Diving Thoughts

A good video from the BBC showing basking sharks feeding off Devon and Cornwall. It’s only 30 seconds long, so go and take a look. You can see it here.

Must be a slow news day. The newspapers seem to have picked up an old video from You Tube where a great white tears the front off a shark cage containing 2 divers.

The video was posted on 7th November 2007 and was taken on 4th November in Mexico. Apparently it was an accident caused when the shark took a bait hanging by the cage. The shark rolled his eyes back to protect them and then, with his visibility impaired, he got his head stuck in the viewing port of the cage. As he thrashed about trying to free himself he tore the front of the cage off. The 2 dives inside were unharmed. The company operating the shark dive said that there cages were 6 years old and they were planning to upgrade them in the Spring of 2008.

Unfortunately the video has now been removed (unless you want to contact the owner about licencing it), but the story is still on You Tube. You can also read more on the UK’s TimesOnline website. I hesitate to mention it, but The Sun also has a story on it, although in typical Sun style it’s more sensational with a headline about a Shark Attack, which is clearly not the case. You’re better off sticking to the Times’s version.

Thanks to Vinnie for spotting that for me.

A Philippine fisherman was attacked by a shark near Paoay, Ilocos Norte. Joel Bacud was checking his nets, and according to his son, was climbing back into their banca carrying  a fish that was “dripping blood” when the shark attacked him from behind.  The police chief didn’t know what type of shark it was, and no-one in the town can remember any similar attack.

There is an article in the Hong Kong Standard, plus another on SunStar’s website.

Actually, “rebranded” might be more accurate than “launched”. The 8 year old organisation known as Richard Peirce Shark Conservation (RPSC), which is run by Richard and Jacqui Peirce, has converted into the Shark Conservation Society (SCS). This is apparently so it can become a better resourced outfit.

It is a members’ society rather than a charity and funding will come from membership and donations. This is apparently to preserve its integrity and independence. Richard Peirce is also chairman of the Shark Trust charity. He distinguishes SCS from the Shark Trust by claiming that the former will be “fact and practical experience based”, whereas the latter is “science and fact based”. He has denied that forming SCS is as a result of any falling out with the Shark Trust and sees the 2 organisations as complementary, sister organisations.

• Shark Conservation Society – www.sharkconsoc.com
• Shark Trust – www.sharktrust.org

Sammy the whale shark in Atlantis aquarium

Over the weekend I heard from 2 ex-SCDC members about a juvenile whale shark that had been caught in Dubai and was put in an aquarium at the new Atlatntis hotel. This was ostensibly for medical care and the original plan was to tag it and release it. However it now looks as though they are planning to keep it as the Managing Director, Alan Leibman, has apparently said that there are no plans to let it go.

The Atlantis Hotel is on the Palm Jumeirah island and only opened last month. They have a large aquarium built to invoke the ruins of the lost city of Atlantis, and presumably see having a 4 metre whale shark as an additional attraction. However according to an article in the Gulf News, the hotel has not applied for a permit to keep it.

There are efforts going on to encourage Atlatntis to free Sammy, as the shark has been nicknamed, and you can get involved. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) have an email campaign on their website. There is also a Facebook group you can join.

The BBC have also picked it up, so let’s hope that some bad publicity will encourage the hotel to see sense.

Now here’s a surprise. On Friday 6 June a trawler caught a 5 metre whale shark in the waters off Ocean Park in Hong Kong. He took it to Aberdeen fish market and called the Agriculture Fisheries and Conservation Department and Ocean Park. Their officials tried to persuade him to release it, which he refused to do until a Mark Gon, seafood hawker, apparently paid him HKD 20,000. Let’s hope that doesn’t encourage other Hong Kong fishermen to go out en masse to try and find it in the hope of a similar pay-day.

In what seems a ridiculous over-reaction, SCMP reported that the Leisure and Cultural Services Department would cancel all activities at the 2 water sports centres in Stanley on Saturday. And shark warning flags were raised at 10 beaches in the south of Hong Kong.

Anyway it goes to show that there is more to Hong Kong waters than you might expect.

Hong Kong is a big consumer of shark fin soup, as increasingly is China. Unfortunately it is a delicacy that is very popular at wedding banquets. Even ignoring the conservation aspect, I think shark fin soup is highly over-rated anyway, as the shark fin doesn’t really taste of anything and so the soup is a bit like very expensive chicken broth. But it is so widely served at wedding banquets that demand is leading to serious over-fishing. So if you’re considering getting married – Live in Sin and Save a Fin!

Today’s SCMP is reporting that unregulated fishing for shark fins is threatening the existence of 11 kinds of ocean sharks. This finding comes from a study of 21 species of sharks and rays which was carried out by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

The pelagic sharks that are specifically mentioned in the study include 3 types of Thresher as well as silky sharks and short-fin mako. Sharks and rays are particularly affected as they take a long time to reach sexual maturity and don’t have many offspring. I was diving with Thresher sharks in Malapascua 2 weeks ago, and they are beautiful creatures. Very graceful with their long tails, but with a much stockier body than I had been expecting.

“The traditional view of oceanic sharks and rays as fast and powerful too often leads to a misperception that they are resilient to fishing pressure,” Sonja Fordham, report co-author and deputy head of the IUCN’s shark specialist group, said.

If you’re an SCMP subscriber you can read their article here. If not, well the BBC has a similar report.