More Shark Conservation!

Check this out.



Story here.
Q.e.d. - I rest my case.

Morons vs Conservationists?

Source.

Apparently, people like these are disrespectful morons.

Or ecoterrorists!

But this new age clap trap is Shark Conservation!

Whatever - right?

So, how is this any different from the first two clips?

I've actually said what I wanted to say a long time ago - about the self promoting bikini bimbettes, the people that abuse Sharks as underwater scooters, and the fallacy of trying to change people's perception, or whatever, by engaging in those gratuitous stunts in order to "prove" that those large predatory Sharks are harmless .

That's 1:1 Ritter - and we all know how that one ended.

So don't worry, I'm not gonna post another rant.

Instead, read the take of one of the most regarded GWS researchers here and here.

I of course agree with every single word, and so do all responsible GWS dive operators - the exception being the token hippy, stoner version of Dog the Bounty Hunter aka the EcoPirate who has established himself as the el cheapo no-holds-barred enabler of those latest stupidities.

Including the upcoming latest folly of Ritter himself!

I say, bravo Michael Domeier!

As Patric correctly predicted, Act Two is shaping up to be a good one! :)

Micronesia: Ups and Downs!

Not quite done yet - but getting there!

First, the good news.

Palau appears to be doing really well, this at least according to this well-researched article which I invite everybody to read. And, Yap and Pohnpei are well on their way to declaring national Shark Sanctuaries, leaving only Chuuk the odd man out when it comes to creating an awesome regional Micronesian Shark sanctuary .

The bad news being that other Sanctuaries are very much at risk.

Yes I'm of course talking about the threat by NOAA/the NMFS to overturn the Shark fin bans, and about the unholy role WESPAC is playing in the Pacific where on top of  holding sway in the Polynesian American Samoa and Hawaii, they also dictate what happens in the CNMI and in Guam.

And lemme tell you, it looks grim.

After my lasts posts about WESPAC, my inbox got swamped with mail from the islands spilling the beans on the dealings of the council and its members.
The writers are people of stature and I have no reason to doubt their testimonies, the more as the modus operandi appears to be uniformly the same: widespread corruption and cronyism, a general anti-research and anti-conservation agenda but above all, playing the indigenous card by creating a narrative of them against us - whilst at the same time brazenly milking the system in the certitude that the big  honchos in DC will always be too politically correct and spineless to ever ask for any accountability from those self-appointed indigenous leaders.

But of course and albeit being highly plausible, that's ultimately just unsubstantiated hearsay, the more as many of the witnesses are equally too intimidated to stand up in public.

But fear not, there are never the less some people with cojones!

When it comes to Hawaii, WESPAC and the unpalatable Kitty Simonds, you may want to read this (3. The Pacific Resolution ff) - this - this (un-f-believable!!!) - this - this (by indigenous bloggers!) and especially, this!!!

Bravo Patricia Tummons of Environment Hawaii!

And then there's Guam.

Please read Timbo's description of Manny Duenas here.

But now comes the shocking part - Duenas has just been appointed to the Department of Agriculture (that controls fisheries), and the comments already rejoice that he's gonna help restore the oceans back to local hands!

Talk about the fox guarding the chicken coop - and is anybody taking bets on his position regarding the overturning of the Guam Shark fin ban?

The question being.

Why are the mainstream investigative journalists not picking this up, and why is NOAA not investigating?

Like i said, this is the moment to make a stand.

Sign the petitions where the deadline is likely to be extended. - action alerts by Shark Savers here and by Shark Defenders here!

And if you live in the islands, make your voices heard.

It's your ocean, not theirs - and it's about time somebody told them!

One more picture of the Submarine!

Same Shark, this time by Andrew Fox.
Awesome!

Is this the World's biggest GWS?

Click for detail!

Quite possibly!

Ozzie Sam writes.

We had been at the Neptune Islands for 1 day and we had heaps of sharks, 18 in fact. 
We went down in the cage at the end of daylight (4.30pm) and I was just hanging out taking shots when I saw a shark in the distance. As she come closer I couldn't believe my eyes. This girl was absolutely mammoth and made the other sharks (some of which were 5m+) look like goldfish. 

Her mouth was so big I genuinely think she could have swallowed me whole. 
Without doubt in the 6m class, Andy thinks she is possibly the biggest girl he has seen in 35 years of diving with White sharks. You will see from the pics that she is not near full weight and may have dropped pups last year her ribcage (for the want of a better term) sticks out so her liver is not engorged. 

