So, let me get this straight diversteve, you think that Randy is responsible for this turd catching 100,000 sharks??? Somehow, you think that Randy and the other guy have introduced sharks to the delicacies of fish heads and other rotting meat? Obviously, they never went for that before shark feedings. Can you quantify "easier"? Could you prove that cessation of shark feeding would reduce his catch by %10? How about even %1??? This is almost a Maxwell Smart moment and I can almost hear you say "Would you believe, a small guppy helped across the reef by a troop of Boy Scouts?"
That's simply preposterous. Hopefully you have some science to support what appears to be nothing more than simple fear mongering on your part. Let's keep the emotions out of the issue and stick to the facts as well as solid logic.
First of all I'm not going to answer your troll Pete. You're the one attempting to create emotion with your comments.
Somewhere in this thread - or the other one - someone posted that after Randy & Co. leave the area they've noticed the fishing boats descend on it. I don't find it too much of a stretch to think that the Shark Hunter is one of them. After all his business relies on hooking and killing sharks for his customers. Who knows, maybe even a google search turns up this thread and gives him a new area to go looking. One thing I have observed, at Coves, in Cay Sal and other places is that sharks tend to congregate near feed sites - even at non-feed times. Hey why not, it's easier than having to catch their own food. Sharks are nothing if not opportunistic feeders.
What I'm saying is that Randy provides bait for those sharks. So it's possible that in some small way, those sharks have associated 1/2 dead fish lying on the bottom with an easy meal. Anytime there's one of those metal boat things overhead. So when they hear/sense one they could be anticipating a meal. The difference it that the 1/2 fish that the shark hunter drops that afternoon carries a very different surprise ending - six inches of steel hook. I don't think the sharks on his website exactly survived their experience with him. What sickens me the most about him is he's proud that the Tigers he caught each had hundreds of babies.
You can't consciously pretend that those sharks are not being affected by Randy's actions. It's painfully obvious in the video when the shark returns to be fed again and again. That's
behavior modification - I don't need to find research studies to prove that. The simple undisputable fact is that that behavior would never have occurred had Randy not been there doing it. Because the shark would have gone about it's search for food oblivious to the fact that Randy even existed.
I find it incredibly odd that you, one of the proponents (as far as I knew) of not damaging reefs, fishlife or other marine organisms (don't you teach advanced buoyancy skills to keep people from smashing them?) find it acceptable that altering the behavior of an apex predator in the same environment is somehow acceptable. Or have I misread you all these years?
I guess here's the difference between me and you Pete. If it's even 1/1000000th of one percent I'm for it. I'm not willing to quantify how many sharks is an acceptable number because I feel that answer is none. And as sad as I find Randy's behavior, I find the Shark Hunters particularly abhorrent. Why is everyone up in arms about finning yet no one seems to mind that? How many sharks killed is an acceptable number?
Fearmongering is the farthest from my mind. Maybe trying to wake some people up is what I'm guilty of. I accept that gladly. I've dove with hundreds of sharks. I film them and go on trips especially to see them in places where they exist in their natural, un-baited state. My concern is that
anything that is done to alter their natural behavior could be detrimental to their existence. Some years ago Nekton did a feed out at Cay Sal. Sharks came flying over - even when we docked at the site near it - when they heard the anchor chain. Same sound as the bait sliding down the anchor at the feed site. One thing I've always wondered is what happened to all those sharks when Nekton went bankrupt? One assumes they
resumed their natural behavior and lived long lives. But who really knows?
I pay good money to see sharks in as natural an environment as possible. I find it offensive that Randy alters their behavior for Profit. Because when it comes down to it that's all he's doing - setting up thrill dives for those incapable of finding sharks on their own. Here's the acid test: Do those sharks
behave exactly the same way before Randy started feeding them? Yes or no? If no then there's been behavior modification.
The FWC seems to have seen it that way. Enough to have taken the time/expense to investigate Randy. And cite him for a violation. Why is that Pete? They don't have anything better to do than harass one poor dive boat operator? Every other thread here on SB where some action is taken seems to have resulted from multiple complaints so the assumption is that's the same with Randy's situation.
We can argue all day about 3 miles, 367' or 12 miles or whatever. One point all you Randy advocates might consider is that should the FWC decide that maybe a better limit is 12miles - and it go to a vote - how many people in the state of Florida are going to vote for the shorter limit. Let's face it, the majority of people in your state are more concerned with keeping sharks as far away from the Grandkids playing on the beaches as possible. Get the Villages behind that movement and see how quickly all the divers in Florida are outvoted. So keep it up, and risk even further tightening of the restrictions. I watch murfdizzle's YouTube videos and I see large, mostly calm, sharks cruising by in non aggressive postures. A 70 year old with granchildren sees a 20' shark that doesn't seem too afraid of people. Guess which way she votes....
