Three dead Oceanic sharks...

[chibracdiver]

was the price paid for Penny Pelfrey's swim to history. To me this is way too steep a price for one's own ego stroke. I just got back from Grand and to hear some of the stories about her and her posse where hard to stomach, but the killing of three sharks by her crew was the straw that broke this diver's back.

This was a publicity stunt, pure and simple, and Cayman thought this would garner some attention. Unfortunately for them it did, mostly negative.

Old school Cayman mind set...shark evil, must kill. And Penny and her posse obliged them. Sickening and pathetic.

 

[Cave Diver]

I had similar feelings: http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/whine-cheeze/386175-killing-sharks-record.html

 

[Bubbletrubble]

Has it been determined that sharks were actually killed during the event?
It would seem that several individuals directly connected with the event are denying that sharks were killed during the event.

Is it possible that the Cay Compass journalist misinterpreted second-hand reports about the shark encounters?
We see so many inaccurate accounts of scuba incidents in the media that I wouldn't be surprised if there were some inaccuracies in the story.

 

[chibracdiver]

Too many people, not from her posse, have confirmed the killings.

 

[Bubbletrubble]

Too many people, not from her posse, have confirmed the killings.

Were these people present at the time of the event and witnessed the killings firsthand?
Just curious. It sounds like it was a rather long swim...and it would be interesting if third-party groups insisted on being present during the record attempt out of wildlife protection concerns.

 

[Cave Diver]

There was a quote from the captain of the support boat that said the sharks got too close and appeared to be aggressive so they were lured to the boat, caught and killed. If I have time later I'll try and find it, but I read several articles about the event and that was several weeks ago so I don't remember exactly where I saw it.

That would seem to be a pretty first hand account.

 

[Bubbletrubble]

Well, the Cay Compass published this account of the world record swim.
The Flowers Group, which helped organize the world record attempt, coordinated an investigation into Charles Ebanks' treatment of the sharks that were near Penny during her swim. Here's a link to a rundown of the investigation findings.

There are clear discrepancies between what was reported in the Cay Compass and what was found by the investigation.
I'm not sure how convincing the Flowers Group investigation is since the group had a clear conflict of interest. The controversy over the alleged shark killings overshadowed Penny's swimming accomplishment.
Charles Ebanks may have provided misleading information to various people (boat captain?) at one point in time.
There may be something "fishy" about his story...but he could be telling the truth.
It's possible he's outright lying and he did kill the sharks in question.
It's also possible that Ebanks was bragging about "killing" several sharks to friends shortly after the incident...when, in fact, he had released the sharks after catching them on a hook.
Or it could have just been a misunderstanding between Ebanks and the boat captain (poor choice of words: "getting rid" of the sharks?).

 

[BKP]

Would a fishing boat captain, accustomed to big game harvesting, who heard he was suddenly named the butchering demon of a high profile event, immediately and altruistically fess up? Or would he simply change his story to deflect condemnation on a global scale?

And, wouldn't the Flowers Group, who launched the investigation, and also happen to be the organizers/promoters of the swim, be somewhat predisposed to take the fisherman's last word at face value...?

Not saying there's any reason to be skeptical or not believe Ebanks or the Flowers Group... just sayin'...

 

[Cave Diver]

Did you see the video interview of Guy Harvey, as well as a representative from the Cayman Department of Environment?

http://cayman27.com.ky/2011/06/15/doe-and-guy-harvey-discuss-shark-controversy/

It was reported that the sharks were lured to the boat with bait and trapped on some sort of rubber mat with hooks on it. They were then chopped up and killed with machetes. There is video clip of the boat hauling a shark to it with a rope around the tail so it would seem that it is a bit more than alleged.

 

[Bubbletrubble]

Did you see the video interview of Guy Harvey, as well as a representative from the Cayman Department of Environment?

DOE and Guy Harvey discuss shark controversy - Cayman Informed

It was reported that the sharks were lured to the boat with bait and trapped on some sort of rubber mat with hooks on it. They were then chopped up and killed with machetes. There is video clip of the boat hauling a shark to it with a rope around the tail so it would seem that it is a bit more than alleged.

@Cave Diver: Yup, I watched the video. The video clip you're referring to shows a shark (not even sure if the one depicted is an oceanic white tip) captured by a Dept. of Environment boat for the purposes of electronically tagging it. The Cayman 27 news editing could have been clearer on this point -- the footage was paired with the interview of DOE Director Gine Ebanks-Petrie talking about the unfortunate circumstances of the presumed white tip killing. The rest of the video segment really doesn't provide any tangible evidence of what happened. The conservationists being interviewed (Guy Harvey and Ollie Dubock) didn't have any additional information about the incident in question. They were merely voicing a conservationist viewpoint on the alleged shark killing.

On a side note, the photo of Ollie Dubock shown near the end of the segment looks very similar to a person involved with the shark-tagging occurring on the DOE boat.

If there's video/photographic evidence of the alleged shark killings, this video clip ain't it.