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#106
Divers and Sharks
Viron - 6/25/2016 9:55 PM
Category: Health & Safety
Replies: 7

I recently went on a shark diver where the sharks were fed and handled. I had some apprehensions about doing a shark dive, but I am glad that I did. My experience was very positive. Immediately when the sharks arrived my RMV dropped from 0.61 CUFT/Min to 0.39 CUFT per minute and my dives since have seen lower than average RMV.

Oddly, after I saw the sharks I felt compelled to pet them, and I did as the glided by.

I now have a lot less apprehension about sharks.

What is your opinion on shark dives where divers interact with sharks and sharks are fed?

Vote Viron

m.youtube.com/watch?v=QkuCyf6APzw
#1934
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cbm369 - 6/26/2016 7:40 AM
I agree with Diva, never a good idea to have them associate humans with food, imo.

It’s also a good idea to learn some of the behavior of sharks. Most will display a certain "stance" and swimming behavior when they feel threatened and basically telling you to "back off".
#21085
LatitudeAdjustment - 6/26/2016 8:17 AM
I did a liveaboard trip in the Bahamas where we ended up at a dive site that was used for shark feeding on a previous trip I had been on. The sand area they had us sit on for the shark feeding was now filled with nesting jawfish. Most on the boat were photographers so the area was soon filled with prone photographers trying to frame Jawfish and ignoring the sharks swimming above them almost saying, Hey we are the stars here!
The more you dive the more you will see we are not on the sharks menu and it’s not the big sharks I worry about, it’s the small pesty ones! While watching hammerheads in the Galapagos it was the Silkies that keep bumping into you to see if your were ready to eat yet. In Guadalupe while watching Great Whites you worry about all of those Cookie Cutter bites on the seals, did they go back down this morning or are there some still shallow feeding?
Now Triggerfish, there is something that will bite you :(
#822
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Diver_Diva - 6/26/2016 8:08 PM
The most dangerous animal in the ocean is the sea urchin. Anybody who has ever stepped on one barefooted will agree with me.
#106
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Viron - 6/27/2016 5:47 AM
I was a bit apprehensive about a shark dive, but realized it was something that I should do to get over fifty years of Hollywood.

The fact that I went on a feeding dive where the feeders handle the sharks pretty much blew the popular Hollywood picture of sharks out of the water, I believe much more so than diving a reef with sharks.

Unfortunately I think you are correct, handling and feeding of sharks could have negative impacts through unwanted interactions. Especially with spear fishers.

However, I wouldn’t trade the experience for anything as it revolutionized my view of sharks, and my air consumption has been consistently better since because I no longer have that constant apprehension over encountering a shark.
#1103
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OleCrab - 6/27/2016 10:24 AM
YEA! It’s shark week. The series has some good points so watch the shows. Only sharks that worry me the most is Bull and Pacific White Tips. They are the most least patience, aggressive and territorial and will attack for little too no reason. I have been bumped by sharks is the Philippines, Solomon Islands and Thailand. Just don’t act like food and all should be fine.
#106
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Viron - 6/27/2016 2:09 PM
Don’t act like food is a great idea, but it has to be more than skin deep. Sharks like other animals are very sophisticated in how they can sense electrical energy of other animals to perhaps "smell fear." Still a strong posture in spite of gut reflex is probably a plus. A better view is that "I am a man eating shark and shark taste good." That is ultimately, man is the apex predator of the ocean, not sharks. That is why some sharks are endangered. Man is not. Conveying that body chemistry of confident vigilance with posture is probably best.

Vote Viron