GUADALUPE MAY BE CLOSED PERMANENTLY

[O-ring]

Where would thery hang the narco manta?

Cartels got tired of the dive boat traffic interrupting trafficking routes and calling the pesky coast guard so they made a public display of decapitating that shark. Then they engaged their media/lobbying arm to make it look like it was the cage diving operation(s) that caused it. Problem solved.

 

[mcohen1021]

OK now I have another question, they're closing it now over an incident that happened in 2019? Something doesn't add up

 

[Boarderguy]

OK now I have another question, they're closing it now over an incident that happened in 2019? Something doesn't add up

That's the problem. The bribes didn't add up to keeping it open

 

[mcohen1021]

Between the Guadalupe closure, narco terrorism and these attack downcurrents, no one is going to want to visit Mexico

 

[Ken Kurtis]

Maybe this will help get this thread a bit more on track and out of the weeds it seems to have found:

 

[Jake 10]

Why closing Guadalupe Island puts sharks at risk - but it's not too late to stop it - SCUBA News

Guadalupe Island still open to divers, i spite of the Mexican government, but for how long? Why banning dive boats could be disastrous for the sharks.

news.scubatravel.co.uk

 

[AZTinman]

There were two cage breach incidents in 2016. The first was the result of an operator putting a bag of chum inside a cage and having divers basically dance and jump around on it to disperse the smell into the water. A large white shark attempted to get into the cage by coming through the top. The use of a bag of chum inside a cage wasn't a one time thing with this particular operator. I remember a video of divers dancing on this operator's chum bag inside a cage posted on ScubaBoard.

The second incident was a smaller white shark that hit a cage hard enough to breach it and join the diver inside... until the diver exited through the bottom of the cage to avoid the shark.

These incidents prompted the Mexican government to call Guadalupe operators to a 'Come to Jesus' type meeting to present evidence of operators violating the biosphere rules. If I recall correctly, fines were levied against the operators who were violating the rules. The government began putting observers on the operators' boats in an effort to curtail the bad practices.

Another issue that doesn't get discussed much relates to some of the film production work that has been done at the Isla Guadalupe. Many of the activities film crews engaged in had little to do with legitimate scientific study and more to do with stunts. For example, Discovery ran a program a while back that had one of their Shark Week regulars floating on the surface at Guadalupe inside a plexiglas box. Of course, the outcome of this stunt was predictable; a large white shark decided the diver looked like a sea lion and munched the plexiglas box. I had visited with the diver who did this stunt a couple of years before he did the box thing and told him it was disappointing to see these kinds of programs. I felt Discovery was missing opportunities to focus on educating people about sharks. His response was that the network was really focused on attracting viewers and extreme, outrageous program themes were what brought in viewers. Frankly, it's not hard to find examples of this type of Shark Week programing. Welcome to the stupid world of reality televison.

I sincerely believe the closure will have negative impacts upon the Guadalupe Biosphere. Without a doubt, there will be illegal fishing activities occurring at Isla Guadalupe without people out there to observe what's going on.

-AZTinman

 

[Joneill]

There were two cage breach incidents in 2016. The first was the result of an operator putting a bag of chum inside a cage and having divers basically dance and jump around on it to disperse the smell into the water. A large white shark attempted to get into the cage by coming through the top. The use of a bag of chum inside a cage wasn't a one time thing with this particular operator. I remember a video of divers dancing on this operator's chum bag inside a cage posted on ScubaBoard.

The second incident was a smaller white shark that hit a cage hard enough to breach it and join the diver inside... until the diver exited through the bottom of the cage to avoid the shark.

These incidents prompted the Mexican government to call Guadalupe operators to a 'Come to Jesus' type meeting to present evidence of operators violating the biosphere rules. If I recall correctly, fines were levied against the operators who were violating the rules. The government began putting observers on the operators' boats in an effort to curtail the bad practices.

Another issue that doesn't get discussed much relates to some of the film production work that has been done at the Isla Guadalupe. Many of the activities film crews engaged in had little to do with legitimate scientific study and more to do with stunts. For example, Discovery ran a program a while back that had one of their Shark Week regulars floating on the surface at Guadalupe inside a plexiglas box. Of course, the outcome of this stunt was predictable; a large white shark decided the diver looked like a sea lion and munched the plexiglas box. I had visited with the diver who did this stunt a couple of years before he did the box thing and told him it was disappointing to see these kinds of programs. I felt Discovery was missing opportunities to focus on educating people about sharks. His response was that the network was really focused on attracting viewers and extreme, outrageous program themes were what brought in viewers. Frankly, it's not hard to find examples of this type of Shark Week programing. Welcome to the stupid world of reality televison.

I sincerely believe the closure will have negative impacts upon the Guadalupe Biosphere. Without a doubt, there will be illegal fishing activities occurring at Isla Guadalupe without people out there to observe what's going on.

-AZTinman

Yup - I saw a clip of that idiot in the plexiglass box on YouTube. The fool deserved to get eaten for that lame stunt and their sensationalizing the “attack” to grab viewers. What did they expect would happen? I have honestly not watched the Discovery Channel in years - back when they did good shows like Wings!

 

[living4experiences]

If it took 6 or 7 years for the Mexican government to take notice of the bad practices of the dive ops, referencing the 2016 incidents above, imagine how long they'll keep the park closed to figure this out. Although cage diving with the whites is on my list, my disappointment is overridden by the inevitable illegal fishing, especially shark finning.

 

[AZTinman]

Well, it didn't take 6 or 7 years for the Mexican government to take notice of the bad and some illegal practices of dive operators at Guadalupe. The highly publicized cage breach incidents occurred during 2016 and the government addressed issues at a meeting with operators in 2017. After the 2016 cage breach issues went viral on social media, it became harder for government officials to ignore poor practices.

It's probably worth mentioning that following the 2016 incidents, government officials were hearing lots of voices demanding the end of cage diving operations. The stunts film makers were doing at the island were not going unnoticed as well.

Based on a conversation with an operator in 2020, it sounded like issues were still happening. One of the issues the operator mentioned was related to sharks hitting cages.

Personally, I believe the closure will result in an increase of illegal fishing activities at Isla Guadalupe and I'm not opposed to cage diving operations there. Unfortunately, there's a larger picture of what's happening with the closure than corrupt government officials. The larger picture includes failures on the part of operators and film makers.

I'd like to see the island re-open, before the shark finning crowd moves in.

-AZTinman