The Dorsal Fin

Anthony Hoy recently added the above video report to his YouTube channel. Hoy focuses on the great white shark cage diving industry at Australia’s Neptune Islands and addresses the debate about whether or not cage diving practices “train” white sharks to associate humans with food, thereby increasing the likelihood of attacks on humans.

The report features accounts from tour operators including Rolf Czabayski and Rodney Fox who both contend that their operations do not endanger bathers nor increase the risk of attacks at Port Lincoln beaches. Both dive operators perform their dives at the Neptune Islands which is over 40 miles from Port Lincoln.

Additional accounts from John West, Operations Manager of the Taronga Zoo, who states that sharks can be trained in a laboratory environment. Dave Buckland, an abalone diver, contends that shark cage diving could result in sharks being more comfortable approaching boats and divers. Ken Penalurick, another abalone diver, told Hoy that he believed that sharks were becoming more aggressive, based on his experiences.

While the video report includes arguments on both sides of the debate, most of what is presented on both sides is based is essentially anecdotal evidence, with no real scientific research or data presented to support either side of the debate.

Isla de Guadalupe is considered by many to be the best great white sharking diving site on the planet.

Pete Thomas has put together an interesting article, “Danger level on the rise for great white shark divers at Guadalupe Island” over at GrindTV.com. The article touches on what some view as less than shining moments that have gone on at Guadalupe over the past few dive seasons, including Amos Nachoum’s cageless diving offering, and the incident involving a "shark wrangler" accidentally sticking his hand in a white shark’s mouth that was caught on film by Don Carpenter. The article also features some comments from several dive operators addressing some of these issues.

I’m not sure I completely agree with the wording of the headline of the article, in the sense that the danger level itself has increased for divers at Guadalupe, rather it seems as though some divers are simply participating in more dangerous behavior. Thomas certainly brings up some valid concerns. It’s hard to argue that some of the behavior that has gone on at Guadalupe doesn’t increase the level danger associated with diving with these animals, especially when established guidelines are ignored. (Admittedly, the bit in the article about divers being instructed to keep limbs inside the cage is news to me.)

YouTube user jentinkertaylor posted this promotional video for Rodney Fox Shark Expeditions. While the video is a promotional piece, it does feature some nice footage great white shark (along with several other species that can be found around the islands) footage from the Neptune Islands that is definitely worth a look.

Good Morning America Weekend ran the above feature yesterday (March 13, 2010) on great white shark diving at Isla de Guadalupe. The feature manages to cover white sharks objectively without heaping on the sensationalism that seems so common in the mainstream media. Guadalupe veterans will probably notice a couple of familiar faces (or fins) in the video footage, most notably my all-time favorite white shark, Cal Ripfin (aka Shredder).

The footage appears to have been shot last fall on the same trip where Andy Brandy Casagrande‘s most recent Great White Shark Song video was shot, which involved some controversial cage-less diving.

Kudos to Good Morning America for keeping the report objective and presenting some positive exposure for white sharks in the media.

The now infamous cage breach video shot at Guadalupe in 2007 continues to get more mileage in the media. The latest outlet that it has shown up at is Tru Tv’s World’s Dumbest series. For some reason, media outlets just love this video and making generalizations about white sharks and shark diving, in general. While there are countless hours of exceptional Guadalupe white shark video footage out there, for some reason a few seconds of this footage keeps showing up all over the place and continues to give a bad impression to viewers about what really goes on with cage diving at Guadalupe.