The Dorsal Fin

A great white shark tagged off of New Zealand was recorded to have reached a depth of 1,200m.

According to New Zealand’s National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, a 4.8m great white shark nicknamed “Shack” has set the deepest dive ever recorded by a great white shark at 1,200m. NIWA scientist, Malcolm Franics, said the shark made several other dives between the 1,000m and 1,200m mark. The previous depth record for a great white shark was 1,000m. “Shack” is one of 25 great white sharks tagged by NIWA over a five-year period. Data from the tagging program has also revealed information about migration patterns and white shark populations in New Zealand and Australian waters. For more information, check out the NIWA news release.

Shark Diver’s Underwater Thrills blog recently posted the following videos of some potential Darwin Award winners harassing captive nurse sharks.

According to the video information, these videos were shot at the Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas.
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Hein Mevissen, founder of John Doe Amsterdam, recently posted the “Killing a great white shark with your bare hands” video to his YouTube channel. Much like the somewhat infamous Shark Surfer video, Mevissen’s video was also commercially produced (created for MTV Networks Europe). While the average person would know better than to assume this is anything but a piece of fictional entertainment, it’s probably only a matter of time before YouTube viewers start claiming it’s real.

Regardless, TheDorsalFin.com does not condone the barehanded killing of great white sharks (or any other killing of white sharks), the severing of human arms, or dancing upon dead shark carcasses, unless, of course, it is all done fictionally for mindless amusement and attention.

If I hear from my neighbor’s friend’s cousin’s classmate who was actually there when this really happened, I’ll be sure to let everybody know.

SharkTruth's Happy Hearts Love Sharks contest encourages participants to skip shark fin soup on their wedding day in hopes of winning a trip to dive with whale sharks. (Image courtesy of SharkTruth.com)

Shark fin soup has traditionally been viewed as a sign of wealth in Chinese culture, and a lack of it at a wedding banquet can have negative implications. Shark Truth founders, Claudia Li and Vivian Kwong, created the non-profit group with the idea of educating people of Asian cultures about the practice of finning to harvest shark fins used in the traditional delicacy. Their “Stop the Soup” pledge offers couples a valid reason to forgo shark fin soup on their wedding day, and their “Happy Hearts Love Sharks” contest provides even more incentive to make that pledge.
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UPDATE: The quick overview that I refer to below was replaced by a transcript of the actual 60 Minutes segment, which is a total about-face of the quick overview and is an excellent pro-media example of how news outlets can cover shark stories without fear-mongering. I have since posted a follow-up on “The Sharkman” segment from 60 Minutes.

According to CBSnews.com, Sunday’s episode of 60 Minutes will include a feature on great white shark diving with Michael Rutzen, who is well-known for his cage-less interactions with white sharks in South Africa.

The quick overview at the CBS website can’t seem to distinguish reality from fiction as best detailed by the following excerpt…

How do you swim with the star of “Jaws?” With a paramedic on board and an ambulance on the shore…

Unless, the article is referring to swimming with Richard Dreyfuss, or the ghost of either Roy Scheider or Robert Shaw, one can only assume that the “star” they are referring to is the giant rubber-skinned mechanical shark prop that “starred” as the serial killer shark from the 1975 film. The video preview seems to indicate none of the above, rather Anderson Cooper and Mike Rutzen appear to be swimming with actual great white sharks, which, contrary to over-the-top sensational media outlets, are not the same as gigantic fictional sharks portrayed by a problematic movie prop.

Keep up that top-notch journalistic integrity CBS!