Off to DEMA!

It's that time of the year again.

I've packed my bags and am on my way to Orlando.
Beqa Adventure Divers are at booth # 679 and we all look forward to a great DEMA show - and to Doug and Emily's engagement party! And to getting my new video housing!

Remember this post?
Well, Shark Diver was right: despite of the recession and despite of Fiji having abrogated the Constitution and devalued its currency, it's been a fabulous year! Once again, we were able to welcome more clients, to expand the scope of our research and to make inroads in our efforts to protect Fiji's Sharks, this mainly owing to the Fiji Shark Conservation and Awareness Project and Fiji's contribution to the Shark Free Marinas Initiative. And as we speak, there's more in the offing!

Regarding the industry at large: it will be interesting!
Last time, my impression was that we were overly optimistic, that a lot of overcapacity needed to be whittled away but that in the end, those who did offer a quality product and real value would survive. From this vantage point, this seems to have largely happened, albeit maybe not as dramatically as I would have anticipated. In any case, all the "good" guys seem to have survived, which is great.

Anyway, gotta go!
Vinaka and Moce Mada!

Reeling in Great Whites

One would think that all Shark researchers love the Sharks they study.

Well, think again.
Marine CSI researcher Dr. Michael Domeier goes fishing for endangered Great Whites. He hooks them, drags them aboard and then uses a drill to attach satellite tags to their dorsal fin. The following was apparently filmed in Guadalupe for a Nat Geo documentary and now, Domeier is planning to do the same in the Farallones, equally a marine preserve, once again documented by the inevitable film crew.
Check it out, it's a brutal procedure.



Some of the blue bloggers, namely The Dorsal Fin and RTSea have picked up the story and voiced their concerns, citing the "stress" this procedure could inflict upon the animals. Others seem to be more on the fence.

Me, I'm simply appalled and outraged.
Great Whites can be easily lured next to boats and hundreds of them have been successfully tagged using a pole spear - and yes, one can also easily take DNA samples and with a little bit of ingenuity, blood samples as well. Granted, some of the tags costing thousands of bucks will detach themselves and be lost, but -and this is what counts!- the animals are neither "stressed" not otherwise negatively impacted.

Here, the Shark is hooked and then left to fight a couple of buoys until it is completely exhausted, then dragged onto a hard platform where its own body weight can easily crush its internal organs and potentially kill any unborn fetuses, then completely removed from the water and left to lay semi-comatose and desperately fighting asphyxiation for a good 20 minutes whilst somebody uses a drill and other implements to make holes in its body. You can check it all out in this, I believe shocking image gallery.
It thus comes as no surprise that some specialists assert that some of the Sharks are likely to die as a direct consequence of this treatment.

How about if anybody did the very same thing to a Dolphin, notabene an animal that is not highly endangered and that can breathe outside of the water?
Yes, no catching with nets, none of those purpose-made, body-hugging cradles preventing the animal from hurting itself (check out the fresh cuts on the Shark's caudal fin and the lack of chafing gear on the rope), no padded water tanks supporting the body weight, no exquisite care administered to the animal in order to prevent dehydration of its sensitive skin - just the same nasty fishing hooks, the same brutal and heartless treatment and a comatose Dolphin left to fight for its life on a hard naked wooden platform whilst somebody drills holes into its body?
Still think that this is maybe OK?

I've said it before: this is not the seventies.
Since then, the public's sensibilities and the rules about what is acceptable in science have thankfully changed- and this is just not acceptable.
Do I really need to spell out that the "objects of research" are really not objects and must be treated ethically? Does Dr. Domeier really need to be reminded that Sharks, and GW in particular are particularly vulnerable and that hurting them and endangering their life is just not on?

Why MCSI has chosen to abandon its own successful, tried-and-tested non-invasive techniques and to resort to such brutal and heartless manhandling will always leave me baffled. I understand that the tags may be some novel gizmo requiring this kind of deployment - but then, the gizmo is faulty and needs to be re-designed or the protocols, to be drastically changed. Always keep in mind that nothing of this is either necessary, or urgent: not for the advancement of scientific knowledge and especially not for the survival of the species!