Enjoy.... Obviously the highlight of my short diving and photography career. 

Wow - awesome!
That's what I call a GREAT White Shark!!!
Also, nice to see that at least one has survived the likes of Hyslop et al and grown to become one of those elusive submarines!

Bubble Ring on Steroids!

Story here!

Big GWS off the US East Coast!

Source.

And talking of increasing GWS populations.

Check out the video.

That's a big = old Shark - which of course leads to the question, where were those big mamas hiding all those past years!

Enjoy!

Mako vs Marlin!

Wow.

Finally!

The story and the pictures have actually been around for quite a while - but here is the video.

Enjoy!

Kudos for the Shark-friendly commentary!
Bravo Alistair!

Census of the GWS in Gaansbai - Paper!

Really???  Source

Hah!

Looks like the Megalobomb is human after all - did I just detect a soft spot for the researchers at DICT?

Read her latest post and check out the paper!

Where is the critical analysis?

That is, apart from whinging about the dismal number of GWS! Talk about the lady being totally jaded  - where I come from, 900-odd big Sharks from one single location is actually totally awesome!

Especially considering that previous white shark population estimates suggest that white shark numbers are small relative to other apex predators which is a statement I totally support see below!

Mind you, the paper is quite nice.

I was actually impressed - especially by the meticulous data collection, and by the various programs used for the analysis that are really quite epic. Boy things sure have changed since I did my few semesters of Biology courses back then in the 70ies!

BUT - of course, there has to be a but! :)

I'm slightly underwhelmed by the conclusions and also by the infographic, and this is why.

1. Mark-recapture

And I cite

A common bias in many mark-recapture studies is capture heterogeneity.
In our study we attracted sharks by bait, thus some individuals may have become ‘trap happy’ or ‘trap shy’ over time. This may lead to bias on estimates, but the effects of baiting on individual sharks remains undetermined. To address this, future work should focus on the effects of shyness or boldness in individual white sharks and assess whether they are more or less likely to appear close to a baiting vessel over time as well as incorporating such heterogeneity in behaviour in population size estimation.

Indeed!

This is also one of the principal flaws of the controversial (= flawed) Chapple paper, ie that over time, individual Sharks may develop gradual repulsion or special affinity for the vessels - but much more than that: some Sharks may never approach the bait, decoy or vessel to start with, let alone come to the surface for a picture of their fin, and this despite of very much being in the vicinity!

I don't know about those GWS - but when it comes to our Bulls, I could tell you stories about several known individuals that have been visiting for years and not once approached the feeder. And Juerg's paper also teaches us that whilst we're feeding, there are several individuals in the vicinity that we never get to see, quite possibly because they don't like approaching humans or also, because other individuals may out-rank them and thus monopolize the feeding area.

Long story short? 

The postulated bias is highly likely, is likely to result in numbers that are too low and the effect, whilst unknown in its magnitude, could potentially be highly significant = there may be significantly more GWS than postulated!

2. Population Size and Conservation Status.

And then there is the whole rare vs endangered controversy.

Yes, globally, there are likely not a lot of GWS  - but isn't that what is to be expected simply from their position atop the trophic web? Think about the famous pyramid - the volume at the top is tiny!

Also keep in mind that albeit being temperate water Sharks with a potentially enormous range, they have not at all colonized all available habitats, likely because philopatry is largely preventing them from straying too far from their established hot spots and migration corridors. Thus there are no reliable reports about established populations around South America or in the Eastern Atlantic (and David, don't you start...), with the only exception, i.e. the the Med having likely been colonized by a possibly single Aussie female that had lost its way.

And what about the number of GWS in their known ranges?

We don't dispose of reliable population estimates about most of them, namely the Med (likely very small); the NW Atlantic (more and more sightings but no census); the NE Pacific (currently in revision when it comes to California, but with no published census for the Mexican population), the NW Pacific (where there is little literature apart from sporadic reports of sighted and killed GWS from Japan, Taiwan and Vietnam - tho in view of the status of Asian fisheries, the situation is likely to be grim); Australia that boasts two populations but no published census (tho after so many years of protection, they may well be on the upswing); and New Zealand where research is still very much in its infancy.

And finally, South Africa where the present paper smells like the start of a country-wide revision of previous assumptions.

So yes, indeed, we don't know whether globally, they are 3,000, 5,000 or 10,000 - with my money being on the latter!

And if so, what does that mean?

