Shark bites liveaboard guest

[deco_martini]

Originally Posted by _Bella_

Just curious what message or wording would convey that message clearly?

I am not sure, however, the following quotes make me feel warm/fuzzy:

Our goal is to insure that whether you are visiting for the day, or staying for a week, you have a safe, fun and memorable trip.

On tiger sharks:

Generally they are quite timid around divers, staying off in the distance only coming in when he or she has had time to get comfortable with a situation. Even in a “baiting” situation they tend to be very cautious.

On bull sharks:

Thought to be extremely aggressive, you will find as a scuba diver, that they tend to stay pretty far away from you at most times.

Do you feel the danger of diving with these species baited and without protection is accurately portrayed by the web site?

[fisherdvm]

This chumsicle theory of increasing aggressiveness of sharks reminds me of two semiwild coatimundi at a resort we were at in the amazon. They were fed enough to know that human have food, and we are afraid of them. They aggressively dug at people's pockets for candies, and bites aggressively when chased away. Even non predators like coatimundi can be aggressive when they smelled food. The critters will also hiss at you when you tried to chase them from the comfort of sleeping on your bed.

How many folks have been bitten by their own dogs when trying to take a bone away from them? Behavior of animals changes when food is presented. Chumming the water attracts sharks, and make them more defensive and aggressive.

[Oside Jimc]

Originally Posted by TraceMalin

It's also easier for scientists to find and study these animals because there are locations where sharks frequent thanks to shark feeding and shark diving. It's possible to observe sharks with learned behavior interacting with humans as well as finding the same species in remote areas and comparing behaviors.

I fail to see what scientific knowledge is gained from observing sharks fed on a regular basis, that premise is sketchy at best.

Here's my observation:
I have fished Isla Guadalupe for almost 30 years and prior to the introduction of cage diving there we virtually never saw Great Whites, once the cage dives started it didn't take long for these highly intelligent creatures to learn boat = food. Now I see them on every fishing trip, now in and of itself that isn't bad or good. however to the Mexican Abalone divers this has had tragic consequences with 2 killed in the last 5 years by White Sharks.

Frankly I'm not big on any feeding of wildlife (sharks, reef fish, deer, rabbits, bears, nothing), it has been proven time and time again that this is not good for the natural ecosystem and the "opportunity to interact with nature" argument is just a lame excuse for ecological destruction for personal gain.

[TraceMalin]

Originally Posted by Oside Jimc

I fail to see what scientific knowledge is gained from observing sharks fed on a regular basis, that premise is sketchy at best.

Here's my observation:
I have fished Isla Guadalupe for almost 30 years and prior to the introduction of cage diving there we virtually never saw Great Whites, once the cage dives started it didn't take long for these highly intelligent creatures to learn boat = food. Now I see them on every fishing trip, now in and of itself that isn't bad or good. however to the Mexican Abalone divers this has had tragic consequences with 2 killed in the last 5 years by White Sharks.

Frankly I'm not big on any feeding of wildlife (sharks, reef fish, deer, rabbits, bears, nothing), it has been proven time and time again that this is not good for the natural ecosystem and the "opportunity to interact with nature" argument is just a lame excuse for ecological destruction for personal gain.

I'm not supportive of widespread interference with nature, ecosystems and natural wildlife behavior. However, I am supportive of "pockets" in the world where knowledge may be gained due to continued human interaction with various wild animals including sharks. In order to not upset the balance of nature, such pockets need to be kept at a minimum and just like any other form of resource or wildlife conservation many factors would determine the feasibility of commercial operations in an area. You make a valid point and perhaps Guadaloupe isn't the place for such activities if shark interaction affects the way of life of the locals? Or, if there seemed to be some sort of merit to shark interaction for scientists in a specific area, perhaps some human endeavors may be worth being curtailed temporarily. Like everything else in our world whether it is fishing, farming, land development, new energy solutions, or what not, once something grows in popularity and becomes widespread there is a risk of greater adverse affects to the natural order of things. Intelligent research and prudence will allow various activities to exist yet preserve the natural order and our natural resources across the globe.

[Oddsnends]

Originally Posted by TraceMalin

I'm not supportive of widespread interference with nature, ecosystems and natural wildlife behavior. However, I am supportive of "pockets" in the world where knowledge may be gained due to continued human interaction with various wild animals including sharks.

I dig your sentiment. It seems it would be incredibly challenging to conduct research without some human interaction. The problem with setting up "pockets" is the large home ranges of sharks like Tigers. The behaviors learned inside such a pocket may jump out and go for a walk down the street.

[DIVINGDAMSEL]

considering the shearwater takes off from florida, i doubt the bahamas gets much revenue from his trips...only bad press. his dockage, fuel bill, food bill and his staff are all from the states. He departs Florida so he doesn't even bring tourism to the islands by way of hotels, meals on island, etc...the most I can imagine is a port night if he goes to shore during his trips and the port tax he is required to pay. In my opinion not enough tourist revenue from his operation goes to the Bahamas to counter the bad press they will get from his activities in their local waters.

[TraceMalin]

Originally Posted by Oddsnends

I dig your sentiment. It seems it would be incredibly challenging to conduct research without some human interaction. The problem with setting up "pockets" is the large home ranges of sharks like Tigers. The behaviors learned inside such a pocket may jump out and go for a walk down the street.

Yes, that is true. Humans have been altering the natural behavior of sharks ever since we began going to sea and harvesting from the sea. Sharks have learned to find food by following ships to eat the refuse or to congregate around whaling stations or slaughterhouses near rivers. What damage is done through commercial fishing, overharvesting marine resources, shark finning, etc? Sometimes we worry about the politics that capture media attention rather than the obvious dangers to the planet that are overlooked or taken for granted. For example, we worry about a cigarette in a city filled with industrial smoke stacks.

[seaurchin]

Originally Posted by TexasScuba53

Stop, Think, Act, can be and is taught!!!!

"taught" being the operative word....but not always I think learnt.

[cappyjon431]

It seems that only one half of the equation is being addressed. If we assume behavior change/habituation to be a given, I would suggest that the emphasis should not be on the danger to divers (this is a risk that is taken on voluntarily by the diver). The emphasis should be on the risks to the sharks. If you have a large number of sharks concentrated in one area due to the presence of man (chumsickles, hand feeding, cage dives), you increase the likelyhood of easy and widespread slaughter of the shark population. Many countries (such as the Bahamas) do not have the financial resources or the manpower to patrol the seas for those who would rape/pillage/plunder marine life. Drawing sharks into one small area makes it too easy to "harvest" the sharks. In an earlier post I mentioned how I saw this happen in one of the Bahamas' marine parks (Conception Island). I remember another time moored to a buoy 25 yards from UNEXSO's shark feed site off of Port Lucaya. It was dusk, the shark feeders/observers had left for the day, and a small boat full of weekend warriors pulled up to the shark feed buoy and dropped four fishing lines over the side. In a matter of minutes two of the boneheads had hooked sharks. One of the sharks broke the line, but the other was pulled aboard the small boat. These guys knew that this was the site that UNEXSO fed sharks and saw it as an opportunity to have some fun at the sharks' expense. I kinda wished I had used our boat's flare gun.

[Oddsnends]

This Watson fellow is sure getting a lot of press: CNN

Talk about some lazy reporting. Ms. Candiotti's only source has a conflict of interest clearly stated in body of article.

It does state the ME sites blood loss as cause of death.