The Guy Harvey Ultimate Shark Tournament has released a video of a bull shark being tagged during the competition. The catch-and-release tournament offers an alternative to the traditional shark harvest competitions. Competitors and researchers work hand-in-hand to promote responsible competitive fishing and shark conservation. Mote Marine Lab researchers tagged the 8’2″ female bull shark, which was caught by tournament competitor Clyde “Bucky” Dennis.

Dennis achieved a level of notoriety and infamy in 2006 when he caught and killed a pregnant great hammerhead shark that was carrying 55 pups, and then again in 2009 with the killing of another large female great hammerhead. The IUCN lists the great hammerhead (Sphyrna mokarran) as a globally endangered species.

It’s refreshing to see Dennis participating in a no-kill situation that might very well yield some valuable research toward protecting future shark populations.

Not having any tv at home, I miss out on commercials sometimes, but this one was brought to my attention by SharkDiver’s Undewater Thrills blog via SouthernFriedScience.com

If one were to take a step back and look at the big picture when it comes to this ad, sharks seem rather harmless, given that the product being advertised is an aid to help people stop smoking. Consider this, adverse health effects from cigarette smoking account for an estimated 443,000 deaths in the U.S. each year, according to the CDC. The average number of fatal shark attacks for the entire world is around 5-10, depending on whose statistics you look at. So, maybe the guy in the commercial really does have bigger problems to worry about than the great white shark latched on to his arm.

David at SouthernFriedScience.com is critical of the ad due to its negative portrayal of white sharks and notes that it only reinforces the false notion that white sharks are just out there waiting to attack people. Personally, while I can see where David is coming from on some level, I think the ad is relatively harmless and fairly amusing. The shark could have easily been replaced with a dog or just about any other animal with a mouth on it and still have had the same effect. Granted, media featuring sharks tends to focus more on biting, but in the case of this commercial, the over-the-top portrayal and comical nature of the ad make me think that the ad wouldn’t evoke a sense of realism or fear into the minds of the viewers that would result swaying their opinions about sharks one way or another. At the end of the day, I think certain “educational” programs (*cough* Discovery Channel *cough*) are far more culpable for promoting negative stereotypes of sharks than a silly Nicorette commercial.

By the way, the special effects on the great white shark in this commercial beat anything I’ve seen on the big screen, to date. Kudos to the FX guys who did the cg work on this advertisement.

Kirk Gatrich, a researcher for Florida International University who was bitten on the arm by a lemon shark about two weeks ago, says he’ll continue to work with sharks and is “completely comfortable” being around large sharks. Gatrich and a colleague were leaning over the side of a boat measuring the lemon shark when it turned its head and grabbed Gatrich by the arm.

According to WSVN-TV Gatrich is working on research that deals with the dwindling number of shark populations in the world’s oceans.

A quick video follow-up on the guy driving around with a bull shark carcass in his pick-up truck in St. Petersburg. According to WTSP-10, Josh Lipert drove the shark to Gandy Beach and “carved it into steaks, which he gave to friends.” Mmmmm, bull shark steaks. Nom nom nom. (Wait, BULL SHARK steaks? Seriously? Note to my friends: please don’t ever give me bull shark steaks.)

Lipert kept the jaws as a “souvenir” (aka trophy).

A juvenile white shark that was once on display at the Monterey Bay Aquarium has turned up dead. The female great white was “collected” by the aquarium on August 12, 2009 and subsequently released back into the wild on November 4, 2009.

According to satellite tracking tags attached to her prior to release, the young female white shark (which can be seen in the video above) had initially traveled from Monterey Bay to Baja. She was near Ensenada, Mexico the last time she was “heard” from, according to the aquarium’s Sea Notes blog.

Unfortunately, Sea Notes goes on to report that about two months ago, the shark’s satellite tracking tags started reporting from land. Oscar Sosa-Nishizaki, a Mexican researcher, traced the satellite tag movements to the home of a fisherman who acknowledged having caught the shark in a gill-net, according to Pete Thomas’ Outdoors blog.

Great white sharks are protected species in Mexican waters, but it is not entirely uncommon for younger white sharks to end up being caught accidentally by fishermen and sold as “swordfish” at Ensenada fish markets, as the Underwater Thrills blog reported on last year.

While another white shark is gone, hopefully her death will help bring more attention to the problems that the species is facing.

Update:It has since been reported that Discovery has decided to pull the re-enactment of the attack from the 2010 Shark Week programming. Kudos to Discovery for responding to the requests of friends and family of the victim.

According to TCPalm, Discovery Channel’s 2010 Shark Week will include a program focusing on shark attacks titled, “Day of the Shark III.” The program will focus on six shark attacks and feature a re-enactment of the fatal shark attack on a Stuart, Florida man, who was attacked while kiteboarding on February 3rd of this year.

TCPalm quoted Stephanie Forsberg, a friend of the victim and an organizer of a memorial fund in his name, as saying…

“I love the Discovery Channel, but to do a re-enactment, and do it this soon, I don’t think they’re being very sensitive to this community, to Steve’s family and especially to his mother.”

Forsberg went on to say…

“I think they (the Discovery Channel) just want to boost their ratings. This is just too soon for a lot of us.”

As last year’s Shark Week illustrated, Discovery’s approach of sensationalizing shark attacks does, indeed, result in a boost in their ratings. It should come as no surprise that they are stooping to the same tactics with this year’s programming for Shark Week. At the end of the day, it’s all about ratings (and advertising money) for Shark Week.

Fear sells better than education does, apparently. When it comes to Shark Week, Discovery Channel seems to have abandoned the education aspect a long time ago.

Chalk this up to another case of “any story with a shark in it must be worth reporting.”

A St. Petersburg man made the news by driving around with the carcass of a bull shark in the back of his pickup truck this weekend. According to WTSP-10, Josh Lipert of St. Petersburg, caught the 8.5′ bull shark around 2:00 on Saturday morning and was spotted later in the day driving with the shark’s carcass in the bed of his truck by a photojournalist who snapped a photo of the dead shark, which somehow turned into this “news story.”

YouTube user eclundpoland recently posted this shark diving video, which contains both video footage and some stills of whale shark encounters at the Galapagos, along with brief footage of a few hammerheads at the beginning. The footage was shot this month and offers a small glimpse of the abundant wildlife that the Galapagos Islands have to offer.

Even following these tips, you probably still won't get eaten by a great white shark.

According to the SF Weekly, Dr. John McCosker of the California Academy of Sciences included a tongue-in-cheek list of suggestions on how to be eaten by a white shark during his April 29th presentation, “Sharks: Why We Love, Fear, and Need Them.”

The overall theme of the presentation was one of shark conservation. However, McCosker apparently attempted to add some comedic elements to the talk with his tips on how to increase one’s odds for being involved in a white shark attack. His tips included…

• making yourself look like a natural food source of the white shark by wearing a wetsuit and floundering a top a short surfboard
• going swimming in areas in known white shark aggregation and feeding areas
• diving for abalone around the Farallon Islands (also a known aggregation spot for large white sharks)

While McCosker’s tips were likely an attempt to keep the audience’s interest piqued. None of them are really a surefire bet to cause a white shark attack, much less result in being “eaten” by a white shark. Even the abalone diver scenario at the Farallones isn’t a guarantee for a shark attack, as can be seen in the video below featuring Ron Elliott’s famous sea urchin diving among the white sharks there.

YouTube user jentinkertaylor posted this promotional video for Rodney Fox Shark Expeditions. While the video is a promotional piece, it does feature some nice footage great white shark (along with several other species that can be found around the islands) footage from the Neptune Islands that is definitely worth a look.