I've never done a shark feeding dive, my encounters have always been opportunistic from having a tiger shark want to feel my exhale bubbles on its belly to Nurse sharks sleeping in a gutter. I've always felt that sharks should be seen in their eco-system rather than like some kind or performing seal (pardon the pun). They are graceful, even beutiful, scary (whey you're surfing) but always knowning I'm in their domain. We have know less than 0.5% of them and their environment, we need to protect it and study it.
I did shark diving with some chum/bait in the water in Mexico, Bahamas, Maldives and the Red Sea. For me personally I'd say the pros outweigh the cons for this kind of diving. All the operators I've been with treated the animals with the respect and love they deserve. Regarding the 'no touching' you talked about: for some species it is actually a good idea to gently redirect them to the side if they bump into you, since otherwise their next action just might be a test bite if they're really curious.
You do you, but I don't know that I'd have the cajones to push a shark away. In all fairness, I haven't done a shark dive (yet), and if that were my best chance of survival, I'd like to think that's what I'd do, but still.
When I did my shark dive, we were told that we were only to touch them if they are approaching you, as if you let them get too close without pushing them away they might want to figure out what you are, and the way that sharks do that is with their mouth. But we were also told that it just needs to be a gentle push down on the top of their head, that anything with more force would get us pulled from the dive. And I genuinely believe it was a safety issue as at one point the DM rushed behind a diver to push a bull shark that had gotten behind the diver away. That being said I am against shark dives because they genuinely affect shark behavior. I think I've mentioned it in the comments here, before my first shark dive, I went out with PDC and I overheard the DM talking to a customer about not doing any spearfishing in the WPB/Jupiter area because all the shark diving made the shark associate humans with food. So it was not very safe to spear in that area. Well during the dive, I watched how the shark gave the dude with a selfie stick a lot of attention. I didn't think much of it until the DM speared a cobia that he wanted to keep not just to feed to the sharks. Unlike else where I've seen spear fishing, once he speared the fish be did an immediate ascent to the surface. While he was gone I figured out why the selfie stick dude was getting so much attention from the sharks, as I noticed the sharks would go up to the pole spear hanging from the DM's basket, and bite it. I realized very clearly that they associated divers with food.
Hi James, This video makes me think of one thing only, i don't want to teach scuba, I want to work in Active-Conservation. How can a scuba diver work in active conservation? Dude i met you on a boat in jan 2020 u had like 10k subs. You shot up to 40.5K!!! Congrats!!! yOU'RE MAKING SOLID CONTENT. People will continue to watch these videos for years to come. You can bet on that. Thank you.
Hi James, I had only ever heard about the negative views of shark baiting diving. Thank you for highlighting some of the positives. If I were to plan to do it, I will do a lot of research on the operator. Thanks again James for an informative vid.
Just returned from a dive in Australia. One shark dive included in my week of diving. I, like you, prefer to see sharks naturally while diving. However, the operator would have received a 16 based on this evaluation method. Sharks were not handled. Bucket was drawn down and released from a distance bringing the sharks close while waiting for the small amount of chum in the bucket. The thing that was interesting is we dove later in the afternoon in the same general spot and all you had to do was hangout at the point of the reef in a little current and you were looking at a wall of sharks. Just not swimming right on top of you. Diving in Belize we consistently saw sharks near an abandoned shark feed site every time we showed up they would come in for a look. Much more natural. As always great video.
Are you buying my Google search data? The last 2 information videos including this one have been directly helpful in the research I've been doing as of late for a dive trip I'm planning. Keep it coming brother
A few months ago we did the “Creature Feature” dive in Taverniere. I found it to be beneficial promoting conservation of shark species. Granted the multitude of sharks were Nurse mixed with green Moray eels but seeing animals in the environment and we as spectators can provide a better understanding of how they live in their surroundings. It also helped to demystify “Jaws” mindset that all sharks are man eaters. That said, I’ve seen sharks either basking or cruising along and not interested in our activities. I believe being exposed to these sort of experiences can promote better conservation practices than being “told” it’s good to the planet. For most people the notion of I cant see it so it doesn’t affect me or understanding the importance of sharks within aquatic ecosystems.
on the one hand, I totaly agree that we should not feed sharks, but on the other hand - if its possible to make people more aware about sharks we could save quite a lot more of them. - my recommendation for shark-dives Feeded Dive: Bullshark-Dive - Fiji Barefoot Kuata Island (They even have a marine-biologist)
@@robottelli2788 I went at the start of April. Look up the shark sightings stats and you can see which time of year is best. I went with Adventure Bay Charters as they don't chum and do the deep cage dive.
