I love sharks and I believe they're the most misunderstood animals. I don't fear them, but I have a great deal of respect for them. With that in mind, shortly after getting my C-card I did a shark feeding dive in the Bahamas. The experience was exhilirating. To jump in the water when you see 30+ fins circling around is almost an act of lunacy, enough to scare a few Army rangers that were in our boat, but hey, I survived! The dive was uneventful and the experience one for the books.
IndigoBlue:
* Avoid the surface, and avoid long surface swims
* Avoid spearfishing, and avoid spearfishermen
* Avoid poor vis
Might want to add:
* Avoid surface swimming during dusk or dawn, especially in murky waters.
When my wife and I wanted to do a shore dive in Lauderdale by the Sea approximately 3 months ago, a couple of spearfishermen came out of the water and reported having seen an 8' bull shark lurking around. So. Florida was being battered by the winds of March (which actually extended into May this year), 2 foot swells at the shore (with a very occasional 3 - 4 footer), and vis was reported 10 - 15 feet. Not exactly paradise, but we were ready to press on until we heard the words "bull shark." When I was an active aviator there was a saying that went "there are old pilots and there are bold pilots, but there are no old, bold pilots." I believe that applies to diving as well, so we decided to be bold and stay on shore. So when I hear the words shark, and the conditions are close to those that could possibly lead to a "bump and exporatory bite," I stay out of the water, unless I'm diving off a boat in deeper water than the beach.
As far as educating the public, as we say in my profession, the judge sustained the objection, but the jury heard it. The media has managed to cause people to fear sharks and to seek retribution for any shark encounter, regardless of the nature of the encounter. In Florida, shark feeding was banned because the lobbyists alleged that shark feeding caused sharks to associate humans with food, and well, the rest is history. My point is, whether shark feeding dives cause sharks to associate humans with food is of no consequence as long as humans get in the water. Dolphins can associate humans with food quicker than sharks can because dolphins are, by far, more intelligent than sharks, but I don't hear anyone complaining when flipper, or one of his family, gives a love bite to some snorkeler who is feeding them in the wild and runs out of food before the dolphin is full.
Just my 2 psi