White Shark on the Cape?

[Scubaroo]

Yeah the guy that tagged the shark was talking about how exciting it was to be near the shark. He also said how he hoped no one would go near it or "bother" it. I love how somehow he believes he has more right to go near the animal than the rest of the common folk.

Are you talking about this guy?

Gregory Skomal, a shark expert with the state Division of Marine Fisheries, identified the fish as a great white shark, and later tagged it with a data-gathering device. It was the first time an Atlantic great white shark had been tagged with such a gadget.

Seeing as he's a marine biologist, and the tracking device will probably yield some valuable data on the species, then yeah, he HAS got more right than the rest of the "common folk" who are there for the gawk factor rather than scientific interest. You can't learn without studying, and they just might learn something that will save this or other species.

 

[Chebby]

Hey Scubaroo,

just wondering:

when you dive in new places in Australia, do you generally ask around if Great Whites are not known to be in the area, or you just don't think there is any risk? The reason I'm asking is because I'm under the impression (maybe erroneous) that there are a lot of GWs in Australia.

 

[MASS-Diver]

Not to feed the rumor mill so to speak, but word around the docks today was that a gill netter ran into a dead whale off the BE buoy today that was being fed on by two large sharks - which he thought were white sharks. It's probably BS, but who knows.......

 

[Chebby]

What does BE stand for? I notice you like speaking in code words, rememer SS?

 

[Scubaroo]

Hey Scubaroo,

just wondering:

when you dive in new places in Australia, do you generally ask around if Great Whites are not known to be in the area, or you just don't think there is any risk? The reason I'm asking is because I'm under the impression (maybe erroneous) that there are a lot of GWs in Australia.

Seeing as most of my diving was in Monterey, CA, I'm not too phased about it. Much of my current diving is inside of a large bay where sightings are even rarer. I was more worried about Tigers while in Fiji. There's a lot of GWS in South Australia and Western Australia, but the same can be said of anywhere in California.

Just don't hang out on the surface doing sealion impersonations

 

[adshepard]

Yeah the guy that tagged the shark was talking about how exciting it was to be near the shark. He also said how he hoped no one would go near it or "bother" it. I love how somehow he believes he has more right to go near the animal than the rest of the common folk.

This is an excellent point. Same goes for guys like Bob Ballard and shipwrecks. Yes maybe the scientists and researchers might get some "valuable" information on the creature or shipwreck but who's to say some common folk won't either.

Ballard squawks about banning anyone from going to the Titanic but it would be okay for him to visit it. That is just BS just as banning anyone from seeing the GW is. Certainly the shark should be protected from any idiot that might try something stupid and harm it. But banning people from seeing it is just garbage.


DSDO

Alan

 

[MASS-Diver]

What does BE stand for? I notice you like speaking in code words, rememer SS?

Busted again. If you remember I cleared up SS, so I'll do the same with BE - all the buoys around Boston are named with letters - like the famous "B" bouy off Boston Harbor. The BE buoy, which again refers to how buoys are Id'd (that means identified) on NOAA charts is located out on the Southern part of Stellwagon Bank.

HTH

 

[large_diver]

Word is that they had to ward off someone in a kayak yesterday who was trying to cruise the same cove where the GW is.....potential darwin award winner....

 

[tbuckalew]

MSNBC has some video from a local news report online now.

Go to http://www.msnbc.com

click on MULTIMEDIA on the left hand side

Click on the THIS WEEK IN VIDEO logo on the main section of the page

In the VIDEO SEARCH box, type GREAT WHITE.

You'll get two videos. One of the Cape Cod GW and one of the Seal Cam shark in South Africa.

 

[ScubaNorth]

Are you talking about this guy?Seeing as he's a marine biologist, and the tracking device will probably yield some valuable data on the species, then yeah, he HAS got more right than the rest of the "common folk" who are there for the gawk factor rather than scientific interest. You can't learn without studying, and they just might learn something that will save this or other species.

I was actually talking about this guy.

He also dives with sharks a couple of times each year (often without any cage to protect him), but he says it's not so much for research: "It's somewhat of a hobby."

So after hundreds of years of study, many questions go unanswered. As Skomal put it, "We're really just scratching the surface."

Don't be silly, scientific interest is 99% gawk factor. If he truely wanted to do some good he would use the opportunity to turn gawkers into shark lovers. After all isn't that a better way to help the sharks, educate the public and get them interested in the sharks.