According to South Florida’s WPTV.com, Riviera Beach on Singer Island was closed for multiple days last week due sightings of a large number of sharks in the area.
A majority of the sharks were identified as spinner sharks, but the report states that a few tiger sharks were also spotted, as well.
Check out the aerial footage to get an idea of just how many sharks were in the area at the time.
Leave it to the media to turn an estimated 4m (13.1′) shark into a “MONSTER SHARK!!!” According to The Manly Daily, a “monster” shark was spotted at Avalon (NSW, Australia) on Sunday. (In case you were wondering, the Manly Daily is not a periodical for Sylvester Stallone fans. Manly is actually a suburb of Sydney, Australia.) Several surfers spotted the shark at the same time, which witnessed placed being within 5m (16.4′) of some of the surfers. Volunteer lifesaver, Kurt Magnus, was packing up for the day, when the surfers alerted him of the shark sighting, which prompted Magnus to sound the shark alarm and clear the water. There were no further incidents between the shark and any bathers or surfers.
While the shark is designated a “Monster Shark” in the report’s headline, the article also goes on to refer to it as a “mammoth shark,” as well. I’m not sure if this implies that mammoths are also monsters or not, although I’m guessing monsters sell more newspapers the mammoths.
According to Time.com, Jacques Perrin’s sea-life documentary, Océans, opened to a warm reception in French movie theaters last week. Océans drew in 105,000 viewers in the first 48 hours, in France.
The film which will be released internationally in the coming months, took 2 years of planning and 4 years of filming to complete. Advanced underwater-breathing equipment which allowed divers to film without expelling air bubbles into the water and new underwater filming technology were employed throughout the filming of the documentary which hopes to set a new standard for nature films. The film features marine life of all kinds, including footage of cage-less human and white shark interaction. Oceans also features footage of several other species of sharks including some great whale shark footage and some amazing schooling hammerhead footage.
Disney Nature will be bringing Oceans to the big screen in the U.S. on April 22, 2010.
Yesterday, Underwater Thrills: Swimming with Sharks a commentary on the need for standardizing protocols for SPOT (Smart Position and Temperature) tagging of breeding-age great white sharks at Isla de Guadalupe. Accompanying the commentary was the video seen below.
It’s hard to argue with the points made over at the Underwater Thrills blog, after watching the video. The seawater hose that is needed for the shark to continue to breathe is all over the place in the video, instead of in the sharks mouth passing water through its gills. Another apparent major fault seen in this video is the lack of proper support for the shark, listed as weighing over 1,000 kg (2,205 lbs) in the video’s information. The coup de grâce for the video occurs when one of the researchers loses balances and ends up flipping off the stern of the research vessel, bouncing off the head of the shark and landing in the water. Fortunately, the individual did not seem to be seriously injured by the fall. The events in this video illustrate the risks to both the humans and the sharks involved in this technique.
While there is little doubt that those involved with SPOT tagging have the intention of helping great white sharks by gaining more knowledge about the species, the risks involved in operations like the one seen in the video seem like they create a potential “more harm than good” scenario. Here’s to hoping that future endeavors involving SPOT tagging can follow a methodology that is safer for both researchers and sharks alike.
Along with stumbling across Blue Sphere Media’s shark finning video, I also checked out some of their other shark footage. For a more positive themed shark video, check out their Realm of the Shark footage from Cocos Island (Costa Rica) and Malpelo Island (Colombia), which includes some great footage of schooling hammerheads.
A pirated version of Blue Sphere Media’s Unnatural Selection – Shark Finning on the Frontier video recently popped up over on YouTube. I hadn’t seen this video before, so I tracked the original down through Blue Sphere Media’s website and their Vimeo channel. The video seen below features some powerful imagery of finned sharks. From a production standpoint, the video gets an A+. Unfortunately, the video suffers from “magic number syndrome” (both the “100 million” and “90% decline” estimates make appearances in the video). The footage in the video alone is enough to make a strong message about shark finning, but when accompanied by “statistics” that have no scientific evidence behind them, the message becomes diluted. The problem of shark finning is real, as evidenced by the footage in the video, so why not use some “real” numbers (not to be confused with the real numbers you learned about in 5th grade during Mrs. Walker’s math class) to accompany this footage?
