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Better example would be tarpon - beside's Robbie's in Islamorada, there are plenty of places in the Keys where they routinely get fed from docks. For the natives it's amusing to watch the tourists who aren't quite fast enough and wind up with a 100-pound fish clamped to their arm (or my old boss, who more than a few times came into work on Monday with the back of his hand scabbed over).
Hi @Johnoly
I would never dream of doing a captive dolphin activity. I have really only had 2 close dolphin experiences while scuba diving in SE FL, both in Boynton Beach, while diving solo. The first on was somewhere on the inside reef. I was drifting north. First, one dolphin, heading south swam just a foot or two from me and looked me in the eye, then a second came swimming slowly by and did the same thing. The second encounter was while swimming across the reef, from the outside to the inside. About half way over I saw a dolphin in front of me, then a second, a third, a fourth, and a fifth. They swam 3 circles around me, as close as a foot or two, checking me out, and then slowly swam off. It was magicalOne of the top encounters I've ever had
It’s really tough to argue with science. I’m in the same camp, though not a biologist.
It absolutely does. I grew up in FL, and it’s quite common to see signs prohibiting feeding alligators. The official signs usually prohibit feeding or molesting alligators, which usually gets a chuckle from people seeing those signs for the first time.
I haven’t heard it advocated there is no change. What’s usually debated is what kind of change and of what demonstrated extent.
The problem with "arguing with science" is that my first shark dive (or rather, snorkel) experience was with Dr. Samuel Gruber and his interns at the Bimini Biological Field Station, there's a regular rotation of shark researchers who go on the liveaboards to Guadalupe Island and Tiger Beach, and there's a fairly strong history of shark dive operations and researchers collaborating. That's not to say feeding operations aren't critiqued, but it tends to be more in the details of the "provisioning" as the technical term is known. The two most vocal critics in that vein are the former head of the International Shark Attack File (which sort of goes with the job) and someone who's very good at giving media interviews and presenting himself as a font of other people's knowledge without actually contributing much to the field. I haven't met any researchers with serious concerns about changed behavior; on top of that sharks are often hard to study in the wild without using some kind of attractant so it would be a bit hypocritical.
Sharks are opportunists, particularly ones with a large range (and by "large" we're talking an individual might cover thousands of miles in a year). Back in the old sailing days it was superstition that if fins were following the ship, someone aboard was about to die. While they definitely did tend to follow ships, I doubt the traffic was heavy enough to constitute operant conditioning; more likely when a large slow object leaving a trail of offal behind it came through the open ocean (which is resource-poor) it rang the same dinner bell as something like a sick whale.
Good point. I can understand using attractants to bring in sharks in an effort to study them. I’m sure the researchers would rather study them without doing that, but it’s hard to study sharks that don’t show up to the site.
This is what I noticed in Tiger Beach also. Once the milk crate was empty, Finch or Ryan would raise the milk crate over his head and the Tiger Sharks swam away.
This is a little off topic, so I hope everyone forgives me.
