Last night an old travel buddy called me up trying to talk me into going on a trip with him. As he described his goals for the trip I immediately knew my answer would be no, although I didn’t have the heart to tell him immediately.
This caused me to reflect on a “guy trip” to South America with several friends back in 2011. It so happened I was in the early stages of emerging from my hard-core party phase and feeling the call of nature again. As they listed the cities they wanted to visit and party in I found myself conflicted with a desire to instead disappear into the spectacular forests and possibly witness the unique wildlife of those areas. Don’t get me wrong, I still wanted the other part too, but it was occurring to me that traveling all the way to South America to partake in man-made things was somewhat foolish considering the mind-blowing natural treasures exclusive to that part of the globe.

Today I woke up to see posts about the Notre Dame fire and quite a bit of sentiment reflecting my own feelings; ‘why were we so concerned and devastated about a building while we simultaneously have made peace with the destruction of earth’s temples? I turned off the social media before I could see counter-posts from Trumpsters calling people who defend nature “terrorists and Satan worshipers.”
I’ve been to Notre Dame and yes, it’s a cool building rich with history. But treasuring something for its histrionic value is becoming an increasingly hollow sentiment as I watch my species destroy some of the most amazing things our imaginations could even come up with in order to build more buildings...and more buildings and more and more and more of the same. Or make way for cattle grazing. Currently I’m not sure which is worse, grazing fields or building development. Both equal death for EVERYTHING that previously existed in those areas. These forests are homes to creatures which, when we see them documented on television, cause us to mutter, “My God, I never knew anything so amazing existed.” Followed shortly thereafter with actions that say “In the name of God we shall destroy these creatures and their homes.”

When debating the pros and cons of cage diving people are usually talking about white shark cage diving and whether it endangers people.  But what about the use of cages with other species of sharks? Can that be bad? Is it possibly bad for the sharks? Features appearances by Walter Bernardis, Jim Abernethy, Shark Man Dan, and Skyler Thomas.
​#cagedive #cageless #sharkdive

Can you tell which parts of the shark culling news is real and which is fake?  Sadly, reality and parody are not that far from each other in terms of ridiculousness when it comes to proposed methods of "shark mitigation".

Yes, Western Australia really does refer to a 15-month time span as a "trial", thus I jokingly called my non-existent 2-year study a trial.  Does calling something a trial help placate the public who are concerned?  "Oh, well, it's just a trial..."  Yes, a trial that lasts well over a year.

Yes, a contractor paid to check shark cull gear in Queensland died, presumably via entanglement and subsequent drowning.  That puts this year's stats in Queensland at:
1 person killed by anti-shark safety gear
0 people killed by sharks

Yes, smart drum lines still use baited hooks, which, so far, are catching non-target animals. Damage induced by being caught on these hooks simply can't be avoided, but it's not always as obvious as when the hook goes right out the skull of the animal.  Animals that aren't dead upon discovery often die from their wounds later.  These animals are listed as "released alive"...

Although my example of "pointing feet to the left at a beach" is a silly example, it is nevertheless comparable to real-world statistics.  Across the world, beaches enjoy zero shark-induced fatalities, whether there are shark nets or not.  No one pays attention to the success rate of humans entering the ocean without being hurt, we only look at the rare incidents when something goes wrong...then act as though we know how to make a number go from "once in a blue moon" to never.

#sharkcull #sharkstatistics #sharkbitestatistics #nosharkcull #trial #drumline #sharknet #capecod #westernaustralia​

What’s that? 100 green sea turtles slowly drowned in shark nets last year?  Well, are they endangered? Because long, horrific deaths are only bad if it’s happening to an endangered species.  ​

Note: I updated this post at the request of Ocean and Juan.  Originally I exposed (with evidence) multiple examples of hypocrisy and libel committed against Juan and Ocean by "scientific" organizations.  Juan and Ocean stated, "We want everyone to get along and work collectively regardless of any betrayals.  Let's just channel that bad energy toward shark conservation". 
Wow, Juan and Ocean really are jerks!

I had a rather obvious revelation regarding the recent Ocean Ramsey "shark harassment frenzy" taking place as I read the words at the top of yet another post bashing her.  This particular post, unfortunately, came from someone I knew.  The post read:

"Any positive message she supposedly had was buried under negativity and her desire to seek fame."

The particular link and photo these words were posted with was of Ocean's news article urging Australia to rethink culling.  I saw the same news article on another page but without the mean words added to the post and that's when it hit me.  All the negativity surrounding this controversy is born of the negative words people are adding to what were originally positive photos and posts.  To take someone else's post and repost it in a negative way is already uncool, but to then abstractly refer to "the negativity" associated with it as though it appeared out of nowhere when the reality is that you ARE the the source of that very negativity was too much for me to stomach. I posted a video response but took it down after I calmed down due to the amount of cursing I engaged in. 

There are good scientists out there, many actually, but why is it that the ones who are so quick to stir up an attack against people are also the ones who just so happen to be media seekers themselves?

Also read Advocacy Vs. Hate

These shark scientists (whose methods of capturing and tagging sharks have actually led to mortalities) calling swimming with sharks harassment are leading ya’ll down a path of B.S.. Tagging is a tool used in the process of forming a larger scientific picture, but the act of tagging in itself is not salvation for sharks nor is it always performed by those with pure intentions.
#taggingisalie #shiffman #conartist#fakescience #fakeconservation#taggingsavesnothing #realharssment#shark #sharkharassment

One of Guadalupe's legendary white sharks is Lucy, known for her size, personality, and extremely damaged tail.  
​This clip explains how Lucy's injury can be spotted from the air in order to identify her. I also take a moment to address common notions and misconceptions about shark size and growth potential, shark intelligence and perceived signs of intelligence and strategy.
Drone footage by Skyler Thomas.  Underwater footage by Andy Dellios.

​#lucy #guadalupe #sharklegends #sharkID #drone #mavic #greatwhites #whiteshark #whitesharkvideo #wsv

Every moment of white shark footage from my trips to Guadalupe this year...it's not all highlight reels, but if you want to just kick back and watch great white sharks from varying heights please sit back and enjoy.  The shark is sometimes hard to see, but if the footage is included, it means it is somewhere in the frame, so have some fun trying to spot it before it becomes obvious.
#greatwhites #drone #4k

​Will shark culling become a thing in the United States?  Ever since I documented the political agendas behind shark culling in Australia I've had a fear that these ideals would continue to spread like a disease and eventually take seed in the Untied States.  I expressed these concerns to Dr. Christopher Neff during an interview in 2014.  He stated that if it were going to happen, Cape Cod would be the most likely place.  He also made me aware of the fact that culling already has taken place in the U.S...more than once.
As far as I'm concerned culling already does take place regularly across the United States.  We just call it something else and hand people trophies for it.  Read and watch more here.