The "Cardiff Kook" in Encinitas, CA, which is routinely the victim of pranksters, has recently fallen victim to a paper-mâché great white shark. The video feature above from CBS8 shows off the “artistic prank” (and also shows off a girl picking her nose on camera at the beginning).

Shark HQ is now open at Australia’s Sydney Aquarium. The exhibit features various shark-themed displays and activities, including:

• tracking of great white sharks and bull sharks
• a shark hatchery and nursery with shark eggs and baby sharks on display
• shark tunnels which allow visitor to walk “underwater” with sharks
• Q&A sessions with shark experts
• “swim with sharks” demonstrations
• an animatronic great white shark

The animatronic great white shark can be seen in action in the video clip below. According to the news clip the animatronic shark measures 7.4m in length. (Please ignore the obligatory references to “Jaws” in the video clip.)

Discovery Networks’ YouTube Channel has recently added another promotional video for Shark Week 2010, featuring a breaching great white shark. The overall positive tone of the clip, which ends with a “Happy Shark Week,” is definitely a step above last year’s string of fictional shark attack commercials. It’s also nice to see a clean blue Shark Week logo, as opposed to the bloody one used last year along with a bleeding Discovery logo.

According to the Cape Cod Times, a 15′ (4.5m) great white shark was spotted “chasing seals into shallow water” south of Nauset Beach in Orleans, Massachusetts on Sunday (July 11). Chatham Harbor Master Stuart Smith reported seeing the shark “chase seals into breaking surf, trap them against the shore and then attack them.” The sighting did not result in any beach closures in the area.

A spokesperson for the Massachusetts Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs encouraged potential beach-goers to be aware of the presence of the sharks and to avoid swimming in areas populated by seals. The spokesperson suggested not to change plans about going to beach as a result of the sighting and noted that white sharks have been sighted in the region for hundreds of years.

The Cape Cod Times reports that the last recorded fatal shark attack in Massachusetts was in 1936.

CapeCast interviewed beach-goers about the sighting, which can be seen in the video of above.

According to New England Cable News (NECN), a 7′ great white shark was caught, tagged and released in Stellwagen Bank. The shark was caught and released by the crew of a Gloucester, Massachusetts sportfishing charter boat. Dr. Gregory Skomal, of the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries, identified the shark as a great white. The article from NECN does not elaborate on what type of tag was used on the white shark.

Note: The video above is loops through an 8-second clip of the white shark after it was hooked. After you’ve seen the first 8 seconds, you’ve seen all there is to it.

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.)

A relatively small white shark was killed on Friday during the Star Island Yacht Club Shark Tournament.

In a follow-up to today’s earlier post regarding internet rumors of a white shark being illegally caught and killed at the Star Island Yacht Club Shark Tournament, The East Hampton Press is reporting that a great white shark weighing between 300 and 400 lbs. (which would make it a relatively young white shark) was confiscated by the National Marine Fisheries Service after a participant in the Star Island Yacht Shark Tournament brought the shark in. (The great white shark has been a protected species in U.S. waters since 1997.) The article reports that the fisherman who caught the shark was neither fined nor arrested on the scene, according to Lesli Bales-Sherrod of the NOAA Office of Law Enforcement. However, he could face a civil charge at the conclusion of NOAA’s ongoing investigation of the event.

The East Hampton Press quoted Rich Janis, a manager of the shark tournament, as saying that the fisherman mistook the shark for another species. Janis went on to say that it was “an honest mistake” and noted that there was “no benefit” to the fisherman for bringing in the shark.

The information in the The East Hampton Press article is in stark contrast to the rumors that appeared on a few online angling forums, in which claims of an arrest, fines, boat seizure, and even a child endangerment charge were mentioned.

Was a great white shark illegally caught and killed at the Star Island Yacht Club shark tournament?

UPDATE: It seems that there is some truth to the rumors about a great white shark being killed during the Star Island Yacht Club Shark Tournament. However, claims of the arrest, boat seizure, and fines against the angler seem to be unfounded, according to a report from The East Hampton Press. Additionally, more forum members at Noreast.com have since posted refuting the claims that any action was taken against the anglers involved in the catching of the great white shark.

According to threads on The Hull Truth Boating Forum and Noreast.com a fisherman at the Star Island Yacht Club Shark Tournament in Montauk, NY illegally landed and brought a great white shark into the docks. The great white shark has been a protected species in U.S. waters since 1997.

According to a forum member at Noreast.com, who participated in the tournament, a fisherman not caught a white shark, announced over his radio that he caught it, and then brought it in to the docks. The forum member went on to say that the man who caught the great white shark, was arrested, his boat was seized, and he was fined $25,000, in addition to being charged with child endangerment for bringing the white shark on the boat with a 6-year-old child on-board.

It should be noted that all of this information comes from user-submitted discussion forums. I have been unable to find any news outlets reporting this story at the time of this writing. Hamptons.com has an article on the shark tournament, but there is no mention of a great white shark being brought to the docks, nor any mention of charges brought against any tournament participants.

Discovery’s new promotional video for “Ultimate Air Jaws” follows Chris Fallows as he attempts to understand why white sharks are coming in close to shore of the coast of Mossel Bay.

If this video is an indication of what we can expect from the network this year as far as promotional material for Shark Week 2010 goes, then I’d say they’ve made leaps and bounds in the right direction compared to last year’s marketing campaign. The promo video features some amazing slow-motion breach footage and seems to be more focused on information and education versus trying to drum up fear. Hopefully, we’ll see more of these types of promotional videos from Discovery leading up to this year’s Shark Week.

MyFox Boston is reporting that the presence of great white sharks is expected again around Chatham, Massachusetts this year. The presence of several white sharks in the vicinity of Lighthouse Beach caused the closing of the beach last year. While tourists and the tourism industry might not exactly be welcoming the return of the great white sharks, researchers are expected to take advantage of their presence in hopes of learning more about the species.

Last year, five great white sharks were tagged in the waters around Chatham. Their migrations were tracked as far Florida. According to the satellite tag data, at least one of the sharks was recorded in water as cold as 44° F. However, the sharks spent 80% of the time in water temperatures in the 59°-70° F range, according to the Cape Cod Times.