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

[ScubaScottNYC]

While you can all debate the "merits" of this situation, it appears to me that you are missing one important point. RANDY JORDAN IS DANGEROUS!!! I have done 100s of dives in Palm Beach/Jupiter. I used to manage a dive shop in NYC. I never would bad mouth any dive operator, as I know how tough it can be to make a living in SCUBA, as it is part business, part hobby/passion. That said, I would break that rule to warn people to steer clear of Randy Jordan or Jim Abernathy. If you doubt my logic or reasons just go to your favorite search engine and look up "scuba accidents, Jupiter or Palm Beach". Still not convinced? Who just happens to find a sunken airplane in 185' water while leading a pleasure dive? Yup, that's Randy Jordan -- again, google it.... So from my perspective, what we're talking about here is that Randy finally got caught for his bullsh-t behavior and hopefully they'll put him out of business before he gets anyone hurt. As for Abernathy? Too late, he's already got blood on his hands, and not just shark blood.

Just my 2 cents. There's a lot of good boats (Give your money to Van on the Narcosis, he'll give you a great trip, but safely...) and some of the best diving in S. FL to be had in PB/Jupiter. I am not sad that some of the bad apples are being called to the mat.

Safe diving!

 

[The Chairman]

Scott, the plane was found during an extended range/trimix class. Sorry to burst your bubble, but the class was done within standards, and Randy was not the instructor.

Secondly, if you haven't dove with him, how on earth would you know how safe he is? You don't. I've been on his boat many times and it's an incredibly safety conscious crew.

 

[vincent54]

Well I googled and didn't find anything too extraordinary. If he has a proper boat and permits, i would dive his boat no problem. Ultimately it is up to the diver to determine if a dive is too dangerous.

I am suspicious of slanderous accusations on an internet forum. There is usual a personal vendetta involved. As far as I know, no diver has been injured because of the alleged illegal feedings. Let the man at least get his day in court before we bankrupt him.

 

[ccxx]

Well, I see the scuba police are out in force today. And I agree with Vincent54 accessment above. I've been chastised on some dive boats for allegedly 'interacting' with the marine life but I've never put a marine creature in danger or interferred with it's daily routine. Stand down and enjoy the dive.

 

[Trace Malinowski]

A friend sent me a link to this thread right after I read an article by the PA Game Commission about not feeding black bears in the state because while you may enjoy a close encounter, someone else might not. That's logical.

I've had some experience diving reefs in the Bahamas in which sharks were fed on feed and non-feed days. I've done several "shark dives" and appeared in a documentary with Cristina Zenato. On non-feed days there were quite a few sharks around, but didn't pose a problem. If I swam down the reef during a feed you could tell that the sharks were more alert to the activity. Still, given that divers dive in this area day in and day out (most quite unaware of the the fact that feeds are conducted regularly) and given the amount of shark feeds and other watersports in the area, no attacks year after year speaks pretty clearly of the truly low risk of injury from a shark.

 

[HalcyonDaze]

Well I googled and didn't find anything too extraordinary. If he has a proper boat and permits, i would dive his boat no problem. Ultimately it is up to the diver to determine if a dive is too dangerous.

I am suspicious of slanderous accusations on an internet forum. There is usual a personal vendetta involved. As far as I know, no diver has been injured because of the alleged illegal feedings. Let the man at least get his day in court before we bankrupt him.

Yeah, I checked that search out and found zilch on accidents. Frankly I find that YMMV when talking about safety in the PBC area. I've dove off of five operations in the northern PBC area and I'm comfortable on all of them. On the other hand, I have friends who are aghast that those ops let folks dive solo, have hunters and sightseers on the same dive, or that you may spend 10 minutes or more awaiting pickup. It's a different skill level and most ops will let you run off the leash if you're an experienced diver.

The only thing I agree with in that post is the plug for Narcosis. Van and his crew are my go-to pick when I'm not out specifically for shark closeups, and even then I see a fair number (and manage to miss spotting the ones checking out the spearos).

 

[nimoh]

Yeah, I checked that search out and found zilch on accidents. Frankly I find that YMMV when talking about safety in the PBC area. I've dove off of five operations in the northern PBC area and I'm comfortable on all of them. On the other hand, I have friends who are aghast that those ops let folks dive solo, have hunters and sightseers on the same dive, or that you may spend 10 minutes or more awaiting pickup. It's a different skill level and most ops will let you run off the leash if you're an experienced diver.

The only thing I agree with in that post is the plug for Narcosis. Van and his crew are my go-to pick when I'm not out specifically for shark closeups, and even then I see a fair number (and manage to miss spotting the ones checking out the spearos).

I googled "scuba accidents, Jupiter or Palm Beach" and then also googled "scuba, Jupiter or Palm Beach" and got the same list of links.

 

[kenackr]

The notion of feeding sharks just to make a buck strikes me as not only ludicrous, but will certainly lead to no good result. Yes, it may be a big draw for the adrenaline junkies, but is that worth risking human life & limb over?

Starting at the top:

Sharks are generally acknowledged as apex predators that are perfectly capable of finding their own brunch or lunch. Yes, I understand there are people in this world who don't understand (or think), or care if another human dies as long as they make money off of it.

Every time man steps in to alter course for mother nature, unintended consequences usually occur. In this case, it's easy to see that it only takes 1 shark in frenzy and/or a diver in panic mode (for whatever the reason) to have deadly consequences as predicted by the shark white paper several post pages back. It WILL happen, it's just a matter of time. Why should GREED be allowed to trump human life?

The law that was violated was put in place to keep idiots that do this (both operators & customers) far enough off shore to discourage sharks from closer to shore spots in their lunch calendar. Apex predators don't "stumble" swim around blindly without purpose. If they have a good lunch somewhere, they jot it down and put in their memory bank, not unlike we do. The people that passed the law realized it was a public safety issue and want to stop the idiots who choose not to recognize the problem to begin with.

As a public safety matter, they should have the book thrown at them, with confiscation of the boat considered if it happens again.

 

[Arubandi07]

The notion of feeding sharks just to make a buck strikes me as not only ludicrous, but will certainly lead to no good result. Yes, it may be a big draw for the adrenaline junkies, but is that worth risking human life & limb over?

Starting at the top:

Sharks are generally acknowledged as apex predators that are perfectly capable of finding their own brunch or lunch. Yes, I understand there are people in this world who don't understand (or think), or care if another human dies as long as they make money off of it.

Every time man steps in to alter course for mother nature, unintended consequences usually occur. In this case, it's easy to see that it only takes 1 shark in frenzy and/or a diver in panic mode (for whatever the reason) to have deadly consequences as predicted by the shark white paper several post pages back. It WILL happen, it's just a matter of time. Why should GREED be allowed to trump human life?

The law that was violated was put in place to keep idiots that do this (both operators & customers) far enough off shore to discourage sharks from closer to shore spots in their lunch calendar. Apex predators don't "stumble" swim around blindly without purpose. If they have a good lunch somewhere, they jot it down and put in their memory bank, not unlike we do. The people that passed the law realized it was a public safety issue and want to stop the idiots who choose not to recognize the problem to begin with.

As a public safety matter, they should have the book thrown at them, with confiscation of the boat considered if it happens again.

Sure about that?

 

[The Chairman]

I hope the no feeding law gets looked at again. It was passed right after the Summer of the Shark and appears to be driven through more by fear mongering than actual science.