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To Cage or Not to Cage...

3/12/2019

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

Guadalupe Cage Diving: Ultimate Guide

3/1/2019

When making the big decision of whether or not to invest in a trip to Guadalupe to see white sharks people naturally have a ton of questions. I made this video last year while out with Jimi Partington and Islander Charters, Inc. with the intent of showing what to expect every step of the way. Let me know what info I forgot to include!

Breaking Shark Cull News: Feb 2019

2/25/2019

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

Distractions

2/10/2019

"Hey everyone, don't change. Look at this distraction instead!"

Let’s tag sharks for another decade or two so we can figure out how to save them. Ignore the fishing fleets, super trawlers, and corrupt policy makers that allow the raping of our ocean. Ignore the fact that we don’t enforce protection laws that already exist. The real answer lies somewhere in data from tags so just hang in there, we’re studying this mystery, you can trust us, we are scientists.
(Pretend this hasn’t been the same story the last five decades.)

To save orcas let’s kill sea lions. They are no longer endangered thus there must be too many of them, eating all the fish in the ocean. Ignore the fishing fleets which are allowed to take hundreds of tons of fish per month from the very waters the orcas are starving in. Ignore the trickle down effect on transient orcas that eat sea lions. So the first pod of orcas will still starve and more will follow. Just as long as we have something to blame while we continue not to share. Don’t worry, scientists backed this plan so you have nothing to worry about, it must be a good idea.
(Pretend 100,000 humans weren’t born while you read the above paragraph.)

Hey, someone spent a trillion dollars on a machine to clean trash out of the ocean. That should solve it, right, I don't have to change do I? Now I can keep buying trash. Someone said plastic could be reused for something good...somewhere, someday so now my plastic is no longer trash. I don’t need to change my behavior, someone will clean up my mess.
We are like spoiled children who instead of being spanked have parents who buy their kids new cars every time we wreck the previous one.
(Pretend you didn't see the latest article on dead whales with stomachs full of trash.)

Pretend that shark repellant on your ankle is the reason the 99.9% chance you already have of not being bitten will make up the other 1% so that you now magically live in a 100% risk free world. Don't worry, someone will take your money. In fact, I have just invented a special chewing gum that if you chew while surfing will keep you safe from sharks...well, 99.9% of the time at least.

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.

Catch and release makes me a conservationist. Hey, I let it go so no harm no foul, right? Pretend being hooked in the mouth and fighting for your life isn’t detrimental to health. Pretend a broken jaw won’t lead to the eventual starvation of the animal.
(Pretend thousands of animals aren’t killed by other predators as they are being reeled in (does that count as catch and release, btw?) Also pretend we don't already have overwhelming evidence showing post-release mortality rates are extremely high. All that matters is that you let it go after you were entertained by tormenting it. You're a good person.)

Shark safe beaches! Yay! We’re working on a system to improve the current system of killing sharks where you want to go swim, so take heart in that. You no longer need to feel bad about the thousands of innocent animals dying in shark mitigation gear because someone is working on something somewhere that might get deployed someday.
(Ignore the fact that we haven’t made a real improvement in 60 years nor that there is no date set for any deliverables on promised improvements.)

Farmers are good people! Don’t tell me not to eat meat! So, 50% of land in the United States is devoted to agriculture. Big deal, we still have the other 50% to go. So half of the world’s diversity of life has been replaced by humans and their livestock in the last 50 years. So what!? Don’t tell me I can’t eat meat! It’s a way of life, it’s American! Look at the flag wrapped around me you terrorist hippie! Farmers are good people! They raise animal-slaves in the most environmentally costly manner possible for products we don’t need to eat, but you’re talking about our “salt of the earth”, Christian patriots, God damnit!
Now let me get back to watching this meat commercial showing happy animals and a hard-working white man looking out over a green pasture... you know, the commercials that show every 5 seconds on television in case you happen to forget that you should eat meat.

Someone made a film about it. Heck, it even made you cry! So, surely things will change! Ignore the fact that your own behavior didn’t change despite being moved to tears. Ignore that the last white rhino died last year. Ignore the fact that Shark Water was made over ten years ago yet Costa Rica, as well as the world, continues to harvest fins from sharks both as targeted catch and as bycatch. (Pretend NOAA hasn’t repeatedly fought against shark fin bans. Pretend Fish and Game is controlled by fishermen and hunters).

Advocacy VS. Hate

1/26/2019

Photo credits: Juan Oliphant

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.

What a post looks like without the negative opinions attached

I couldn't help but notice the attention and benefit all these "reposters" were receiving at Ocean and Juan's expense while simultaneously calling them glory seekers. If you think their images are so terrible stop sharing them.  Period. I shared them and can personally attest that it got my pages attention.  But I also wasn't simultaneously condemning them for doing this as a publicity stunt.  Scientists who lead a hate campaign online and end up on TV for it are the limelight seekers.

How many people understand that this happened in their backyard; the location that they live, work, and dive almost daily?! Diving with sharks is their profession and thus they were blessed with a mind-blowing encounter that you and I didn't experience because we are in our homes thousands of miles away on keyboards instead of spending our lives in the ocean studying tiger sharks in Hawaii!!! It's not like they flew there and arranged a photo shoot for a TV show.

