Isla Guadalupe Shark Diving in TROUBLE

[patric]

Thanks for the heads up Steve-great images. As we have been saying the situation remains fluid. I think most people are aware that something is different from last year and that serious and long lasting "shark politics" have arrived.

The next steps here are crucial. As divers, conservationists, researchers and operators the time has come to address the claims by both the Green Party in Mexico and the MX Navy chum ban.

The shark diving industry is linked worldwide and what happens in Mexico is being watched in South Africa, and elsewhere by both opponents of shark diving with macro predators and fans of the sport as well.

The MX Navy has dropped one shoe, the next few months will see how far they want to press the issue. Divers need to aware the the operators at this site have limited power here. In the end it will be up to the divers to make the case for sustainable white shark diving at Isla Guadalupe. By our count there's over 4000+ divers who have been though this dive site, that's a lot of voices.

[AbyssalPlains]

I anxiously donned a 7 mil wetsuit and 44 pounds of lead and patiently waited for my rotation in the cage.

Thank you for posting this very insightful review of your trip! As someone who is currently contemplating going on that trip, I found your report very helpful. As for the 44 pounds of weight, I really hope that was a typo. If you were to fall out of the cage with that amount of lead, you'd drop to the ocean bottom like cement block.

[ScubaSteve]

Thank you for posting this very insightful review of your trip! As someone who is currently contemplating going on that trip, I found your report very helpful. As for the 44 pounds of weight, I really hope that was a typo. If you were to fall out of the cage with that amount of lead, you'd drop to the ocean bottom like cement block.

Is it possible to outrun a shark on the ocean floor I wonder

[Canassis]

One of the main criticisms I've seen is that by attracting more white sharks to be in the area more often with chum (creating a food response), you upset the ecosystem balance since more marine mammals near those areas are consumed.

White sharks in natural habitats are mindless gluttons. They don't eat that often.

I'm sorry if you've already been raked over the coals on this, and if I'm guilty of necroposting, than flame me.

But, honestly, this is one on the most absurd posts I've seen on this forum. Can you substantiate this in any way? If you're going to make a claim, regardless if "THEY" said it, you should be able to substantiate SOMETHING in that claim.

If not, you're no better than people on the other side who "claim" that the sharks benefit from us being there.

There is SO little known about these animals, that very little can be stated with absolute certainty. And, I think it's better that way. Puts us in our place. Maybe we're not SUPPOSED to know everything about everything.

[Porkfried]

Shark diving is swell and all, but if it truly will help the sharks to stop doing it then I'm in favor.

[Canassis]

Shark diving is swell and all, but if it truly will help the sharks to stop doing it then I'm in favor.

Well, being on an island in the middle of the Indian Ocean where we hunted poachers, I can tell you that having a diver with an interest in conservation around is a decidedly good thing. Unless, of course, you're ok with rolling up on a boat so full of sharks that the crew is sleeping on them, and they have stacks 4x4 of cut fins bailed.

Or... you roll up on a boat and watch the crew remove all of its fins and throw it overboard still alive.

You decide.

But for me, the best reward in seeing that was confiscating the boat, putting a "surplus" 1000lb bomb on the boat and blowing it up in front of the crew.

[Porkfried]

[QUOTE=Canassis;5845031]Well, being on an island in the middle of the Indian Ocean where we hunted poachers, I can tell you that having a diver with an interest in conservation around is a decidedly good thing. Unless, of course, you're ok with rolling up on a boat so full of sharks that the crew is sleeping on them, and they have stacks 4x4 of cut fins bailed.

Or... you roll up on a boat and watch the crew remove all of its fins and throw it overboard still alive.

You decide.

But for me, the best reward in seeing that was confiscating the boat, putting a "surplus" 1000lb bomb on the boat and blowing it up in front of the crew. [/Q

Shark finning boats that need to get whats commin to them is why every dive boat should carry fifty pounds of thermite, plenty of garden pots, and a strip of magnesium.