@@robottelli2788 I'm diving with Adventure Bay Charters on Dec 11 & 12th 2021. Out of Port Lincoln out at Neptune Island, looking forward to the experience. Maybe I'll see you out there.
Ironically, last week I went out for my first shark dive off of Jupiter, Fl and also had mixed feelings before the dive. I shoot macro photos and was excited about the opportunity to put the wide angle lens and port on and take pics of some much larger underwater critters. But I was torn because many of the same cons you pointed out… sharks associating people with food, human interaction with sharks (touching them). During our briefing, the DM did discuss the pros and cons and mentioned a few researchers that have specifically looked at the impact shark diving has on the sharks which was nice. While I’m still torn, I am trying to make a positive thing come out of it by posting my photos with educational info about sharks and hoping to change the mind of one person to see sharks at not being the villains of the sea. I am not sure I will be doing a dive like that again (and the rush of seeing a shark during a normal dive is priceless) but I sure will do what I can to promote shark conservation ❤️🦈❤️🤿
I did an internship in South Africa for a month in which we did cage diving. I'm 100% in favor of it. In our team we had 4 biologists one south African, one USanian , and two Brits. All of them were doing advanced degrees (masters or doctorate). Part of the revenue of the cage diving operation went to fund their study. Not only that but cage diving is a very entry level eco tourism, as in it's not necessary to have any previous training, so many people that would never scuba dive get a chance to see a Great White up close.
Mixed feelings like most here. I have done a shark dive in Roatan and it was excellent. Great briefing, DMs watched the divers for their reactions before letting them leave the wall. No touching. Also a percentage of the money went to the shark conservation people. Also Honduras has banned all shark fishing in their waters. I also just returned from Grand Turk. A lot of reef sharks came in close. Mainly because they have been getting fed the lion fish that are destroying the reefs. The sharks are learning to eat them but also see divers as a food source. The sharks are doing a good job keeping the lion fish population down and can dive much deeper then humans spearfishing for them. Great job as always with your content.
One of the standout dives I've done was with Blue Sharks in the Azores. The water was chummed with a bait box, so it was an 'artificial' experience, but only in the respect that it brought the sharks to us. I have seen sharks in spontaneous interactions as well and that is the 'ideal', but if 'baiting' means that people will protect the sharks for divers to experience then I'm all for it. They are incredible creatures and I count myself lucky to have had any contact with them. -Most people are still terrified by the word shark, the most common response I get when I tell people I scuba dive is "Aren't you frightened of the Sharks?!"
I am pro conservation but anti shark feeding diving. As a recreational diver this type of business has put WPB on my “don’t like to dive” list. For the very reason that has already been stated…sharks are associating humans with free food. A diver on my last trip ended both her dives early because the sharks found her hunting & wouldn’t leave her alone, even after she speared one multiple times! Good conservation methods should NEVER put any diver in a situation like that. I was looking into learning how to spearfish but because of the new learned behavior sharks have from this business model I’ve decided against it. There are other ways to save the sharks that don’t interfere with their natural behavior. Yet still allow me to hunt Lionfish. I fear many divers like myself will stop hunting & then there will be a more serious Lionfish issue. Because we have yet to find a way to commercially fish for Lionfish & Sharks don’t kill them on their own.
I have never been against shark dives,I think they are awesome. With that being said I live in the Jupiter Florida area, and I can tell you first hand it should be completely banned from any populate areas. They have zero fear of people now, they come right up to you aggressively now looking for food, and if you are spear fishing by the time you shoot a fish they are circling looking for a free meal.
One of the coolest dives I've done was a night dive in Turks & Caicos. There were three nurse sharks feeding and the reek sharks were coming in looking for scrapes. It was so cool to see the sharks coming out of the dark and swimming between us. This went on for the entire dive.
