I jut love when people who have:
1) Never spent any real time in the actual water with sharks close up
2) Don't know the record including # of dives, safety procedures, experience with diving operations, etc. of an operator
3) Speculate without any facts
and then weigh in on sharks and divers.
I personally have chartered JASA (Jim Abernethy's Scuba Adventures) 7+ times with most for Shark Expeditions. He is a lot safer than many if not most of those "kneel here and we'll feed the sharks for you!" type dives. As stated, bait is in the water in crates, but not fed to the animals. Those people who think they'll get to see or photograph these beautiful animals without keeping them around this way are deluded........
The "cameras taken away" is more a stunt than regular occurance. Never happened to me or any of my fellow photographers in hundreds of dives and hours.
The State of FLA has it's proverbial head up it's you know what, too. They ban any dive operation from bait yet allow MILLIONS of bathers every year to enter murky splash filled water next to like, 75 fishing piers? Dumping guts and blood into them right next to Johnny and Susy splashing around.......How retarded.
Jimmy has a flying boat (Zodiac with a wing) he flew for maybe 30+ miles above several major beaches and videotaped hundreds of sharks outside the surfline on a typical day. That coupled with science behind how many humans enter the ocean every day, especially in FLA or CA and how few sharks even nip a person were discounted by FLA "officials". Because politicians have to reassure the public "all is well!" solving any perceived problem with a lame solution.
Sorry for the rant, but I'd like to Google how many dog, cat, ferret, snake, or people bites etc. resulted in hospital visits on 2/24/08. Or how many sharks necessary for the complete environmental balance were finned or hooked and killed on the same day. The sharks sure should fear us more than we fear them.
Let's wait for real information.....
dhaas
P.S. - I see this has ended sadly. I do, of course, feel sympathy for the man and his family. But again, facts need to be known........