[Amazz]

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."

 

[HalcyonDaze]

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.

 

[ktomlinson]

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.

Any info on the dead bull? Any way to tell how it died?


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[dumpsterDiver]

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.

Amberjack are a sport and commercial species that are heavily regulated. They are required to be landed whole (that is my understanding). So Randy is cutting up those fish offshore... in federal water?