There's a bill in congress to ban shark feeding dives

[Epic Diving]

I agree. Writing to your representatives is more important than posting in this thread. We have contacted the two senators who sponsored this bill as well as the five US senators that recently proposed the Shark Fin Trade Elimination Act of 2016 (Shark Fin Trade Elimination Act of 2016 - Epic Diving).

Posting on this thread, however, is more valuable than just venting frustration. It may provide people with a new perspective they haven't considered and my perspective may not be bulletproof, but it is most definitely based on a ton of research and personal experience.

If passed, this bill could push business to the Bahamas but that's not why we're here. If I was concerned with making the most money I could, I would have never put aside my day job as an Emergency Medicine physician. We do this for the sharks! Legislation like this is a slap in the face of any progress that has been made in changing people's attitudes towards sharks. It perpetuates the mid-information and fear mongering that is already out there. It's a slippery slope. On top of that, it upsets me that it specifically outlaws chumming unless you kill the sharks. You can chum and fish for sharks near populated beaches but can't go offshore and take photos?

 

[kelemvor]

Posting on this thread, however, is more valuable than just venting frustration. It may provide people with a new perspective they haven't considered and my perspective may not be bulletproof, but it is most definitely based on a ton of research and personal experience.

I suppose that's true. I changed my opinion from strongly against to somewhere in the middle after a thread on the topic last year.

 

[HalcyonDaze]

There was a meeting held last night up in Lake Park to discuss the response to this bill; I turned up about an hour late so it was mostly just the core group there.

One of the items we've discussed - and that I'm awaiting an answer for from one of my contacts - is what position groups like DEMA and PADI are taking on this. At present I'm not sure if they're for or against this legislation.

 

[HalcyonDaze]

An acquaintance of mine recently had a meeting with congressional staffers familiar with the bill, from which he obtained the following points of information:

• The bill has already passed through committee approval, but has yet to be scheduled for a floor vote. It was introduced on June 23 according to the record. So the opportunity to contest this in committee hearings has passed. The staffers were "pretty unsurprised and sympathetic" that the feeding advocates had heard about this so late in the game.
• The staffers had reportedly only received one item of correspondence protesting the shark feeding ban as of yesterday. Senator Nelson's office may have received correspondence.
• While this is not confirmed, it seems that the source of the shark-feeding language was a suspect I hadn't considered, but in hindsight should have. Scuttlebutt says the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission brought this before Senator Nelson in order to bring federal law into compliance with Florida state regulations. Given that the headliner on this bill is bringing the Department of the Interior to heel and compelling Biscayne National Park to cooperate with FFWCC on fishery management, I should have included them in my list of potential suspects.
  
• The "permit" clause has yet to be clarified as to what purposes it might be granted for, who could obtain one, and what the approval process would be. It's possible this could provide a vehicle for the charters to continue, in the manner that permits are required for shark dive operations in some other parts of the world. However, this could potentially involve fees and red tape that would be prohibitive to a small dive charter, and I think would likely include standards by which the operator would have to abide which might be restrictive (for instance, prior to the Florida state waters feeding ban FWC proposed a compromise that would have prohibited direct feeding of sharks and limits on the size of sharks that could be fed). I would also question whether these permits would require approval from both the federal government (presumably NOAA) and the state, or just the feds. If the former, given FFWCC's reported role in advancing this bill, they could in practice veto any shark dives in the state.

 

[Epic Diving]

Thanks for the update.

 

[kelemvor]

I never got a response from Senator Nelson. It's quite disappointing. I at least expected a form letter thanking me for contacting them or something. Nothing.

 

[HalcyonDaze]

I got a second report today that the proposed ban came from the executive director of FWC. It appears that they decided to take action on the national level after "Operation Bite Me" backfired spectacularly.

 

[drrich2]

What was Operation Bite Me?

Wonder what the time course to take effect would be? I was considering aiming for an Emerald Dive Charter trip next Spring; wondering what the likelihood is of that being made impossible?

Richard.

 

[HalcyonDaze]

What was Operation Bite Me?

Wonder what the time course to take effect would be? I was considering aiming for an Emerald Dive Charter trip next Spring; wondering what the likelihood is of that being made impossible?

Richard.

"Operation Bite Me" was FWC's publicized code name for the sting operation back in 2014 where they put undercover Palm Beach Sheriff's Office officers on Emerald and Miss Jackie, along with unmarked FWC tracking boats and land-based radar ... all to bust them for feeding sharks less than 400 ft inside state waters, which carried a fine of a few grand. Calypso pleaded guilty and took the fine; Randy fought it in court and lost. At the trial the state's prosecutor said the intent was to fine the plaintiffs out of business.

Well as we know, that backfired spectacularly. It was national PR for both charters and before long Florida Shark Diving moved up to Jupiter from the Keys, Jim Abernethy started running shark feeds off Palm Beach again, and a couple of new players entered the field. Palm Beach County became world famous for baited shark dives. And with everyone staying out in federal waters, they were out of FWC's reach.

It's unknown when this could take effect. While it seems like the bill's proponents are trying to push it through the Senate as fast as possible, it would still have to be scheduled for a floor vote and then it would also have to pass the House. While I would like to comment on the unlikelihood of Congress doing anything in a hurry, I am worried that this would be exactly the sort of legislation that would fly in an election year - so far the opposition is small and disorganized, and the quicker it moves the less likely it is to be stopped. I could see many members of Congress not reading past the title and kissing up to the recreational fishing lobby for votes. Of course, depending on how much the Department of the Interior disagrees with the first part of the bill, it could get defeated in Congress or vetoed by the current president (federal agencies really don't like legislation that tells them what they can't do, which that section is all about). I also have no idea how long it would take for enforcement of the final rule to begin.

Short form - who knows, although even if it is shot down a dive trip to Jupiter in the spring is never a waste of time. If this does go through and the operators abide by the rules, I would pretty much expect Emerald and Calypso to go back to what they did in the pre-feeding days - spear fish and "incidentally" have some shark sightings. Florida Shark Diving might be in trouble as they are a pretty specialized business; Deep Obsession is well set up to go back to standard drift dives.

 

[kelemvor]

What was Operation Bite Me?

Wonder what the time course to take effect would be? I was considering aiming for an Emerald Dive Charter trip next Spring; wondering what the likelihood is of that being made impossible?

It's plenty easy to see lots of sharks in Jupiter even without feeding. The area was famous for that even before the shark feeding guys started making the news.