Warning: Video contains footage of discarded finned shark carcasses and severed shark fins.
According to a press release at Science Daily, research published on January 25, 2009 in the Journal of Heredity shows that long-term survival of shark pups born of virgin mothers is possible. Dr. Kevin Feldheim of The Field Museum, has confirmed through genetic testing that two white-spotted bamboo sharks (Chiloscyllium plagiosum), now five years of age, were born to a virgin female shark. This is the first documented case of multiple shark births to a virgin mother, in which the offspring survived.
Feldheim’s analysis of comparisons between several sections of the genome of the shark pups and the mother shark indicated that all of the genetic material passed on to the pups was from the mother shark. Further analysis of more than a hundred additional regions of the genome, performed by Dr. Paulo Prodöhl and Séan Fitzpatrick of Queen’s University Belfast (Belfast, UK) confirmed Feldheim’s findings and also showed that the pups did not share all of their mother’s genetic material indicating that the shark pups were not “true clones” of their mother.
Scott Tucker, whom I can only describe as the Mr. Rogers (minus the cool puppets like King Friday) of public access wildlife television, was recently interviewed on Connecticut’s WTNH8 about his “Last Blue Shark” program and shark conservation, in general.
Tucker addresses the shark fin industry and the impact that is having on global shark populations. Tucker suggests ways that the audience can contribute to shark conservation efforts. Unfortunately, while discussing the shark fin industry, Tucker not only references the “100 million” magic number but also goes on to claim that 100 million is a conservative estimate and that “they believe it is even more.” While I certainly support Tucker’s good intentions, I believe that using “statistics” that have no scientific research behind them is potentially more harmful to shark conservation efforts than helpful. Within the past few months, the unsubstantiated claim of “100 million shark killed annually” has been used as a platform to discredit shark conservation efforts. In order for conservation efforts to be taken seriously, those promoting these efforts would be better served using the estimate of 26 million to 73 million sharks killed commercially each year, which is backed up by research (Clarke et al. 2006)
In addition to discussing shark finning and promoting conservation awareness, Tucker also plugs his latest episode of Expedition New England, “Last Blue Shark.” Expedition New England is a public access wildlife show which airs throughout Connecticut, as well as a few other localities (including Melbourne, Australia, believe it or not).
Australia’s ABC network’s Triple J TV: HACK recently featured a story about the conservation of grey nurse sharks (Carcharias taurus) on the east coast of Australia. Grey nurse sharks (also known as Sand Tiger Sharks, and Spotted Ragged-Tooth Sharks) are reaching critically endangered levels on Australia’s east coast, according to the report. Despite being a protected species, conservationists believe that many of the sharks are still being accidentally hooked by fisherman.
Conflicting views are presented on how to protect and preserve grey nurse shark populations particularly along the coast of New South Wales. Options that are addressed are stricter fishing bans and artificial breeding of the species.
While I don’t know what the ideal solution to the problem is, Nicky Hammond’s assessment of the artificial breeding option makes sense to me. If the cause of the dwindling numbers of this species is not directly addressed, then breeding more sharks is just going to result in more of them being accidentally hooked. Artificially breeding grey nurse sharks would simply be a case of treating the symptoms without delivering a cure.
SpeedWorks R&D and Chip Scarlett's Save the Shark race car.
According to Mustang Challenge, SpeedWorks’ Mustang Challenge Race Team unveiled its “Save the Shark” race car on January 12, 2010. The car features an image of a young female great white shark on each side of the car. The shark image was photographed by the car’s driver and well-known underwater photographer, John “Chip” Scarlett. Scarlett shot the photo at Isla de Guadalupe in 2005. Scarlett’s “Save the Shark” car will make its first official track appearance in March during tests at the Virginia International Raceway, in Alton, VA.
The “Save the Shark” car will help to promote awareness about shark conservation efforts and will be adorned with the Shark Savers logo, in addition the great white shark image.
Scarlett’s photo essay, “Loving Sharks” earned him Ocean Geographic’s Underwater Photography Journalist award for 2009. Scarlett’s “Save the Shark” race car is another great and innovative example of responsible way to promote shark awareness. Kudos to Mr. Scarlett. If you’d like to learn more about John “Chip” Scarlett, check out JohnScarlett.com.