I participated in two shark dives near Jupiter, FL in late 2021. We were surrounded by Bull and Tiger sharks. It was one of the coolest dive trips that I've ever experienced. I did, however, feel uncomfortable with the idea of these animals being hand fed and the fact that they seemed to be too comfortable around humans.
I've never gone for the very same reasons...don't associate divers with food. There's lots to read about it...I remember an account where sharks would bite where a diver usually kept the bait or spearfished catch. I've considered but not gone to Jupiter for the blacktip migration. I feel like it's hard to find an op up there that doesn't chum though. Really good discussion James.
I did my only shark dive out of Jupiter New Years weekend. I don't think it was with the same outfit you went with. It was a very positive experience in and out of the water. The captain and crew were top shelf and the boat was as good as most. The briefing was highly educational. That being said, I probably won't do another one for the same reasons on your cons list
Mike Ball Dive Expeditions run amazing liveaboard trips on Australia's Great Barrier Reef. One of the dives on our trip was a shark dive, and they get full marks by these criteria. They offer the shark dive less than once a week, so as to have minimal impact on the sharks' natural behaviour.
Hi James. Did a shark dive off Perebere in Mauritius. They had found their feeding/cleaning station which could be entered via a cave passage. Don't think the sharks even ,knew we were there. Have had a few surprise encounters which were brilliant.
I dived with bull sharks in Mexico earlier this year, 1 dive, an alimentation dive and 2 dives on spec. Both types were absolutely awesome, the pregnant females come to the same spot every year between Nov and Feb, you are more or less guaranteed to see them. On the feeding dive we had 9 swimming round us, on the others between 2 and 5 sharks.
Did it in Bahamas with Stewart Coves. I would honestly rate them a solid 18 of the 20 possible on the grading system. I did enjoy the first dive more than the actual feeding dive. The first of the 2 was a much more natural dive, with plenty of sharks around, but not is a large group trying to grab a quick snack. In short would do it again in a minute. I feel that the pros for sure outweigh the cons.
Yes I'm with you James, feeding sharks only associates food with humans and is not a good practice. Seeing them in the wild, behaving naturally and not expecting a free feed is best. I've dived Fish Rock here in Australia where you can swim with grey nurse sharks, it was an awesome experience. On that dive we also saw hammer heads swimming past above us.
I can’t dive as of yet, it is a goal for the future, however I have been on snorkelling shark trips which have both used food and not. I believe it depends on the circumstance. One of the feeding experiences was with nurse sharks. Which gather alongside rays in a certain bay at a specific time as they associated the boats with feed, the tourists are encouraged to get off anywhere from the boat during this and swim as they please (but return to the right boat). The crew got in the water towards the end but I found this quite irresponsible as no discussion prior about shark behaviour etc and typically took inexperienced tourists, however the same tour took us on a knowledgeable snorkel of the reef unbaited and that was the more enjoyable aspect despite not seeing any sharks. The other was in another country where they used to hunt whale sharks, however they changed their attitude and started providing eco tourism experiences, the sharks come to the area as they please but it has lead to an increase in the population in the area and the economy of the local town has improved, they also do not allow anyone to touch the sharks (have to stay at least 2m away) and there is a fine attached, the only negative to me was the amount of people in the water at any given time. Finally, the one without any food (on our boat I cannot vouch for others) pre warned us that the sharks may or may not be there and also they often follow divers up to the surface from the sink hole but again not guaranteed, luckily for us they did and it was my first experience with Caribbean reef sharks, not only was it a safer way of operating it was also more humbling as it was authentic. Personally I am not big on the association of humans with food but do think redirection is important.
I've never done a shark feeding dive however I did have the opportunity to dive and visited and surrounded by 5~6 Reef Sharks while in Grand Bahamas. Very nice and memorable but it was intimidating and humbling to say the least.
I've not seen a shark on a sea dive. I've done a couple of Shark Aquarium dives. I'd love to do one of these dives for many of the points that you mention. I'd say that the number of sharks who know where the feeding is, is very low. Would be interesting to tag and track and see if its always the same ones.
Hey James, I'm on the fence right now because I haven't been on a shark feeding dive yet. I have been diving and seen sharks though which is really cool. We are going on a trip to Nassau later this month for some R&R and diving and saw there is shark dives available. So, I guess I'll be able to decided from there. Thanks for the great video!
