The Atlantic White Shark Conservancy’s 60-day campaign for Massachusetts great white shark license plate pre-orders is about at the half-way mark. The minimum number of pre-orders required to make the license plate a reality is 1,500. Unfortunately, the current number of pre-orders sits at 245, according to the white shark license plate campaign site.

If you’re a Massachusetts resident who would be interested in adorning your vehicle with a snazzy-looking great white shark license plate, head on over to the campaign site and reserve your plate for $40 before time runs out. If you know a Massachusetts resident who might be interested in the plates, please spread the word.

For non-Massachusetts residents, would you be interested in a similar shark-themed license plate if your state/province offered it? Sound off in the comments below.

2013 Kids Ocean Day – Artwork designed by Adam Mendoza – Photo by Lou Dematteis

Press Release – Kids Ocean Day

More than 3,500 Los Angeles kids, teachers and volunteers form a giant kid, designed by 8th grader Adam Mendoza, holding a seashell to its ear as the ocean says "Listen" as part of the 20th Annual Kids Ocean Day Adopt-A-Beach Clean-Up organized by the Malibu Foundation, City of Los Angeles, Spectral Q, Keep LA Beautiful and the California Coastal Commission in Los Angeles on May 16, 2013. The kids are alerting the world about the need to listen to the ocean and protect it from the everyday trash and plastic litter that flow down the streets, killing marine life and polluting food resources.

Kudos to all those who participated in this year’s Kids Ocean Day at Dockweiler State Beach. Not only did the participants join together to make some very cool “aerial artwork,” they also contributed their time and hard work to help clean up the beach!

Grant Bond got a little more than he bargained for off of Perth, Western Australia earlier this year. Bond was fishing from his kayak when a shark decided to get up close and personal with him. He thought at the time of the encounter that it was a white shark (Carcharodon carcharias) giving his kayak a workout, but after reviewing the footage he was able to identify the species as a shortfin mako (Isurus oxyrinchus).

When Bond first encountered the mako, it was circling his kayak, and after about five minutes he thought the shark had left the area. It was at this point that the shark, estimated at 3m in length, starting bumping the kayak. Rather than playing a game of bumper-boats with the shark, Bond decided to call it a day and head back to shore. Bond believes that the shark was attracted to his kayak by some herring in the foot well. He threw the herring as far from the kayak as he could, cut his anchor line, and headed in under sail.

Bond went on to point out that even though the mako nudged and rubbed up against his kayak multiple times, it never bit the vessel. He said the old adage about the worst day of fishing being better than the best day of work turned out not to be true, after all. Thanks to Grant for sharing this video!

Note: There was a typo in the date on the video, which was shot on March 10.

WVSN-TV reports that photographer Guillaume Bauch captured some relatively rare underwater shots of a great white shark (Carcharodon carcharias) off the Florida Keys. The WVSN-TV report does seem to go a bit overboard with terms like “monster shark” and “cold-blood killer,” but Bauch’s account of the encounter manages to steer clear of such cliches.

Bauch was planning on photographing hammerhead sharks, but the hammerheads never showed. Bauch was beginning to think the trip would end in disappointment. Fortunately, a dorsal fin eventually appeared, but it was not that of hammerhead or silky shark, which are typical for the area. Instead, it was the dorsal fin of a white shark.

Bauch initially opted to photograph the white shark from a cage, but soon left the cage and photographed the shark in open water. Based on Bauch’s photos and reaction in his interview with WVSN-TV, it seems like he had a pretty good trip, after all.

The New York Daily News reports that the New York State Assembly voted unanimously in favor of a bill (A07707) that would prohibit the possession, sale, offering for sale, trade or distribution of shark fins in the state of New York. The Senate bill (S6431) was passed in April, and the bill now heads to Governor Andrew Cuomo for review. If the bill is signed into law by Gov. Cuomo, the shark fin ban will go into effect on July 1, 2014.

The Delaware Senate also passed a bill (HB 41) that would "forbid possession, sale, offer for sale, and distribution of shark fins in the State of Delaware." The bill was passed by the House in April and is now awaiting the signature of Governor Jack Markell.

