Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Sea Notes reported yesterday that they released a juvenile male white shark (Carcharodon carcharias) back to the wild yesterday. The shark was the sixth of the species to be displayed at the aquarium and had been at the aquarium since August 31st. The shark was released to ocean waters south of Point Conception on October 25.

Two electronic tags were attached to the shark prior to its release. A pop-up tag which is expected remain attached to the shark for 180 days will record movement data, while a second acoustic tag with a 5-year battery life will report data any time the shark is within transmitting proximity to a coastal monitoring buoy. The monitoring buoys are part of a growing network of devices deployed throughout the southern California and Baja waters.

For the full story check out Sea Notes.

Australia’s ABC News recently interviewed CISRO shark researcher Barry Bruce regarding the string of reported white sharks attacks in Western Australia waters. Bruce points out that while white shark attacks are extremely tragic and are “high profile,” they are still extremely rare. Bruce addresses the issues of the “rogue shark” theory, as well as the practice of culling.

According to Bruce, the likelihood of a rogue shark being involved in multiple attacks is highly unlikely. Bruce also states that while there are areas where sharks will commonly frequent, there is no evidence to suggest that they stalk particular areas in search of humans. He goes on to say that there is no evidence to suggest that a shark who has a attacked a human is any more or less likely to be involved in a future attack on a human. Bruce says the extremely rare nature of shark attacks and the migratory patterns and movements of sharks would make localized culling an ineffective measure for reducing future shark attacks.

In related news, the Sydney Morning Herald has an opinion piece by Christopher Neff on shark hunts as a reactive measure to shark attacks. Neff and Bruce both seem to be in agreement that while shark attacks are terrible and tragic events, attempting to hunt and kill the sharks involved is unlikely to prevent future attacks.

KOIN Local 6 is reporting that an Oregon surfer had a close-encounter with a shark yesterday. Newport resident Bobby Gumm was sitting on his surfboard about 200 yards off South Beach State Park when a shark bumped and bit his surfboard.

Ron Clifford, who was surfing with Gumm when the encounter occurred, told KOIN Local 6 that the shark lifted Gumm “10′ up in the air.” The shark reportedly removed a “23-inch chunk” from Gumm’s board. Fortunately, Gumm was not seriously injured in the encounter.

KOIN Local 6 is reporting that the shark involved in the encounter was a great white shark (Carcharodon carcharias).

The Guardian is reporting that divers found numerous dead sharks in Colombia’s Malpelo marine sanctuary and witnessed 10 fishing boats flying Costa Rican flags in the area.

According to The Guardian, Colombian officials estimated as many as 2,000 sharks including hammerhead, silky, and Galapagos sharks may have been have harvested by the fishing boats. The estimate of sharks killed was reportedly reached by the assumption that each boat could harvest 200 sharks. It was not reported how many shark carcasses were found by the divers, although a diver provided video footage of multiple finless sharks.

The Costa Rican foreign ministry “energetically condemns” the reported actions and said it would prosecute if Costa Rican ships were involved. Three of the ships witnessed by the divers were reported by name. According to The Guardian report, the vessels identified were the Marco Antonio, the Jefferson and the Papante.

DC Comics’ Batman has a long history of shark abuse. It was first chronicled in 1966 when Batman attacked a rubber shark with his trusty shark repellent causing the poor creature to explode. In 1973, Batman’s assault of a shark with a chain was documented in Batman Vol#1 251 “The Joker’s Five-Way Revenge.”

The 1994 release of Detective Comics Annual #7 revealed that Batman’s violence toward sharks knows no boundaries, as it is revealed that an alternate-reality pirate version of Batman likes to kick sharks in the face.

As recently as last year, Batman was seen attacking a shark with a lightsaber.

Now, with the recent release of his latest videogame, Batman: Arkham City (seen in the video above), Batman has once again taken to abusing a shark. Aquaman must be so disappointed.

LiveScience has posted a follow-up about some pictures that surfaced earlier this year which depicted an albino “cyclops” shark that was reportedly caught in the Sea of Cortez. According to the LiveScience article, the specimen, which is a fetus cut from the womb of a caught pregnant dusky shark (Carcharhinus obscurus), has been examined by researchers, who found that the single eye is composed of “functional optical tissue.” However, the report notes that the likelihood of survival had the shark been born would have been very low.

LiveScience also has a photo gallery of the specimen.

The following report and accompanying photos were provided by Cassie Heil of Oceans Research. The report involves a fisherman catching a protected great white shark (Carcharodon carcharias) at Beacon Point in South Africa’s Mossel Bay. The shark was eventually returned to the water by Ryan Johnson, an Oceans Research scientist. Thanks to Ms. Heil and Oceans Research for sharing this story, and kudos to Johnson for his efforts to return the protected shark back into the water.

A fisherman poses with a legally protected great white shark at South Africa's Mossel Bay.
(photo courtesy of Oceans Research)

Man Illegally Catches a great white shark in Mossel Bay
Press release – 16th October, 2011: Mossel Bay

On Friday 14th October 2011, Oceans Research received a phone call from local members of the community regarding an incident that was taking place at Beacon Point in Mossel Bay. A fisherman was in the process of catching a great white shark and was hauling it onto the rocks. In South Africa, the white shark is a protected species, and if one is inadvertently hooked then it must be immediately released.

Ryan Johnson, a scientist from Oceans Research rushed down to the location to discover the fisherman still had the shark out of the water; was making no effort to return it to the water and was instead posing for photographs being taken by his two companions. Simultaneously, Oceans Research scientist, Enrico Gennari, telephoned the local fisheries inspector from the Department of Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF), who assured Gennari that he was going to make his way to the location to investigate (the DAFF offices are situated less than 1 kilometer from the fishing location).
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Shark Diving International recently posted video footage of a white shark (Carcharodon carcharias) feeding on a northern elephant seal (Mirounga angustirostris) off of Mexico’s Isla de Guadalpue. White shark predation events on pinnipeds are somewhat rare around the island, so this footage is definitely worth a look.

Next Media Animation News Direct recently posted a computer generated re-enactment of a story that’s been making headlines recently involving Oregon surfer Doug Niblack “riding” on the back of what Niblack reports was a 10-12′ great white shark. Take the re-enactment for what you will.

ABC News reports that there was no physical evidence to back the report up in terms of bite marks on the board nor photographic evidence which could identify the species involved. However, they did interview Niblack and another surfer who witnessed the encounter.

The Conversation has an interesting article on the history of shark nets in Australia. The article, written by Christopher Neff, focuses primarily on the use of shark nets in the waters of New South Wales and gives a bit of history about how the nets first came to be. Neff also touches on the politics associated with the nets and the effectiveness of them in protecting humans from shark attacks.

Neff questions the effectiveness of shark nets noting that from 1937-2008 of the recorded shark attacks in New South Wales, 63% of them occurred at beaches using shark nets. He also points out that only one fatal attack has occurred at a netted beach in the state, but cautions that associating low fatality rates with the nets might be questionable, as there was a three year period in which the nets were removed and no fatalities were reported.

While the Neff certainly seems to lean in the direction of opposing the nets he admits that the issue of Australia’s shark nets is not a simple matter. Neff stresses the need for public safety measures and points out that the consequences from shark attacks can be “terrible.” However, he notes that public dialog and education are necessary to move away from outdated tactics that are leaving Australia behind.

You can check Neff’s full article at The Conversation.