Dive boat operators face charges of illegally feeding sharks in state waters

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The article is as well reasoned as it is inconclusive. I get the idea that he has problems with it, as do I, but he doesn't really denounce the practice either. So far, the entire debate is more emotional than factual. I would rather it be the other way around.

FWIW, I Emailed the author with links and asked him to participate.
 
Proud? Well, maybe a tad. :D The point is, there are several species that simply don't bite the hand that feeds them. Shark feeding has a long history here in Florida and as of yet no one has been able to trace any attack back to them.

Lol. You also have a long history of leading the world in shark bites, maybe they are related.:idk:

But then, our very presence changes their habits. Are you suggesting that we simply stop our underwater intrusion? I'm not going for that.

Impossible and hell no, but just like lion fish we need to at least try to help, not change the habits of the areas top predators. I notice more sharks where they shouldn't be every year and its always around heavy fishing spots.

So, you're seeing more aggressive sharks and you're on the other side of the state. That's significant, since it indicates that something OTHER than shark feeding is causing this.

I think its a population thing on my side and they are related but lets not dilute the debate. I'm only trying to apply first hand observations of someone in the water with them in my area, they can and do adapt to what we are doing. They have been adapting for a very long time and to think they will stop because of us goes against my high school marine bio class.


Honesty is a good thing. It helps you to cut through the BS.

:shakehead: Dude,

Honesty helps ME cut through the bull? You mean US right? This is a discussion of opposing opinions and not you just telling some idiot how it is right? Do you have a single friend with my opinion on the matter? One spearo bud who maybe sees more sharks than you do? Because a couple min on the other SB and you can find a plethora of sharks stories for that area, they don't even use stringers apparently, just bag them up so the sharks wont get um!!! :shocked2: They are there, I promise.

Summer of 75. A buddy and I are diving off Ponce Inlet. I don't think we were even hunting, just poking around off shore. My buddy pokes me in the arm and points behind us. There must have been a thousand spinner sharks schooling behind us. Jaws had just come out and we kind of walked on water to get back on shore. We were both ashamed of being scared out of the water by spinners, but such is the nature of fear: it's unreasonable.

A cruising shark is wayyy different than a jerky ass turned up fins down open mouth passing hungry muscle with teeth. This was not some perceived fear of death, if we didn't get out of that water they would have eaten us, no question.


I never see too many sharks anymore.

Was that a yes? I would love to get ya out there boss man, May or June would get ya on a shark or maybe 2.:D Just let me know, ill be diving either way.
 
Impossible and hell no, but just like lion fish we need to at least try to help, not change the habits of the areas top predators. I notice more sharks where they shouldn't be every year and its always around heavy fishing spots.

Funny you should mention that. We see very few sharks in the Tortugas Ecological Reserve. We have a ton of fish. We see maybe one reef or lemon in a day. On Riley's hump we may see a bull or a white, though a small one.

The Ultimate Getaway sees a ton of sharks. I wonder what the difference could be.... Hmmmmm.... We dive within a mile or two of each other.... We carry about the same number of passengers.... we're both a hundred feet long..... I don't know, can anyone think of any other reason? They don't chum...
 
LOADED speargun pointed at himself with a dead fish tied to the butt... but I'm supposed to trust these guys are not damaging the ecosystem... nope.

Screenshot2014-01-10at81622PM_zps39287131.png
 
Unequivocal is tough if not impossible but yes, i can say without doubt that they are more aggressive. The stories that are told are downright shocking sometimes and more are added all the time. I have personally been chased to the boat by a pack, yes a pack of 10 seriously turned up reef sharks. Nipping at my fins and buzzing our heads the whole way to the ladder. Clipped my EMPTY bag, stringer, gun to a line tied off to a cleat and they hit it!! Took it down and shredded the rope, all i got back was my custom gun and only because it could float!

Do i think this instance was from shark dives? No, I do not.

Do i think that pack would have tried to eat anything they came across? Hell yes i do but the main point to take away here is i was most certainly on the menu. They were trying to eat me and i can say the same for at least 3 other sharks in the last couple of years. They will, in the right situation, enjoy the **** out of eating a person.
You must be giving off some interesting vibrations or something, because that is counter to everything I have heard and read. Can you cite a single instance in which a shark has eaten someone? I am not talking about taking a bite and not returning--I am talking about having a meal.

Just before I arrived in Maui a few years ago, a snorkeler was bitten on the thigh by a tiger shark, who took out a big piece of the thigh. The shark left, and the other snorkelers took the victim to shore and successfully applied first aid measures. While they were doing that, the chunk of thigh that had been bitten off floated in to shore. The shark had spit it out.
 
On this theme, over half of Florida is too old to drive......and too old to dive :)

The most intelligent statement I have seen on this tread......lol...as I sit here eating popcorn and trying not to comment....
 
https://xf2.scubaboard.com/community/forums/cave-diving.45/

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