Utila shark feeding

Hey all,

I've been having better than average luck with sharks on Utila lately. Last week I managed to locate an 8 foot nurse shark and hand feed it a lionfish. Thankfully a guest of the resort was there with their GoPro camera to get it recorded. The shark began to thrash about considerably as it consumed the lionfish. You can see the entire video (almost 2 minutes long) on my blog linked below. As a point of record, we had 3 boats out that week and all 3 boats found sharks on the same day all at different dive sites. One of the other boats fed their nurse shark 4 lionfish in one setting, but it didn't get excited like mine. Im told it just gulped down the lionfish and patiently waited for the next one. Mine, as you will see, got a little excited.

Enjoy!

Shark! ? Salty Endeavors

sadly the last time i went to pigeon cay there was a fisherman butchering a hammerhead, he tossed the severed head into the water right next to the docked navy boat, i guess they didn't know it was illegal.

I don't think there has ever been a problem getting groupers, moray eels, sharks, etc to eat speared/dead lionfish placed in front of them. The challenge has been getting the live free swimming lionfish to be recognized as suitable and tasty prey by the other reef residents. At least that is what I have seen in the Caymans and Bay Islands. I do realize the marine ecosystem is in constant change and what may have been true on my last trip may differ from my next one...

Liquid, as a point of note when I said my luck is getting better with sharks, I wasn't refering to them eating/feeding on lionfish. I was refering to the frequncy of seeing them in Utila - which has been increasing for awhile now. I can see how you had that confused on this thread, but if you read the link I think (hope) it was more clear.

laurenceh, yes I'm aware this is still happening. You are not the first person to report this. I haven't seen it myself, nor do I know who is doing it, but I wish we could find a way to make it stop. The fisherman know it was illegal... or were you refering to naval vessel :shakhead:

Ahhhh, Sloeber, sorry for my misunderstanding. I thought the focus was trying to feed the sharks, not find them. Over the past 10 years I can recall seeing nurse sharks on every Utila dive trip. Fortunately I have not had the experience of seeing a dead hammerhead on Pigeon Cay. One of my good friends and a dive captain at Laguna Beach Resort lives on the Cay and we go with him for lunch on occasion. I believe he would be quite offended by a fisherman with a hammerhead. I know I have not seen a free swimming hammerhead and may have only seen an occasional reef shark other than the nurse sharks.

i was referring to the navy not knowing it was illegal? a hammerhead has been spotted at diamond cay reef several times in the last year, hoping it wasn't him that was caught.
and i agree i'm seeing more sharks lately, i saw a baby black tip swimming in the shallows by the purple pelican a while back, the first i've ever seen here.

Liquid,

Captain Kerry, my boat Captain I agree he wouldn't be happy about a gutted hammerhead, but being a life-long resident of the Cayes you must assume he knows who it is. Hopefully it is an oldtimer who's days on the water are drawing to an end. And yes, in the past you could see a shark on every week-long trip, but it would, at least for me, be a surprise when it happened. I consider that slightly different then telling my divers, "Ok, we are about to dive with a shark..." and then doing it

laurenceh,

Glad I'm not alone in thinking the numbers are coming up. Very interesting about the blacktip. My divers report seeing sharks in the shallows during their extended safety stop after I have left them. Natually they cannot get me an accurate identification beyond, "its not a nurse shark." Presumably they would know what hammerhead looks like, however.