There's a bill in congress to ban shark feeding dives

[ReefGuy]

about damned time.

 

[drrich2]

While the possibility of the oceanic white tip learning to associate human butts with food is worrisome, that's one shark, far away, of a species I've not read of being 'shark fed' in Florida waters. Further, what I've read about them made them sound behaviorally distinctive in their behavior about divers.

A historical anecdote well worth noting for future reference, but in isolation this hardly sounds like a legitimate basis for banning shark feed diving as currently practiced in this region.

 

[Epic Diving]

We bait and dive with Oceanic Whitetips daily for the past 6 years on Cat Island in the Bahamas. We do not, however, hand feed these sharks in the water. It's just not necessary for great encounters so we don't do it. That being said, we do bait and hand feed the Tiger Sharks at Tiger Beach and the Great Hammerheads in Bimini. There are a lot of factors that go into the decision, but having sharks associate people with food is not one of them. While it sounds like a plausible argument, it simply isn't. Our personal experience, as well as that of other operators speaks to the contrary. Scientific publications speak to the contrary (Don’t bite the hand that feeds - Epic Diving). If it were true, I'd be long dead along with my colleagues, guests, and business. One could easily argue that these sharks are being conditioned and learn to distinguish divers from food. The sharks are not given enough credit. As for the spearfishing argument, it seems ridiculous to me. There's an infinite difference in the attitude and behavior of a shark that has been baited in and being fed versus a shark that is in hunting mode. When you spear fish around sharks, they go into hunting mode. That's nearly a half a billion years worth of instinct, not a conditioned new behavior. There are stories of this in the spearfishing record since the beginning, long before anyone considered shark diving let alone shark feeding.

There's a tremendous amount of consideration, responsibility, and experience that goes into conducting these dives but they can be done safely.

 

[HalcyonDaze]

Good points @HalcyonDaze.

I'm not 100% convinced on the alternative theory to the Red Sea attacks. It's my understanding Oceanic White Tips spend a good amount of time investigating humans before attacking. I can only speculate the viz is likely pretty good there. I'm sure the beach goers were wearing bathing suits that covered their ass so it's pretty unusual that nearly all of the victims were bit in the same location (which was not bare tasty looking skin) and also happens to be the same location shark feeders kept their bait. Coincidence? Maybe, but I don't think so.

It's instructive to look at the accounts of the attacks: 2010 Sharm el-Sheikh shark attacks - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

All the attacks were on surface swimmers, not divers. Four of the five attacks occurred on the same day (Dec. 1) within minutes of each other. Only one victim is being described as having received a bite in the buttocks, and that occurred as she was being pulled onto a pier - meaning the shark probably bit the part that was closest to it at the time. The others took hits in the extremities - arms and legs. If they did get bitten in the behind, it was on top of other injuries.

So to note, that "documentary" FUBARs the number of attacks, ignores that four of them were within a very short period of time on the same day, seems to imply that the attacks were on divers, and zeroes in on a false common thread in the attacks. The fact that four of them occurred within a very short period of time - and the fifth and fatal attack was shortly after the beaches reopened following the capture of the "positively identified" culprits - seems more suggestive of the carcass-dumping hypothesis: a food stimulus luring a large number of excited sharks into an area with splashing swimmers.

 

[kelemvor]

I did some more reading. If I understand correctly, there is already such a ban in Florida. The ban is only enforceable in Florida state waters. A Florida congressman is sponsoring the bill for a federal ban. A federal ban would extend the distance from the coastline to cover all US waters.

According to FWC: Florida state waters are from shore to 3 nautical miles on the Atlantic and from shore to 9 nautical miles on the Gulf. In most places, federal waters extend from where state waters end out to about 200 nautical miles or to where other country's waters begin.

So, basically this bill would extend the ban to 200 nautical miles from the coast of Florida, and also 200nm off the coast of every other coastal state.

Currently shark dive operators get around the law by taking divers out of State waters. Usually, anyway. At least one operator has been charged with violating the law - I don't remember how that turned out.

So, that would be why he's sponsored a federal bill.


As far as accidents. As of 2001, CNN reported that there were 15 shark feed dive related accidents in FL, and another 8 accidents involving photographers who had fed sharks to attract them. So, accidents definitely happen. Since the ban, I don't have any statistics that I could find. It seems likely to me that it is zero since operators moved out of Florida waters and into federal waters... with the exception of violations - of which I've only seen one confirmed. I guess it would have to take a confirmed violation + an injury or death to result in a statistic of nonzero since the ban.

I want to add that I don't support (or oppose) this legislation. I'm just reading about a topic in which I'm interested. It seems that the statistics do support a ban reducing injuries. That doesn't mean I support reducing personal freedoms so that people can't hurt themselves. As has already been mentioned, diving its-self is inherently dangerous. People get hurt and die with some regularity on scuba. I certainly don't want scuba banned.

In my opinion a key factor is this. Often when someone is injured by sharks, there is a call to kill sharks. Australia is the poster child for this. Shark "advocates" for lack of a better term get up in arms over shark culling. That leads them to support legislation that may reduce shark related injuries.... If people could be held to saying "hey I fed a wild animal and it bit me, that sucks, have a nice day" then I bet these laws would never have been considered. Sadly, that isn't the world we live in right now.

You also have the impact that shark bites (usually described as attacks in the media) deter tourism. That makes those with money, power, and therefore influence over what congresspeople do interested in banning activities that might result in a shark bite.

 

[CuzzA]

I'm curious how accurate those statistics are. I'm not implying that they are wrong, but my understand is shark feeding falls in the same category as spearfishing and is labeled as a provoked attack and therefore is not tracked. Only unprovoked attacks are tracked and recorded. If someone could clarify that would be helpful.

 

[kelemvor]

I'm curious how accurate those statistics are. I'm not implying that they are wrong, but my understand is shark feeding falls in the same category as spearfishing and is labeled as a provoked attack and therefore is not tracked. Only unprovoked attacks are tracked and recorded. If someone could clarify that would be helpful.

Contact CNN and ask if they have details about the statistics they published. Even though it's an old article, I'm guessing they've got such information on file somewhere.

 

[drrich2]

There are a couple of key issues with injuries on shark feed dives; who's getting hurt (e.g.: the operator, or customer) and how badly (e.g.: fairly minor, crippling, etc...)? No one wants anyone hurt at all, but there are many occupations where injuries are an unavoidable fact of life. I can't imagine circus performers don't get hurt occasionally; many activities people engage in, like skiing and rock climbing, can potentially get you killed. The details matter.

Richard.

 

[CuzzA]

Contact CNN and ask if they have details about the statistics they published. Even though it's an old article, I'm guessing they've got such information on file somewhere.

I have a strict policy of never talking to the media.

 

[CuzzA]

There are a couple of key issues with injuries on shark feed dives; who's getting hurt (e.g.: the operator, or customer) and how badly (e.g.: fairly minor, crippling, etc...)? No one wants anyone hurt at all, but there are many occupations where injuries are an unavoidable fact of life. I can't imagine circus performers don't get hurt occasionally; many activities people engage in, like skiing and rock climbing, can potentially get you killed. The details matter.

Richard.

Yes, and so the bottom line is does shark feeding have a detrimental effect on sharks and/or does it pose a risk to humans who do not participate in the practice? That's the two questions that Bill Nelson should answer.

Let's ask and report back.
Email Bill | U.S. Senator Bill Nelson