Chumming/Baiting for Shark Dives

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Thanks for responding. Would still like to get your thoughts on the second part of my post re the purpose of chumming/feeding. IMO, shark dives would be a great deal less controversial, as well as more educational, if carried out based on the parameters mentioned in your answer, rather than involving the use of stimuli.

I totally agree with you, I much prefer non baited shark encounters when they just turn up, the problem is that with shark numbers have been so drastically reduced almost everywhere, it would be almost impossible for an operation to exist through taking divers out "in the hope" of seeing sharks because chances are, they won't.

Bait is used to draw them in and keep them there long enough for the divers to have a "full" experience, fifty years ago it would have been possible to visit serveral global locations and encounter sharks in a natural setting, these days only maybe 3 or 4 places can practically guarantee shark encounters so bait becomes a requirement.

Who knows, in 20 years or so, in the unlikely event the human race wakes up and shark numbers increase, baiting may no longer be a requirement in many places? It's a nice thought at least...
 
I totally agree with you, I much prefer non baited shark encounters when they just turn up, the problem is that with shark numbers have been so drastically reduced almost everywhere, it would be almost impossible for an operation to exist through taking divers out "in the hope" of seeing sharks because chances are, they won't.

Bait is used to draw them in and keep them there long enough for the divers to have a "full" experience, fifty years ago it would have been possible to visit serveral global locations and encounter sharks in a natural setting, these days only maybe 3 or 4 places can practically guarantee shark encounters so bait becomes a requirement.

Who knows, in 20 years or so, in the unlikely event the human race wakes up and shark numbers increase, baiting may no longer be a requirement in many places? It's a nice thought at least...

I think the Bahamas is one place where I see sharks on just about every dive,even if in the distince- even off Palm Beach in the winter North of the inlet you see them a lot , big bulls! , I for one dont really need to see them to be happy, mostly because im spearing
 
Sharks do not associate humans as food due to shark feeding.

Shark behaviour is not being altered, it is perfectly natural behaviour for a scavenger to make the benefit of an easy meal.
See, this is where you're wrong. It does change behavior, I've seen with my own eyes a large number of nurse sharks circling a group of divers in open water after leaving a shark feeding zone. This is emphatically not normal nurse shark behavior.
 
Conditioning animals (fish included) is normally a recipe for someone eventually getting hurt. The fish are doing nothing wrong but humans can make mistakes when approached by inquisitive and large animals.

When it is only the individual operator in control of the dive site, then they also have 'control' on the conditioning and can brief clients accordingly.

Years ago in the Maldives there was Halaveli Wreck where some operators regularly fed large stingrays attracting more and more so eventually there were liable to be 20+ on the dive waiting for a handout. One day a safari boat dropped some people in and a female diver basically got scalped by a ray.

On FishHead there used to be a monster Napolean who normally got fed and would approach as soon as he heard divers dropping in, making a beeline for the DM (at the front of the group). I never fed it and it would sometimes get stroppy. Napoleans are not to be messed with- I have seen a fairly small one literally rip a Titan trigger in half after the Titan charged it while defending its nest.

I've heard similar stories of aggressive fish which had to be shot as they were proving to be a liability around nervous divers.

Does conditioning sharks through bait 'change' their behaviour? Yes and no. Sharks will continue to scavange during the day. Sharks do learn to associate noise (diver entries) with the start of the feeding show. My concern is for independent divers who drop in on a conditioned site without the neccessary equipment or knowledge.
 
It appears to be changing their behaviour in Bora Bora. Had a discussion on this on Moora re the op that baits (wont name and do not support this op anywhere because of it) for the shark dive at Bora Bora - I dont think its normal behaviour for lemons to be hanging at 5m right under the boat for no reason as soon as divers get in the water......they are conditioning the sharks to associate dive boats with food. Diving at the same place they bait is just stupid. They dont get my money. Id rather dive anywhere else because every dive I did in FP I had no shortage of sharks and lots of varieties of sharks without baiting.
 
really?
I can't help but chuckle about some of the comments on this board.
the "sharks wast energy" argument is really a very weak argument. Sharks have evolved for MILLIONS of years and use very little energy when cruising.
The areas that people dive in are very prey rich areas, so it is not like we are luring a white tips from 10 miles away... come on guys... these sharks come in because the meal is easy and requires LESS energy to eat than chasing a fish....

