The Dorsal Fin

YouTube member Austin Buzzett posted a video yesterday with some footage of whale shark encounters off Grayton Beach and Seagrove Beach. The video does feature a few scenes with divers/snorkelers touching and hanging on to the dorsal fin of one of the whale sharks, which I strongly discourage, I think the overall theme of the video and the nature in which it depicts the whale sharks is definitely worth sharing.

This feature from 60 Minutes, , which originally aired in December of 2005 was updated on August 6, 2009. It covers the whole gamut of shark tourism and conservation. The segment does feature some footage that will clearly be seen by some as being detrimental to attitudes towards sharks and the shark tourism industry. Most notably a cage breach in which Simon implies that the divers would have “been toast” if the shark had not lost his bearing.

The lead-in to the segment also seems to state in a somewhat “matter of fact” manner that many people believe shark diving has resulted in an increase on shark attacks on beach-goers. It does seem to be somewhat balanced in featuring opinions of those both for and against shark diving, although I think it would have been more informative to see some references to research to support or contradict either point of view. I know there is at least one study on the effects of shark tourism on white shark behavior that was conducted in South Africa, which could have been relevant to the argument.

The segment started out with what I felt like was a somewhat negative attitude towards sharks from Bob Simon, in that he seems to be focused on fears toward sharks early on. However, Simon definitely seems in awe of the white sharks that he dives with in South Africa and even comments that the experience is less about fear than it was marveling at seeing white sharks up close. In the latter half of the segment, the focus shifts from shark tourism to the finning industry and the threat to global shark populations. By the end of the segment, Simon seems to be conservation-minded and even calls for people to give sharks a break.

According to the info associated with this video, five whale sharks have been spotted in the area off the coast of Drayton Beach, Florida this month. The video was shot by James Griffith of Santa Rosa, Florida. Unlike another recent whale shark video, the divers in this one manage to avoid direct contact with the shark(s), although somebody aboard a boat does reach out to “pet” a passing whale shark at one point. At one point in the video, even the dog aboard the boat seems captivated by a passing whale shark.

A report on shark diving tours operating in Oahu, Hawaii suggests that the tours do not result in an increase of risk of shark attacks on humans according to an AP article that appeared at MiamiHerald.com. The report is based on a “snap-shot” study over the course of 4 years, which relied primarily on the logbooks of tour operators and reports from boat operators, which I would expect would draw some criticism from those opposed to shark diving (and likely anybody with some knowledge of research design). The article also mentions that federal fisheries are investigating shark tours in Hawaii on the grounds that they are illegally feeding sharks. Based on the results of the study Galapagos sharks and sandbar sharks were the most prevalent sharks encountered by the shark tours involved in the study. The study also concluded that shark tours “do not increase the potential of shark attacks near the shoreline because the boats operate three miles from the coastline and because the chumming they do to attract sharks to cages mimics the decades-old operations of crab fishing vessels in the same area that discard bait from their traps.”
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The LA Times Blogs ran a story today (07/01/09) about a new great white shark aggregation site. The location of this newly discovered hotspot will be revealed on July 4, 2009. Shark Divers, which appears to be an offshoot of the California-based commercial dive company, Shark Diver has code-named the site Oceania and is offering dive opportunities exclusively to television and film crews beginning in 2010, according to the information accompanying their video posted on YouTube.

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