I’ve had a lot of questions about this. I’d prefer a natural experience myself, but I also understand that some people are on limited time/dives at a location and want to see a shark. As for the exposure through video and photography I imagine I could be easier to plan out that expedition, and that is useful in conservation. In the end my bucket list is to get experienced enough that I can hit Cocos or Socoro and see hundreds of hammerheads schooling.
Well done on this one, taking the positives and negatives into this. My 50 cent on this is, I would never do a feeding shark dive.. it took me barely 40 dives to be lucky enough to see my first shark and it was amazing. From this point on, I „chased“ sharks, meaning I went to locations where the chances are pretty good to see them. I love to see sharks in the wild in their natural behavior. We need to safe the sharks but I honestly do not see how a bad trip you have explained safe millions and millions of sharks of beeing slaughtered. This needs to be done by political dessisions and bringing the problem into the minds of the general public. And finally, there is nothing mor pleasing of seeing a wild shark gently cruising past you.
@diversready I wanted to point something out to you. You mentioned that it was not necessary to touch the sharks. That may be so with the lemons, and sandbars that i saw in your video. What I didn’t see was the tiger shark. If a tiger shark comes to you on a dive like this or anytime actually you will 100% need to redirect by gently pushing down and away on its head. That’s why that is in the briefing. Maybe they should have been a little more clear on that but it is absolutely necessary
James, if the operator was out of Jupiter, Florida, I’m surprised they got 14/20. I did that dive last year and was throughly unimpressed. I’d prefer to see sharks as happenstance allows but any encounter is good. They’re so amazing and graceful. It sickens me to se how Hollywood has portrayed them as vicious killers.
Yes I have done shark diving ! Loved it ! I truly believe that the positive image ,and awareness, shark diving has done , more , for the preservation and the implementation of laws ,for the protection of sharks, than any other single factor(s)! “ We will only protect that which we love”! Jaques Cousteau
I agree on the association of food to people 100%. I always feel it a bonus treat to get to see sharks 🦈naturally. I do spearfish, (fish for me and friends only) and that sometimes is a true adventure 😁
I have been on a bull shark dive in Riviera Maya and no baiting was used. No sharks were seen by us at the time, but it was noted as a bad year for the area (2019) in part due to the unusually warm waters. They shop O dive with there is very good and I would rate them as about an 18/20 on that scale. More education and reduction of misinformation as well as local gov mandates should be used globally to help in shark conservation. It's getting better in larger diving communities and large reef sites globally, but the global (mostly Eastern, but some smaller SA countries as well) fish markets are wasteful, greedy, misinformed, and need regulation. Sharks aren't the problem, commercial, irresponsible fishing (and their ignorant or arrogant consumers) are.
James I have read in the last few years there's been more shark attacks and it's been linked to sharks are learning to associate boat motor noise as dinner bells due to baiting.
I've always hated shark dives and never done one in my life but I can't disagree on what you've said. You actually raised good points but it's a fact that most of the accident occurred due to feeding and this can't improve "sharks image". Imvho
Ive dove with that op and the others out of Jupiter/West Palm. I would rate their animal respect higher then the average for the area. Unfortunately for that dive op they have to launch the boat each day and only have two full time people working it (captain and the handler), so not surprised about boat cleanliness. I had better experiences when I was there in the spring, but I also might’ve just had worse other places too. Also an FYI When the tigers are around you often need to redirect them regularly, especially as a photographer in the sand on the wreck. The tigers investigate much more, and they do this with bites. All shark ops I’ve seen explain this pattern (dove with 11 in 5 countries), it’s a good safety tool and important to know before going in especially when you keep in mind they regularly see 12-14 foot tigers here. I’ve had to redirect Patrick (the local male tiger) several times. Most of the sharks they feed off Miami are also seasonal pelagic sharks, meaning they don’t stay here. If we were drastically changing their patterns we would see more of a disruption in those migratory patterns but they hold true. General seasons Summer - Silkies, sandbars, lemons, tigers at the start Fall - lemons, silkies, intermittent hammers Winter - more hammers, tigers start coming back, lemon shark mating aggregation, regular bulls Spring- tigers towards the end, hammers infrequently, bulls are more bold, lemons at some sites.
