When life gives you Lemons...

[hammet]

I'm hooked. Gonna book for next month w/ emerald.

 

[scubadada]

Baited/fed shark dives are controversial in SE Fl, to each their own

 

[hammet]

Baited/fed shark dives are controversial in SE Fl, to each their own

Didn't know it was baited. I should have assumed though. Just watched the video again and saw the milk crate with the food at the end.

 

[HalcyonDaze]

Controversial yes, but last I checked there are four or five scuba charters doing them in Palm Beach County (some part-time) and about the same number of snorkel boats. On top of that, a few of the ones that rail about it go ahead and dive the feed sites right afterwards because you're almost guaranteed to at least see lemons.

Not sure about the lemons since they're seemingly there almost all the time, but if anything I feel like we've seen fewer tigers and hammers in the past few years. Might be that as they get older they change their movement patterns or because we've had a few winter/spring seasons when the water temp has been above average.

 

[johndiver999]

Baited/fed shark dives are controversial in SE Fl, to each their own

And perhaps those two categories should not be casually lumped together. Using bait to attract sharks is one thing, especially if it is primarily scent which is used to attract them and keep them interested rather than the delivery of meaningful amounts of food.

Actually feeding the sharks (often by hand) or from the end of a pole spear is something quite different. Some people find this practice more disagreeable because they feel it endangers the feeders, the observers and any other divers who may come in close contact with sharks that have been taught to approach humans within 2 feet to get fed.

It also may endanger the sharks, because not all divers will be accepting of these sharks making extremely close approaches to divers who have spearguns or pole spear or divers who are collecting lionfish.

 

[HalcyonDaze]

And perhaps those two categories should not be casually lumped together. Using bait to attract sharks is one thing, especially if it is primarily scent which is used to attract them and keep them interested rather than the delivery of meaningful amounts of food.

Actually feeding the sharks (often by hand) or from the end of a pole spear is something quite different. Some people find this practice more disagreeable because they feel it endangers the feeders, the observers and any other divers who may come in close contact with sharks that have been taught to approach humans within 2 feet to get fed.

It also may endanger the sharks, because not all divers will be accepting of these sharks making extremely close approaches to divers who have spearguns or pole spear or divers who are collecting lionfish.

I'm not 100% sure on that; granted I haven't done a perfect control (i.e., fed sharks versus baited sharks that have not been exposed to the other method) but I get a little more nervous when the food is locked up tight. Then the shark is wondering where that wonderful smell is coming from and it may decide to test things other than the bait box. The big ones can also quite handily wreck the bait container; a friend of mine is scouting out shark dive locations in French Polynesia now and the tigers are taking apart the washing machine drums they're using for bait cans.

That said, anytime your hands are playing around a mouthful of teeth, it's like five-finger fillet - odds are you're going to get cut eventually, and it could be pretty bad. As far as teaching them to approach humans, I shoot lionfish in the feeding areas often and haven't had big issues with the lemons; while it's a bit more restricted now we do have people shooting and keeping fish on the feeding trips.