According to a CBS Dallas/Fort Worth report, the Texas “shark fin bill” (HB 852) was passed yesterday by the Texas House of Representatives with a 87-42 vote. The Texas Senate will vote on the bill (SB 572) next.

If signed into law the measure would prohibit the sale, purchase, trade, and transportation of shark fins within the state of Texas. While similar legislation has been signed into law in other U.S. states, Texas would be the first Gulf Coast state to pass legislation banning the sale and trade of shark fins.

UPDATED: Thanks to reader “dangershaw” for providing a link to much more in-depth video of the event.

Some New Zealand fishermen had to fight for their catch while filming for a local television program. The fishermen had been trying to land a hooked a swordfish (Xiphias gladius) when an opportunistic mako shark (Isurus oxyrinchus) decided to grab a bite. Despite the shark’s best efforts, the fishermen were able to wrestle their catch away and haul it into the boat largely intact.

An “environmentally-friendly” type of shark net is going through a trial run off the coast of Fish Hoek, South Africa, according to a BBC report. The trial run is a response to shark attacks in the region, which is well-known for its great white shark (Carcharodon carcharias) population. While other regions of South Africa have already been using shark nets, the net system being deployed in the Western Cape offers a new approach to shark nets.

“Traditional” shark nets, which consist of anchored gills nets, have been controversial in the past, due to their indiscriminate nature of trapping various forms of marine. Traditional shark nets deployed in Durban, SA are responsible for killing “600 sharks and other sea creatures” over the past year, according to some claims. Additionally, some opponents question the effectiveness of these types of nets in preventing shark attacks.

The nets being deployed at Fish Hoek, however, were co-opted with conservation group Shark Spotters who are helping to coordinate the trial of what are described as environmentally-friendly “barrier nets.” These nets are designed with a small mesh size with the intent of preventing marine life from being trapped in the nets. The nets are deployed in the morning and removed at night to further reduce the impact on the marine ecosystem.

The Western Cape region generates an annual $2.2 billion in tourism. While the task of deploying and removing environmentally-friendly barrier nets on daily basis may seem like an expensive undertaking, proponents of the program believe it’s a worthwhile investment.

On a related note, Africa Check has offered up some commentary noting some “glaring errors” in the initial BBC article on South Africa’s new shark nets.

Massachusetts drivers may soon be able to show off a great white shark (Carcharodon carcharias) themed license plate, if a minimum of 1,500 of the plates can be pre-sold by June 20, 2013. The Atlantic White Shark Conservancy recently unveiled the new license plates, featuring artwork by marine artist Paul McPhee.

Massachusetts waters around Cape Cod have become a renown aggregation point for white sharks during the summer months. Atlantic White Shark Conservancy have introduced the license plates with the goal of raising awareness, promoting education, and supporting research associated with Atlantic white sharks.

According to the AWSC website…

Atlantic White Shark Conservancy is an all-volunteer nonprofit organization committed to raising public awareness of white sharks.

The Conservancy supports scientific research, improves public safety, and educates the community, to inspire conservation of white sharks in the Atlantic Ocean.

If you are a Massachusetts resident, and you would like to pre-order the AWSC license plate, you can get all the information you need at the campaign website, which includes a link to the license plate order form.

The R.J. Dunlap Marine Conservation recently posted the video above to their Vimeo channel. The video is intended as a supplemental “visual abstract” for the research article “White Sharks (Carcharodon carcharias) Scavenging on Whales and Its Potential Role in Further Shaping the Ecology of an Apex Predator.” The study is based on observations of great white sharks feeding on the carcasses of whales in South Africa’s False Bay and the impact of these events on the surrounding marine ecosystems.

Some key behavioral observations during scavenging at the sites of the whale carcasses:

• a tendency for the white sharks to feed on the fluke first, followed by blubber-rich content
• an absence of eye rolling (to protect the eye) during feeding on the carcass
• a broader variance in individual white shark sizes than is typically seen in the area
• a lack of competitive aggression between white sharks
• a size-dominance based hierarchy (aka “pecking order”)

You can learn more about the findings of this research by checking out the full journal article, which was written by Chris Fallows, Austin J. Gallagher, and Neil Hammerschlag.