Full stop.
No data set is worth torturing animals in this brutal and heartless fashion!

Guys, Please: show the Love and the Respect!

PS Underwater Thrills have weighed in on this and further emphasized the need for controlling the associated media output. That's a valid, although I believe, secondary point. Those "fun" images of "cool" guys posing next to the comatose animal are certainly highly inappropriate.

We'll be keeping an eye out - for the Nat Geo program but above all, for reports of any tags having been "lost" (as in Sharks having perished) in the research paper.

Very funny!

The Blue Blogs are unleashing.

South Park has taken on Sea Shepherd and many out there have taken that as a pretext to reaffirm their deep misgivings about Capt. Watson's brand of conservation activism.

Prima vista, as a conservationist and as a businessman, I would have to agree.
Whereas others perform miracles within very small budgets, the SSCS appears very short on tangible results - especially when compared to their marketing and to the obvious costs of operating their fleet. It's an ongoing thread of this blog: the money available for conservation and research is finite, a zero sum, and seeing it squandered on a whole lot of hot air instead of being used effectively is profoundly disturbing.

Then again, there may well be a need for clowns and extremists to pave the way for the more moderate, realist and above all, result- and compromise-oriented faction of conservation.

Thing is, when it comes to Cetaceans, the latter appears to be largely non-existent.
I'm not really terribly interested in Whales and Dolphins and may have missed some of the finer points: but from the little I can see, the "movement" is dominated by a highly emotional and all-to-often, frighteningly New-Age-esque agenda that depicts the animals as some sort of preternatural beings and where any attempt at engaging in rational conversation inevitably leads to teary eyes and outright aggression.
Very irritating and sad, really, as any lasting conservation measures will ultimately have to be based on pragmatic compromises - and yes, I'm repeating myself!

But in the end, it's just not one of my wars and I'll keep it like Eric below.
As always, South Park has managed to expose them all and the result is just simply hilarious.
Well done for saying it as it is!

Enjoy!

Commercial Break!

SFMI: finally, the Signage!

From the Facebook page of the Fiji Shark Conservation and Awareness Project.

New signs ready to be distributed to all supporting marinas, resorts and fishing boats in Fiji!
Funding was provided by Project AWARE! The dock signs are printed and laminated on 0.080 Marine Grade aluminum to ensure resistance against the elements.

The Shark-Free Marina Initiative has a singular purpose, to reduce worldwide shark mortality. We encourage shark conservation at sport fishing and resort marinas by prohibiting the landing of any shark at the participating marina. The SFMI works with marinas, fishermen and like minded non-profit groups to form community conscious policy and increase awareness of the need to protect our sharks, our ocean and our legacy.

Once again, big Kudos to everybody involved, especially Stuart of Matava who pretty much singlehandedly put Fiji on the map as being the planet's most progressive nation in terms of Shark conservation and also, modern eco-minded game fishing!

As in: Twenty-one participating marinas and game fishing operators compared to a measly six in the big and all-powerful US of A!

How's that for a turnout!
And, believe it or not: we ain't finished yet!

If you have a Heart

Somebody just sent me this link.

The title of the message was if you have a heart, these images will disturb you - and yes, they do! Very much so!

It's a local tragedy affecting a colony of Laysan Albatross - but much more than that, it's a terrible tragedy affecting the Oceans in their entirety.
I googled plastic ocean pollution and came up with 1,500,000 entries, among which this list of articles. And please read this about the findings of a vessel crossing the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (this is Wikipedia with a multitude of links and resources).

Or if you're not into reading, there's of course YouTube with a seemingly endless list of videos dealing with the issue, like the following one, an impassioned speech that has also made it onto TED.