Does rarity automatically imply that the animals are endangered?

To a certain degree, the answer is yes, and this for the rather trivial reason that smaller populations are generally more prone to be effected by risk - which is quite possibly why the IUCN has classified them as vulnerable despite of not really disposing of much supporting data.

Further conclusions, at least at this point in time, are however problematic.

Thus, comparisons to terrestrial species whose massive population declines and partial extinctions are amply documented, or that are trapped in a population bottleneck like the Cheetah are highly questionable. 

We simply don't know, and I've also not seen any plausible guesstimates about the global rate of depletion of GWS or about the carrying capacity of their global habitats - back then and especially now that the latter are likely equally depleted, see the comments about bottom-up effects! 

There are simply not enough data allowing us to make any such assertions, let alone proffer that this already threatened species may be closer to extinction than we previously thought!

I say, be careful with such statements!

Only because one local census results in numbers that are 50% lower than previously assumed, this cannot just simply be extrapolated for global populations! Just think of the California numbers that are likely to be trebled, or think about the dramatic increase of GWS sightings on the East Coast of the US!

I don't believe for a picosecond that Michelle Wcisel has stated that it was possible that the great white could be one of the most endangered species in the world - but the ingress to the infographic is certainly highly misleading, to the point that the sharktivists are already sharing it as the latest fact, see the image at the top!

It is not!

Anyway, just my 2 cents as usual.

But read the paper and make up your own mind!

PS: Michael Domeier's take here.
In all fairness and at the risk of committing sacrilege by posting a dissenting opinion, the paper does not claim to be anything else than a census for Gansbaai - hence if there are principally subadults, than that's what has been counted.
The question about the numbers of YOY, juveniles and adults becomes only relevant once somebody will publish a paper about the entire GWS population of SA.. Incidentally, that's another major flaw of the Chapple paper where the only animals that were actually recorded, and this in only two of the known aggregation sites were adult GWS.

PS2: more lousy journalism here!

Hawaii - WESPAC vs Humpback Whales?

Epic picture by Marty - source!

Think WESPAC is only anti Shark?

Think again!

Look what I've just found - and yes, this would be yet another educational event by their very own Fisher's Forum!

And now, check out this!

Need I say more.

Hawaii - King Shark: From Manō to Jaws!

And talking about WESPAC.

Look what I've found on their FB page!

Think this is really about the culture, science and management of Sharks?

Or, may this be about one topic only?

To wit

Bingo.

And when it comes to covering the cultural justification for killing (but not watching!!!) the 'Aumākua - could they be going as far as to trot out the revered Uncle Charlie who will assure everybody that it's perfectly fine provided that he blesses each Shark as it is being landed, much like he does in his pseudo-cultural scam in Maui?

Questions questions! :)

Only one way to find out!

This FREE event will be held June 27, 2013 (Thurs.) from 6 P.M. to 9 P.M. at the Harbor View Center, Pier 38, Honolulu, HI. There will be informational tables, presentations, and door prizes, as well as a public discussion on the sharks role in Hawaiian culture, the science behind their study, and the issues that arise in managing sharks in local fisheries.

Yes FREE - as in paid for with you tax dollars!.

The real issue?

Listen to what Angelo has to say here!

Maybe somebody should go there.

Maybe somebody should make it a point to educate the public about the real facts and remind everybody of why, exactly, the Hawaiians overwhelmingly chose to enact the State fin ban. Depending on how the discussion is being framed and led, maybe somebody should remind WESPAC and Kitty that as government bureaucrats, their role is to serve the public impartially, and not to pander to special interests by engaging in unilateral activism - especially when it comes to enacting and interpreting the law, a privilege that is reserved for the legislative and the judiciary!

Maybe one could also take note of the identities and statements of the various speakers and interlocutors, and then publish them on some public forum - and thus make a valuable contribution to both public education and public accountability?

As always we shall see shall we not!

But one thing's for sure.

If any Hawaiian, whether Polynesian, Asian or Haole cares about Sharks, this is the moment to make a stand - yes, again!

Because if you don't, you can eventually kiss the manō, the 'Aumākua and a good part of your tourism industry goodbye.

Or is that what you want?

Ozzie Sam - Best of Show!

Click for detail!

Bravo Sam!

One of his awesome Mako pics has just earned him the rank of Best Underwater Photographer of the Year in the prestigious Our World Underwater competition.

Kudos - and I may add, fully deserved!

Sam's new Facebook page is here!