Also most operations actually feed the sharks, so there is no energy wasted.

Here the sharks have learned to follow the commercial fishing boats back to the docks and feed on the discarded carcasses. so the "changing the behavior".. the sharks are not changing behavior.. that IS their normal behavior... SCAVENGING......

lastly the shark feeding dives actually helps shark conservation. Exposing new divers to sharks eases lots of fears that the inexperienced divers have in regards to sharks. They see them in a totally different way afterwards... they they tell lots of friends about the experience as they are excited about it.. this helps to spread the word about the true nature of the creatures... and combats all the sensationalized tv and movie coverage.....

humans are the sharks worst enemies. anything we can do to help reduce the killing of sharks by us is a good thing. We are NOT increasing the frequency of shark attacks by shark feeding dives....so why is it bad..

The analogy about the buffalo is a poor one. Buffalo have very reduced resources in the winter, and like bears rely on reserves and energy conservation during the winter... This is not the case for sharks.. their food source is not as seasonal...
 
really?
I can't help but chuckle about some of the comments on this board.
the "sharks wast energy" argument is really a very weak argument. Sharks have evolved for MILLIONS of years and use very little energy when cruising.
The areas that people dive in are very prey rich areas, so it is not like we are luring a white tips from 10 miles away... come on guys... these sharks come in because the meal is easy and requires LESS energy to eat than chasing a fish....

Also most operations actually feed the sharks, so there is no energy wasted.

Here the sharks have learned to follow the commercial fishing boats back to the docks and feed on the discarded carcasses. so the "changing the behavior".. the sharks are not changing behavior.. that IS their normal behavior... SCAVENGING......

lastly the shark feeding dives actually helps shark conservation. Exposing new divers to sharks eases lots of fears that the inexperienced divers have in regards to sharks. They see them in a totally different way afterwards... they they tell lots of friends about the experience as they are excited about it.. this helps to spread the word about the true nature of the creatures... and combats all the sensationalized tv and movie coverage.....

humans are the sharks worst enemies. anything we can do to help reduce the killing of sharks by us is a good thing. We are NOT increasing the frequency of shark attacks by shark feeding dives....so why is it bad..

The analogy about the buffalo is a poor one. Buffalo have very reduced resources in the winter, and like bears rely on reserves and energy conservation during the winter... This is not the case for sharks.. their food source is not as seasonal...

You spout off opinions like they are facts. What do you know about shark energy dynamics?
What do you know about shark prey availability in the entire ocean?
How does commercial fishing's disruption of the natural food chain justify shark feeding by dive operators which also disrupts the natural food chain?
How do you know shark feeding does NOT increase the frequency of negative interactions between sharks and people... we have many documented attacks associate with shark feeding. a recent one was fatal and occurred during the most professional operation around.
How many shark feeding dives have you done?
And lastly, why should we feed sharks in popular dive locations, but avoid feeding bears along popular hiking trails in the wilderness?
 
Yes there is plenty of silliness, opinions, glittering generalities, faulty conclusions, conjecture, lack of consistency and hypocrisy being floated in this thread but the truth is it's coming from many directions.

For example I have to agree with “yardpro” this statement has no relevance to shark baiting “It is just like the fools who run the buflaoo in out west and wonder why there is a movement to ban snowmobiles,”
It might work for a discussion of say “the artificial feeding of hay to Bison” there is of course no such animal as a “Buflaoo”. Not to mention yes , there was a movement to ban snowmobiles specifically in Yellowstone Park, but not in general area of “out west” And in fact the result is a new Park policy in the reduction of the number of snowmobiles ( 50)allowed per day, the noise level (67 db) and speed (25 mph).

But on the other hand claiming

(“We need to make people understand that sharks are a critical piece of the marine ecosystem and they need to be protected.&#8221:wink: I think every one would agree And (“I want sustainable fishing for sharks” )I would agree with also.
Unfortunately the above statements are in direct contradiction to-

“I FULLY support the commercial and recreational harvest of sharks..” (without further qualification), is within itself almost a complete contradiction in mutually exclusive terms.

