Please stop feeding the sharks at half moon caye

[Doubler]

They did the same exact thing on the wrecks off Oahu. They had divers in the water actually feeding the morays while the sub went cruising by. The problem with this was the sound of exhausted air became a dinner bell for some very large morays. When a six foot moray swims up inside your BC looking for food it tends to get your attention. Scared the crap out of several divers, a couple got bit, I heard one guy had to ditch his BC as Mr. moray just kept searching. People can say what they want about not effecting behavior but it is usually people making money off the feeding that say it has no effect. I am waiting for someone to get bit off of West Palm, it is coming.

 

[Hank49]

Welcome back Fred! Your review of the food gives me some solace that I'm not just the odd ball in regard to it.

In my opinion, the whole reefs 'fished off' is nonsense and what's a typical response by people who either don't really dive regularly or are looking for another excuse. Nobody over fishes the juveniles on a reef which are missing, but the lion fish certainly eat the crap out of them. The entire Caribbean is unfortunately looking sparser and sparser due to lion fish, with the exception of Florida around the keys which is still very fishy for some reason.

If you look at the average in regard to the size of the lion fish being killed on dives at the dive sites of TIR, you know that they are medium to large, which means in order to get that big they are living unmolested lives at the dive sites for quite awhile before they are killed, if you dive in busier areas like Cozumel you notice that the average lionfish size killed at the dive sites is tiny to small. The remoteness and non-busyness of the diving sites around TIR which was always a positive is now unfortunately in my guess actually to their detriment in that dive masters who care enough to cull the lionfish on their dives there unfortunately only see many of the dive sites once a week on average at best, so the lionfish are eating away unmolested and the reefs are showing the results of their lack of traffic. Just my opinion but I've been studying this epidemic since it started and taking mental notes for years in various locations in the Caribbean and I think my take on this is pretty accurate and logical.

The amount of baracuddas we saw was relatively a tiny number compared to other places. They typically give me the creeps anyways, but one was particularly creepy, it too was at a cleaning station but it just seemed odd and exuded a dangerous air to it that made you stay clear, that was the only one that I recall being memorable.

I had begun to wonder if the lion fish were knocking back snapper numbers here. I have been spearfishing regularly here for 10 years. In the past 2 years there has been a substantially lower number of dog snappers, (Lutjanus jocu) and cuberas on some of my better spots. And yes, I have seen more lion fish and started seeing them here about 6 years or so ago.
However, Turneffe Elbow, where I have seen just as many lion fish is still home to a very reliable school of dog snapper as well as many muttons and cuberas. Especially this time of year.

I don't think gill netters can do the Elbow. It is some sort of Marine Reserve now although I see hook and liners out there this time of year. But the gill netters are known to hit more "rural" areas of the reef down this way. I saw this happen about 5 years or so again. I began seeing large numbers of large snapper in the Stann Creek market. The fish numbers went down a bit but came back after a while. Now they're down again. I know a guy who works for Fisheries here and they are presently conducting a study of the snapper populations on the barrier reef. We were discussing this exact topic last week. He blames the gill netters.

And someone mentioned the dark coloured barracuda. I've shot a few like that….more than a few….and when coloured like that they are usually laying on the bottom or still. I found upon gutting them immediately afterwards, that they had just eaten and had a nice fish in the stomach. When up in the water column and moving around, they're more silver.

I've only been to Half Moon Caye twice. Don't know about the sharks there but there are some places where sharks like to hang out. S Long Caye is one of them. We always see sharks there. I don't feed them….but they have stolen a fish or two from me after shooting.

 

[Mike]

However, Turneffe Elbow, where I have seen just as many lion fish is still home to a very reliable school of dog snapper as well as many muttons and cuberas. Especially this time of year.

Curious if you have been there lately? Dove it 3 times a couple of weeks ago and never saw anything resembling the accounts of large schools of anything. Saw maybe 5 permit one time, hardly anything else in anything even beginning to resemble a small school let along a large one of anything. I thought it was just the wrong season or something, but if you're saying this is prime time for them, I don't know where they went.

 

[Hank49]

Curious if you have been there lately? Dove it 3 times a couple of weeks ago and never saw anything resembling the accounts of large schools of anything. Saw maybe 5 permit one time, hardly anything else in anything even beginning to resemble a small school let along a large one of anything. I thought it was just the wrong season or something, but if you're saying this is prime time for them, I don't know where they went.

I was there a few weeks ago. For the last 6 years I've been there this time of year, usually about two trips a month for July, Aug and Sept. The cuberas are there spawning. Did you see other boats fishing there with hook and line? Also always….I've never NOT seen the school of dog snapper. Usually more than 100 and up to 200.
I think I mentioned in another post though about scuba divers there. We were there two years ago and had shot six or eight snappers. Cuberas everywhere and muttons too. All free diving. My buddy from the Philippines got in with scuba to see what was over the wall and "POOF", the snappers all bugged out. We didn't see any while he was in the water. 15 minutes after he was back on the boat, the fish came back.
I think someone spears them on scuba and they know…snappers get educated and learn fast….maybe workers from the resorts to get food for guests. After all, it's free. And free diving there isn't easy. You have to do at least 50-60 foot dives to the bottom but the snappers will come in to you.

And when I scuba dived there years ago, I didn't see the snappers either. Only a big school of horse eye jacks that we still see a lot. But they're pretty dumb, like the permit. Easy to see. The permit school usually has 50 fish or more. They move around a lot.

If you line up the light towers with the big tree next to the channel that goes into TIR and go to the drop off on that line, you're on the fish spot. The snappers will move north of there but if you spook them, (or shoot a couple), they run to that spot. It has a sand slope going down to the wall and there's a bit of a down current at times.

Bummer you didn't see them. I haven't scuba dived there for a long time. But I always see the fish free diving. Always.

 

[Downing]

I haven't scuba dived there for a long time.

Maybe we'll change that next month. :cool2:

 

[Stoo]

Were they hanging around other people, or just you? My husband once beat off a shark with his camera and thinks the (2 different) strobes were electrically interesting to it. They weren't coming so close to anyone else.

I agree with this... I've been diving at Halfmoon every year for the past 6 years and I've never seen, or heard of anyone feeding them. I have had numerous sharks show great interest in my strobes... In fact one of them has the cutest little bite marks in the rubber ring around the end. I agree that the recycling "whine" attracts and annoys them. I also think that my Ikelite stobes on long black arms resemble speared lionfish...

I now carry Micro-mesh for buffing shark-nose scuffs outta my acrylic dome...

 

[Hank49]

Maybe we'll change that next month. :cool2:

Who will change? Me or you? haha. I really want to scuba dive there actually. But before that, jump in with no tank and we'll see a LOT of fish. Guaranteed.

 

[Troy G.]

Sharks in an ocean? Strange!

 

[Rayallyn]

Sharks are animals and like all animals will begin to associate humans with food if fed by humans that's why they tell you not to feed the bears. If divers fed sharks then sharks will associate the diver to getting a free meal and when a diver does not have food the sharks may become a bit aggressive try to coax food from the diver.

 

[Troy G.]

One of many sources that debunk the myth that that Sharks fed by humans look to humans for food. If sea-life scares someone then they may be better off sticking to the swimming pool.
Debunking Myths About Shark Diving