shark dives vs au natural

[isurus]

ROFL

My point is this that people inevitably put more weight on theirs and their friends' experience than on what they are told by the media so every time an intrepid macho reef shark feed attendee turns up with his feed video/photos to show his friends, they become more convinced that these sharks really are harmless. If we can convince everyone of that, and get rid of some of the stigmas associated with them we might have more of a chance of getting them properly protected.

 

[jbilicska]

Good point

 

[cdiver2]

My point is this that people inevitably put more weight on theirs and their friends' experience than on what they are told by the media so every time an intrepid macho reef shark feed attendee turns up with his feed video/photos to show his friends, they become more convinced that these sharks really are harmless. If we can convince everyone of that, and get rid of some of the stigmas associated with them we might have more of a chance of getting them properly protected.

I dont think so.

 

[Johnoly]

My guess would be that for the majority of the divers who do them they represent a first encounter with "a looks a bit scary sharky shark" as opposed to "a lying on the floor not doing much nurse shark" and that as such the feeds represent valuable good pr for sharks.

For just Isurus, Send me an e-mail at Johnoly_@_scubadiving.com when you want to do a "natural" shark encounter. I think I can help you out in the Florida waters. Most spearo's will tell you, It's not sharks you need to worry about, it's the Goliaths who won't back down.

 

[isurus]

Thanks for the kind offer John, I've been lucky enough to be overwhelmed with good natural shark encounters on pretty much every holiday this past 2 years but I've not made it out to dive Florida or the Carribean yet (I'm considering a combined manatee/lemon shark aggregation trip for next year) - Am I right in thinking you were one of the chaps from the Rodales forum who had the excellent dive on the lemon shark aggegation?

 

[simonspear]

I WANT.



ROFL

Do we live in different realities or something? Life is all about I WANT for anyone lucky enough to be in the situation that they have a choice about how they spend their time and money. I'm sure everyday I WANT comes into your life in one way or another. What is it about sharks that makes it so bad to WANT to see them? The mind boggles....

 

[cdiver2]

Do we live in different realities or something? Life is all about I WANT for anyone lucky enough to be in the situation that they have a choice about how they spend their time and money. I'm sure everyday I WANT comes into your life in one way or another. What is it about sharks that makes it so bad to WANT to see them? The mind boggles....

I want, its about how one go's about getting what you want. That's the difference in our realities, acceptable/not acceptable

 

[simonspear]

I want, its about how one go's about getting what you want. That's the difference in our realities, acceptable/not acceptable

Not acceptable by who's standards? Yours? Where you live? Or the larger wider world that's out there?

Florida is pretty much the exception to the rule when it comes to Shark feeding. Most of the divers in the state are against it (about 5 to 1). Most if not all of the local environmental organisations are against it. The state government is obviously against it and the common public perception is that shark feeding puts sharks into such a frenzy that they immediately will rush to shore and attack the first swimmer or surfer they find.

Florida does have the highest occurence of shark attacks in the world, but this all happened before, during and after shark feeding. The fact that Florida is one of the largest sports fishing areas in the world which in turn (by the same rules used against direct shark feeding) attracts sharks and associates them with boats/people never seems to get put into the public domain.

While on the other side of the fence pretty much every shark conservation group outside of Florida is positive towards shark feeding in some form or other. The majority of divers outside of the US are on the whole positive towards shark feeding.

So, just so we're completely clear about this, by who's standards are you judging this 'unacceptable' practise.

 

[cdiver2]

Not acceptable by who's standards? Yours? Where you live? Or the larger wider world that's out there?

Florida is pretty much the exception to the rule when it comes to Shark feeding. Most of the divers in the state are against it (about 5 to 1). Most if not all of the local environmental organisations are against it. The state government is obviously against it and the common public perception is that shark feeding puts sharks into such a frenzy that they immediately will rush to shore and attack the first swimmer or surfer they find.

Florida does have the highest occurence of shark attacks in the world, but this all happened before, during and after shark feeding. The fact that Florida is one of the largest sports fishing areas in the world which in turn (by the same rules used against direct shark feeding) attracts sharks and associates them with boats/people never seems to get put into the public domain.

While on the other side of the fence pretty much every shark conservation group outside of Florida is positive towards shark feeding in some form or other. The majority of divers outside of the US are on the whole positive towards shark feeding.

So, just so we're completely clear about this, by who's standards are you judging this 'unacceptable' practise.

Quote a lot of statistics.

While on the other side of the fence pretty much every shark conservation group outside of Florida is positive towards shark feeding in some form or other.

Florida does have the highest occurence of shark attacks in the world, but this all happened before, during and after shark feeding.

The fact that Florida is one of the largest sports fishing areas in the world which in turn (by the same rules used against direct shark feeding) attracts sharks and associates them with boats/people never seems to get put into the public domain.

Florida is pretty much the exception to the rule when it comes to Shark feeding.

But have shown no proof.

Take a look at the poll on this board most divers are against it (world wide poll not just Florida).

 

[simonspear]

Well I couldn't find a poll on this board about it, perhaps you could provide me with a link? Anyway what I actually said was 'the majority of divers outside of the US are on the whole positive towards shark feeding'. Even a quick look at where people are from shows that the vast majority who post here are from the US.

As to everything else then if anyone has any doubt then I would urge them to go look it up for themselves. Sure, there are arguments for and against, but I am confident that the vast majority will be in support of what I am saying.