The Dorsal Fin

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.)

Warning: Video contains somewhat graphic footage of shark finning and brief shots of white shark predation on a seal.

KQED aired the educational/information themed video “Great White Shark: The Man in the Gray Suit” back in April of this year. For a downloadable HD version of the video and more information, please visit the Quest website.

The video includes footage of white sharks at both the Farallon Islands and Isla de Guadalupe (although Guadalupe is never mentioned by name). The feature touches on topics including shark attacks and the “mistaken identity” theory, shark finning, migration patterns, shark behavior, and tagging programs.

Thanks to The Best Shark Dive in the World! blog for the heads-up on this video!

Apparently, great white sharks at Isla de Guadalupe are becoming like amusement park rides. Apparently, the activities seen in this video were part of a “documentary,” which seems to be the catch-all excuse for “getting the shot” these days.

This video is part of rettigundersea’s Guadalupe photo set, which is worth checking out for some cool rare shots of the island that aren’t related to white sharks, including some cool shore diving shots.

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.

Sport Fishing with Dan Hernandez posted the video seen below on YouTube. This is what happens when you try to reel in a tuna at Isla de Guadalupe when there are white sharks around. They don’t call it the “Island of the Great White Shark” for nothing.