The truth is currently due to lack of ability of enforcement of international treaties, regulations and guidelines . Shark populations are in severe decline world wide. Sadly without actual enforcement of current regs. And the implementation of science driven as opposed to politically driven regs. There will most likely be little to no recreational shark harvesting to be found in the not to distant future. Perhaps you ment to say “ I fully support regulated and enforced, science based sustainable, commercial and recreational harvest of sharks.”

To put things in perspective Any time we humans enter a wild environment . By our mere presence and nothing more, we are creating an artificial interaction and are in fact to some measure, altering the natural behavior of the inhabitants of the area period. It does not matter weather we are merely observing, photographing, baiting, or spearfishing, we are all there, altering the behavior and exploiting that environment, for our own personal entertainment and pleasure.

It’s for damn sure those inhabitants did not ask us to be there nor does our presence directly benefit them , for any reason and the truth is, only our total absence truly represents an exploitation/free activity. Anything else, is a matter of degrees of exploitation.
Yes one side effect of human presence is the possible contribution to greater public awareness ,support and enforcement of protections, none the less it still involves exploitation for entertainment.

For example considering all of the environmental pollution and destruction required in the activity just get us to a wild place, it’s a bit hypocritical to arbitrarily start pointing fingers at particular activities we perhaps emotionally don’t agree with.
 
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Just found this little snippet on a travel forum regards TopDive Bora Bora's continual interference with the lemon sharks and how operators on Moorea were saying over and over again they were creating a situation where the sharks are expecting the boat -

I am not kidding! I will NEVER dive with sharks again. First, Top Dive Bora Bora did NOT check if I had my certification with me (I didn't but I am PADI certified and should have had it with me) nor did they ask the 3 other people I was with if they had theirs. There were 9 divers on the boat with 2 dive masters. We went to Tapu to dive with Lemon Sharks. The minute the boat stopped, the lemon sharks showed up. There were probably about 8 in the beginning. We split into 2 groups - 4 in mine and 6 in the other. Because one in my group had a hard time clearing on the way down, we were about 10-15 minutes behind. We finally got to about 70 ft. The other group had gone one way, we went another. We had only been moving about 10 minutes when the other dive master showed up and we were told to "stop". The other DM was "talking" with ours and making signs that I wasn't familiar with. He left quickly. Our DM signaled to follow him and we headed back toward the line connected to the boat. We were very confused when he told us to surface. The guy going up first stopped at 15 ft to decomp but the DM kept signaling to keep going and hurry. I noticed many ither sharks had shown up and were circling the boat but we still didn't realize what had happened (thank goodness!). Two of my group had gotten into the boat when I surfaced. I was waiting for a DM to come get my tank etc. like usual but no one was coming. I was trying to get up but there were big swells and I was knocked off the ladder several times (big bruises to show it). Finally I said "can someone help me?" And my friend came over and pulled me up, tank and all, saying " don't panic but a guy got bit". Talk about WOW! Got on the boat and sure enough, a guy from the other group was sitting with an oxygen mask on and with his arm wrapped in a bandage, blood seeping through and dripping down. After everyone got on board, we raced to Vaitape to drop the guy off. He was a guest on a cruise ship and an employee with the ship was with him. His dive partner had been behind him while diving and told us he had seen this shark start following him and it was like he was tracking him. The dive partner saw the attack. It bit through his dive watch which fell on the bottom (they were right above bottom) and the victim kept swimming! Didn't know he'd been bit until it started bleeding. The partner said it just layed open a big flap in his arm - to the bone! He didn't seem to be in much pain but I'm sure he was in shock. After we dropped him off to be heli flighted to Tahiti, the DM's asked if we still wanted to go on our dive but INSIDE the lagoon. We all talked it over and decided to go ahead and dive. Mostly so we could get through the fear we had and not be scared to dive again. I have to COMMEND the DM's for doing a great job keeping calm and keeping us calm. They had never experienced an attack before but I have to say there was no panic from anyone on the boat and it was because the DM's and boat driver were extremely calm. Aside from the large number of divers they took at one time and that they didn't check certs, they did a great job with the emergency. The dive we finally did was a poor one - visibility was bad and fish scarce. We did see an eagle ray and that was cool. Unfortunately, almost all of the coral is dead in the lagoon and so diving isn't good so, that's my true story. I tried to find some news of it on the net but found nothing. Probably, they are keeping it quiet so it won't hurt business in Bora Bora.

Visited February 2013



 

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