I agree with you James. I'm not into impacting the environment or the animals in it, but..... if it helps save a species, educate people, and improve the environment, i guess its not all bad.
The shark dive scene in jupiter really opened my eyes to shark behavior and that they do not view humans as food. It is also the most exhilarating dive in south florida for my money. My only question is why rate 1 for treatment of animals? Most of those charters love sharks. You should go with Emerald Charters - they tell you not to touch any sharks EXCEPT the tiger because the tiger is too curious and it needs to be redirected for safety. What kind of rating scale would tell you to let yourself get eaten and not touch the shark?
Hey James, may you make a video on how to interact with a shark someday? I've never been on a tour that aimed at diving with them, so I never got a briefing about them. You said we shouldn't push them away if they are curious or invastigating, but I've seen this in a lot of videos from ocean conservationists (that they carefully pushed them away at their snoot) I don't really know other does and don'ts about shark diving either, but I would love to dive with them one day so I would be happy if you could make a video about it :)
Here’s my biggest issue with it in a question form lol. When the sharks get their feeding response and the level of aggressiveness increases significantly, does that truly promote sharks in a good light to the general public. You see videos of divers getting bitten on those chum dives. Recently happened actually. Jupiter dive center doesn’t chum and they will still get you in with sharks. You get to see them acting naturally though.
My wife and I would love to do a shark dive but would definitely want to do what's is best for the sharks. We would also choose a dive excursion that supports shark conservation and research over someone just trying to make a buck.
Here in French Polynesia, sharks are protected but the commercial practice of "shark feeding" is prohibited. Sharks behave naturally, not like zoo or circus animals that you attract with food. Feeding sharks is absolutly not "eco-tourism"
I’ve never done a shark dive, but as a person who lives on a boat and travels throughout the East Coast and Caribbean, I HATE to see dive operators or individuals feeding sharks. It’s not unusual to see a fellow cruiser chumming for sharks in the anchorage, which is stupid and dangerous. Leave those sharks alone!!
We definitely need to educate the world that sharks are not the mindless feeding machines depicted in most media. Sharknato anyone? However I do not really see the benefit in teaching sharks to do tricks and beg for snacks from a diver with a chum basket. I think it much more valuable to see divers in the water with sharks, and the sharks basically going about their business. Everytime a "shark wrangler", or tourist gets nipped, or worse while feeding a shark it negates hundreds of videos showing divers and sharks co-existing in the water together. So I don't see myself participating in a shark feeding, but I have been in the water with numerous sharks of varying sizes many times, and still have both hands and all ten fingers.
#DiversReady, where those divers laying down on the reef? if so, what the heck... drop that boat operator another point. I feel Shark feeding dives sadly are a necessity for humans to engage and appreciate them. I have done the Shark Dive outside Jupiter Florida. It was an amazing experience and one I will do again.
Remember it’s not just the potentially dangerous sharks they feed. In the Philippines they feed the Whale Sharks to show to the snorkelling tourists. It’s wrong but it’s the ex whale shark fishermen that are now employed for this so lesser of two evils I guess. Anything that stops fishermen hunting sharks has to be a good thing, right ?
Hello James, yes it is a difficult dilemma. I’d just like to add one more layer to this debate (if it is not difficult enough). who should get the right to do shark feeding tourism? I went to Maldives some years ago, and there is a fishing island that offers shark dives. I understand it generates income for ppl on the island. But when the sharks are used to getting fed at their specific dock, it becomes impossible for other diving operators to find sharks in their natural habitats, and they are often “forced” to bring their customers to the island eventually. shark feeding tourism may be the necessary evil in some places, but when you need a place to carry out the feeding, the ppl that own such place effectively monopolise the resources of a much wider area, which could force some of the other operators to go out of business. I don’t know the business well enough to tell what would be practical and fair. What do you think?
I've learned from fishing Charters that sharks learn to associate the fishing boats with easy meals, as a large portion of catches are taken by sharks. I also find on shark dives, many have fish hooks stuck in their mouths. Now my question is, does a shark know a scuba diver is human, as compared to a beach goer?