This is Capt. Charles Moore of the Algalita Marine Research Foundation and having checked out their website, I'm impressed by their research page featuring yet another list of useful resources. If you live in California, you may want to join them as a volunteer. If not, you may want to become a supporter.

Alas, from what I read, I fear that it's way too late.
All the King's horses and all the King's men will never gather up all the plastic and put the Ocean back together again - so true. There are no easy solutions here, no likely happy end.
All-in-all, very, very sad.

Thank you Terry for having me look into this.

The Goby

The end of the Bull Shark season is clearly approaching.

To witness, the animals are skittish and infuriatingly picky.
One day, they are ravenous and turn up in impressive numbers; the other, they stick to the sidelines and will only deign to approach if enticed with juicy pieces of Oilfish, a revolting deep-water species (probably this one) that is increasingly being viewed as unfit for human consumption. Much to the contrary of Mahi Mahi which the Bull Sharks however refuse to eat!

What better time for concentrating on our other crown jewels, the surprising and ever increasing abundance of Fishes inhabiting the Reserve!
Being an underwater photographer and now, a videographer, I've always been somewhat of a Fish Taxonomist, but ever since diving with Jack, this has evolved into more of a "serious" interest. In fact, it appears that something may have rubbed off, as I regularly manage to run across some unusual ichthyological trouvaille.

Case in point: this tiny Shrimpgoby, very likely belonging to the Genus Stonogobiops.
It popped up in some footage of one of our skittish Splendid Garden Eels, Gorgasia preclara and I've never been able to find it again. My gut tells me that it may just be a juvenile Yellownose Shrimpgoby, Stonogobiops xanthorhinica, pictured above. But having said this, I've once seen (and equally failed to collect) a very similar, although bigger Fish on Dinah's Reef in PNG and this may well turn out to be a new, hitherto undescribed species.
If we ever see it again! And manage to catch a specimen!

Well, judge for yourself.
Keep in mind that I was filming the Eel and never saw the Goby - so it is what it is. I've added some slow motion at the end where you can clearly see the unusual white filamentous dorsal spine.



The footage was captured with a Sony PDX10 in a Gates housing equipped with the fabulous super-wide port by Fathom Imaging. Yes, this is the very same lens I use when filming our big Sharks! Talk about unparalleled quality!

These are some of the last such images by yours truly, after which I'll be upgrading to a Sony EX1 - equally in a Gates housing and equally with a super-wide port!
Lemme tell you: I'm stoked!

Florida - update on Lemon Sharks

Looks like the public workshop about the Lemon Sharks went well.
As does the petition!

That's what I gather from the messages I get and from the recaps on Oceanic Dreams and the Shark Safe Network blog. What I particularly approve of is that dialogue is being sought with the fishermen and that everybody is trying to find solutions that incorporate the needs of the fishing industry. No, I don't like it as it means that some Sharks will die - but, alas, it's the only way forward.

It's however not yet a done deal and surprises can always happen.
There will be another meeting and the all-important vote on December 10 in Clewiston and it is imperative that the pro-Shark advocates be once again represented in good numbers.

For now, congratulations to everybody involved!

Knopp's Shark?

From the website of the Florida Museum of Natural History

One sure never stops learning!

Apparently, that's the other name for the Bignose Shark, Carcharhinus altimus, in itself a rather obscure species, at least to this scribe. Even Compagno's FAO catalogue describes a Shark that can easily be mistaken for a whole range of similarly ambiguous Carcharhinids.

This is why the following video caught my attention.
It features the catching, measuring, tagging and release of a Bignose Shark by some of Doc's people over in Bimini. Very cool - although to me, that species will continue to remain a total mystery!

All-in-all, a nice piece, although I always cringe when somebody uses monster and lurking in connection with Sharks - especially when it appears that the guy is an aspiring scientist! It's little things like that that set the tone - and may I be sensing a little Freudian lapse here...?
But granted, he more than compensates for it at the end. Maybe.

Anyway, enjoy!