On the same topic, regarding those who claim it was irresponsible for the people who were there to post photos...are you freaking kidding me? They live there, take photos of, and work with sharks regularly, but when the single craziest shark encounter any of us have ever seen takes place they aren't supposed to take a picture!? I'm actually laughing as I type this. Try coming back down to earth. Every one of you would have tried to take a picture of those massive sharks, that is, if you were brave enough to even be out in the ocean on a boat, much less in the water when a living dinosaur swam by!!

Just so we don't get caught up in the "touching and harassing" argument let's go ahead and condemn Juan and Ocean as "animal harassers" for the moment and move on to other topics. OK, agreed? No more of the touching topic for just a minute while we move on.

I glanced down at my phone just now because I was tagged in another post by Ocean and as I scroll through the comments all I see is "Your words are so powerful, thank you! I'm signing the shark fin ban petition right now!" These sort of comments continue down on and on.  Then I flip over to one of the haters' posts. It's full of judgment, hate, and hypocrisy.  Pretty clear whose message is doing more good for sharks in this case.

Images like this have been described by everyone on social media in a variety of ways, such as:

Amazing
Harassment
Poor example
Mind-blowing
Glory-Seeking
Educational
Irresponsible.

There's one thing that everyone posting opinions on this matter have in common. None of them are as qualified to speak on shark behavior as the person in the photo.

You are going to hear me speak of scientists a few times during this post. That's NOT because I flat out dislike science or scientists, it's because scientists hold a position of power and influence and with that position comes responsibility, thus I'm referring specifically to those who abuse that position. I expect all the keyboard warriors at home to post stupid shit on Facebook and Youtube about things they know nothing about. But when people use their credentials as a platform to hate-bash and influence others to join their side, then yes, I have a big problem with those "scientists". Especially those who make false statements about shark behavior and those who commit full-out slander and libel.

Let me pause for a moment to discuss scientific credentials. Ocean Ramsey is a marine biologist. She chooses to spend her life learning about sharks through interaction and observation rather than analyzing tissue samples under a microscope. As far as conservation impact is concerned, which is more powerful? Showing people first hand the majestic beauty of sharks that changes the way they think forever, or publishing a paper that only peers in the field will read? I personally was criticized for my lack of credentials. Well, I have three degrees and before all is said and done I will have more. When the day comes that I have a PhD I hope all of you will remember that I'm still a human and that you need to engage in critical thinking rather than taking a scientist's words for it. Humans, scientists included, are not all-knowing or perfect, most clearly evidenced by the fact that they publish papers that conflict with other scientists. I personally found through life experience, including interviewing scientists, that I could be more impactful through filmmaking and activism. My tagline once said "turning research into film because no one reads research papers." That's not a bash on science, it's reality. My goal was to take the work scientists were doing and help that message reach more people through use of video. I have friends and enemies in the scientific community because I speak my mind. My advice to you is to be particularly wary of those who use every chance they can to name-drop or mention their credentials.

I can't end this without talking about the people stating, "I hope they get eaten. I hope they die." I think that pretty much sums those people up.
But the comments I will spend more time talking about are the ones that state that same old bullshit "It's only a matter of time" or "Play with fire and get burned", "You're going to get what you deserve." They say the same thing on my videos of me diving with sharks and they do so as if they've stated some incredible wisdom. People, "It's a matter of time" applies to everything. EVERYTHING. You are going to die on your way to work if you go to work long enough. I'm going to go blind if I continue editing long enough. If I pet enough cute dogs one is going to bite me.
Then you have the inevitable person who says, "Remember what happened to Grizzly Man?" Yeah, he screwed up. He made a mistake that cost him dearly. Before that he lived with grizzly bears for three years! Three years! That's incredible and insightful. But because he finally screwed up there was nothing to learn except that he "deserved to die"? Tell me, if Juan and Ocean dive with sharks the entire rest of their lives and are finally bitten at the age of 70 do the haters get to say "Told you so?!" An entire lifetime of work showing the world a side of sharks that most people are unaware of...but because one day they were bitten we learned nothing from them?

"I deserve to die"

People say the same thing on the videos of me diving with sharks. That good lovely group of people that "can't wait for you to die". Look, I don't dive with sharks because I'm a daredevil. I'm not brave nor am I suicidal. I do it because I have learned that I can! Sharing space with an incredible predator that can kill me but chooses not to is as eye opening a revelation that I can think of. Once you experience this first hand you can move on from the media frenzy about sharks and start asking important questions, such as "Why doesn't that shark want to kill me?" That question leads to more questions and that answer leads to even more questions all which ultimately lead to a better understanding of the planet we are on. Nature, even predators the size of buses with razor-sharp teeth are not our enemies! This is what Juan and Ocean teach us.

Anything else inferred from their message or mine you added yourself.

Scientists Speak Out Against Shark Harassment

1/19/2019

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

Thanks for showing us how to respect sharks, doc! Now, just move a little to the left for the photo.

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

Identifying Lucy from Drone Footage

12/1/2018

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

54 Minutes of White Sharks (from above)

11/30/2018

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

Culling in the USA?

9/18/2018

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.

Moments in the Food Chain

8/30/2018

How do we survive the moments when we unintentionally enter the food chain? Inspired by interviews with Chris Fallows, Andrew Fox, Alessandro de Maddalena, Neil Hammerschlag, and more, host Skyler Thomas looks at possible explanations for our survival.

This video was originally made as an episode for Animal Bytes TV in 2014. Although not my best work, the topic of content is worth watching. Alessandro de Maddalena provided many amazing predation photos to assist the video.
#andrewfox #neilhammerschlag, #chrisfallows, #skylerthomas