We have dove at shark junction a few times with out the feeding and guess what.... There were still lots of sharks to see. My thoughts are if the dive operators are good then they will be able to take you to what you want to see. No need to condition sharks to associate food with humans. Love to dive with sharks. It is the most peaceful yet exhilarating thing I have ever done in my life.
I always thought that Shark Feeding is a bad idea. Just like feeding alligators or bears. Of course people are not the normal diet of these creatures, but the animal can make that decision in a moment.
A question about touching the sharks : I see the push back or push away thé sharks if they come to close to you as a way of sending a "I am not food and I am not giving food" message to the sharks. Mostly for the safety of the customers/divers because sharks are so used to have divers giving them food that sometimes they try to get to any diver to try a bite off of everything that is extended from the body of the diver (long hair or extended arm) Am I wrong to see the "push back thé shark" as a safety measure ? I am not talking about hitting the shark, of course
did one in roatan. i thought it was excellent. totally withdrew any fear of sharks but i still have respect as an apex predator. never touched the animals
Humans being the custodians of the planet; I think exploiting the few (sharks) for the needs of the many is necessary. My question is, are shark dives really conservation? What percentage of proceeds from the operators actually go towards meaningful research and conservation efforts? Or do they simply pocket every dime and call it an economic benefit?
Growing up on a farm you learn feeding animals from your hand teaches them to bite. This is not what you want a shark to learn. On the other hand it's a lot easier to sell tickets for a dive that can say you will see 🦈 🦈. More money in the boat owners bank wins every time. The real challenge is to put more money in the local economy and keep the sharks alive.
I have dived in near Tokyo, there is a pot call shark city which local fish men put bait there to attract sharks to avoid they eat those fish they caught, does it count as shark feed diving?
Japan and China are so far behind the rest of the modern world when it comes to shark conservation. They probably take you for a bowl of shark fin soup after
@@millward434 China I am not sure …… but now most of the shark fin that you can get in the restaurants in tw are fake!! They are made by glass noodles😊😊 that counts improvement
I have done shark dives but will not do it again. As mentioned in the video on a fundamental level we don’t tie pieces of cow on land rovers in Kruger park to get lions to approaches this is not a smart idea to be teaching apex predators to associate humans with food and thus I don’t believe it should be done in the ocean
Great video, but I have to strongally desagree with the negatives you pointed, based on my expereience as sharkfeeder! However, would consider a collab video with me, maybe even be my guest on the Shark Cast on my channel?
I have done 1 shark feed dive and dove where we had shark encounters and epic experience maybe 9 times... l must say ... gimmi shark chance meetings any day.
Yessss shark dive 🙌 I’m all for baited shark dives but as long as there not shooting fish while on the dive 🤯 that’s crazy to me. I hope u had a good time while blowing bubbles at least 🤙 sounds like everything else was a shit show
Chuming the water to attract sharks puts all divers lives at risk, Fact! Sharks learn to associate food with divers in the water, this can be easily proved. If you believe otherwise you're kidding your self. 🦈
Stuart Coves have done thousands of shark dives in the Bahamas over the past few decades and yet out of all the times I’ve been to the Bahamas, I’ve never heard of any diver getting hurt, shark dive or not. So I’m going to keep my belief that if a reputable company does it, it’s a good thing. I was scared of sharks but got lucky enough to be friends with the training manager at Stuart coves at the time and my first dive I did after getting my certification was a private shark feeding. Actually two, one in the shark arena and one on a sunken boat that was even better. And ever since then, I became a vocal supporter of shark conservation. And no way I’m the only one.
@@seriosmusic you don’t mention what type of shark they are feeding, it’s certainly not Great Whites. Tiger sharks that have been fed by hand and have attached humans on many occasions. The risk is slightly mitigated if you’re wearing chain mail. If you are feeding an docile special like lemon sharks well that’s different again but that’s not what we are talking about here. We are talking about morons chumming the water with blood, offal, tuna and horse meat to attract great white sharks.
