Dive boat operators face charges of illegally feeding sharks in state waters

[The Chairman]

I'd be careful about making any assumptions there.

That's just it: I'm trying not to make any and debunk a few in the process. It's easy to anthropomorphize any animal. Ascribing "playing" to a fish is that sort of garbage science I could do without. It's how we get people to make conclusions like this:

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[wspalding]

That's just it: I'm trying not to make any and debunk a few in the process. It's easy to anthropomorphize any animal. Ascribing "playing" to a fish is that sort of garbage science I could do without. It's how we get people to make conclusions like this:

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But haven't you made a rather large assumption when you conclude that sharks aren't intelligent enough to associate divers with food after repeated shark-feeding excursions? All I can say is, the dive charters disagree with you, and have taken to revving their motors to signal the sharks that divers are on their way down. I don't know whether there is a spurious relationship between the sound of the motor and sharks being present on the site once divers hit the bottom but, if true, that is certainly one level removed in the association pathway that you are shrugging off rather casually. I haven't settled in my mind yet how I feel about the shark-feeds. I do know that I only get to dive those waters a few times a year, and prior to the shark-feeds I had no close encounters with any shark without the stimulus of a fish having been speared, but now I've had a few where there was no stimulus so, anecdotally, I think there is a change in shark behavior occurring. Whether that is creating a hazardous environment, I don't know. I think there is a lot of casting of aspersions towards those that aren't comfortable with close shark encounters in this thread however, and I think that is really unfair.

 

[The Chairman]

Actually, I think that sharks can make a causal relationship between boat shadows and food, but I'm not sold that gunning the boat motors has an effect. I don't think that the shark realizes that the boat is even making the shadow. Sharks are cued in on noise, but that's hereditary. I think I posted a video of a shark homing in on the crinkling plastic bottle earlier in this thread. Are you going to blame Randy et al for that too? How did the shark learn that behavior? It's an evolved response and someone suggested that it mimics the sound of a shark biting a turtle shell.

Next, y'all will be telling me that the shark in Jaws is the norm and that they are capable of waging a vendetta. If that's the case, we're gonna need a bigger boat.

PS, you gotta give me props for the Jesus riding the dinosaur pic. That's just righteous.

 

[chillyinCanada]

LOL NetDoc, it may be just righteous to you but might be quite offensive to some others.

 

[The Chairman]

LOL NetDoc, it may be just righteous to you but might be quite offensive to some others.

If God didn't have a sense of humor, then why do men have nipples?

 

[chillyinCanada]

I have an answer for that but not up for getting deleted, so you'll just have to guess my response.

 

[Chugwhump]

I knew a guy that only had one nipple from birth.

Just sayin.......

Chug
Bi-nippled.

 

[wspalding]

Actually, I think that sharks can make a causal relationship between boat shadows and food, but I'm not sold that gunning the boat motors has an effect. I don't think that the shark realizes that the boat is even making the shadow. Sharks are cued in on noise, but that's hereditary. I think I posted a video of a shark homing in on the crinkling plastic bottle earlier in this thread. Are you going to blame Randy et al for that too? How did the shark learn that behavior? It's an evolved response and someone suggested that it mimics the sound of a shark biting a turtle shell.

Next, y'all will be telling me that the shark in Jaws is the norm and that they are capable of waging a vendetta. If that's the case, we're gonna need a bigger boat.

PS, you gotta give me props for the Jesus riding the dinosaur pic. That's just righteous.

For the record, I am not criticizing Randy for his activities, just stating that as of now I am agnostic as to whether anybody has anything to fear as a result of Randy's activity. I love watching his videos, and he has done a lot for me personally to calm my apprehension with shark encounters. I suspect I will sign on for one of his charters eventually. I am also pretty certain I've had more encounters with sharks than I am aware I've had. I will say that I've never seen a shark acting in any way aggressively towards a diver. I'm not sure that I'll ever get over the willies when a bull shark is around though.

 

[boulderjohn]

A little over a year ago I spent a week on Andros Island in the Bahamas, staying at a resort which had all its guests eat dinners together at large tables, encouraging guest interactions. I ate quite a few meals with two marine biologists who were there as part of a massive Caribbean-wide study of the lionfish invasion. I described to them what I had seen on a recent trip to Cozumel.

I had not been there for a few years, since the time that the island encouraged DMs to kill lionfish routinely during their dives. On my dives I saw something I had never seen before. While we were diving, we would suddenly come across an area where the fish behavior would change. It is hard to explain, but when they saw us, they would turn in such a way that they seemed to be pointing us in a certain direction. If you followed their direction, you would inevitably find a lionfish. While the DM went about the process of killing the lionfish, all the carnivorous fish in the area would gather around, and eventually one would be rewarded with a meal.

The marine biologists explained that this is learned behavior. Fish are far more intelligent than we commonly believe, they said. The fish had learned the new rules. They knew that a lionfish in the area + divers in the area = mealtime.

I think animals in general are far more intelligent than we humans, with our smug sense of superiority as the "only thinking animal," give them credit.

 

[The Chairman]

I think animals in general are far more intelligent than we humans, with our smug sense of superiority as the "only thinking animal," give them credit.

Rly? I guess that's why they got a fish to the moon before we could get there. I wonder how many are in Mensa? Maybe you think we should give them college credit? Many of them stay in school for all their lives.

Some of your statements simply flabbergast me, John. As an educator's educator, I'm kind of surprised to read this kind of sentimental projection from you. You're confusing intelligence with instinct. Fish rely on instinct and that can sometimes seem to be stronger than intellect, but it's not. It is a lot quicker and frankly, that's what lower animals need.