@@marineboyocean I was pretty sure the video was about shark feedings in general. I would agree with what you're saying, especially with Great White and Tiger Sharks. With Stuart Coves, Nacho and the other feeders wear the chain mail suit and they would be the only ones touching the sharks, which are pretty much only Caribbean Reef and Nurse Sharks in that area. They only do it in one area not around any beaches and the sharks do expect food because it's been done on such a regular basis, but you can dive there without there being a feeding and there have never been any issues. So in summary, my point was that not all shark feedings are bad in my opinion. If they are handled by experts who believe in shark and ocean conservation and take everything into consideration. Before starting his dive charter business, Stuart for a couple decades was Hollywood's go to man for underwater filming, particularly with sharks involved. The James Bond movies and Into the Blue for example. If you're ever in the Bahamas and dive with them, you can go to the remnants of the James Bond sets and dive.
@@marineboyocean dude nobody is hand feeding great whites lol. As for tigers they are extremely inquisitive and why people get bit by them when not paying attention. As for lemons, those are some of the most snappy around but completely docile without bait.
@@greg_tally you’ve missed the point, read all the comments in order. I never suggest Great Whites we’re being hand fed, some one else commented on hand feeding sharks. My information and concern is about chunming the water with Blood offal and meat to attract sharks while divers are in cages. 🤦🏽♂️
A difficult question to be sure. Generally I am against feeding dives for the exact reason that you stated early in the video. And to back that up, last week a friend of mine was shark diving in Florida and her friend was bitten during the feeding (or chumming, I'm not sure which). It wasn't a "bad" bite and only required a few stitches but it could have been worse as easily as better. But I've also seen the other side of it. When Mexico opened up last year after quarantine my wife and I jumped a plane and went diving. I had heard that to survive the drought of tourism the locals had taken to fishing to survive. Can't blame anyone for doing what it takes to survive but what we saw was street vendors selling freshly boiled shark jaws for souvenirs. As many times as we'd been there we'd never seen that before. So...what's the lesser of two evils. I guess we all have to decide that for ourselves.
Some sharks are migratory so they don't stay and look for someone to feed them. I love to swim with sharks it's addictive. They are free and not in an aquarium is one point. The people that bitch about feeding fish are the one that live around the ocean . Not everyone is a diver.
🦈 feeding wild creatures is bad practice. Humans love to justify what they know in their heart of hearts to be wrong but that makes them money. Shark conservation can/is being done without feeding sharks. More is needed but feeding wild creatures off Jupiter Florida (insert area) is not the answer 🤯 🦈
I’m not against it however I don’t want to see divers feed and use medal rods to poke the sharks when they get close if they get to close gently push them away i have seen videos were the divers are stabbing the sharks after all the diver brought the food so feed them make awareness that sharks are not just killing machines and handle them with care.
Before i got into scuba i was looking at sharks as blood hungry killers. Now I look at them as amazin creatures of evolution, who actually don't care about this noisy thing with a tank on their back. ----- If you ever see shark in the wild - enjoy the moment.
Sorry I'll never be convinced it's a good idea due to the ethics and the human , food association factor ... I'm just a natural if it happens naturally on the dive guy ....✌️
New headline proposal for an old vid: The Ethics Of Old Ladies Sitting On Benches, Feeding Pigeons ...which is a known evil, contributes to those bird's overpopulation, possible sanitary consequences and blah, blah... - - The worst thing about all eco-discussions is when people simply ignore scales and actual impact. Whilst some nations are finning sharks like wild, more than ever, some discuss the evil of tossing them half a sausage. Good night, common sense. Yet, at least not to a 100% in this video, not in the comments either. Are we divers more rational than average people? But of course... 🤪.
Dive boat was the dirtiest you've ever seen in the world....disgraceful and uncaring. All dive boats should be clean in today's era !!! No compromise!!!!! A dirty boat shows the operator doesn't care, period! Nitrox analyser didn't work on a dive boat yet the boat is attached to a dive shop Scubaworks, Jupiter, fl. What ? Guest safety is obviously paramount on salty divers.... not. I think shark diving is great for awareness, perception and protection. It must be done with the animals at the forefront at all times. I've been on several operators in Jupiter and treatment is variable to say the least. A good shark handler won't use too much bait, it shouldn't be about feeding them, more just to get them around. I don't like too much feeding or the big open mouth photos as that goes against the change of perception of the shark. It is good for employment and all the hotels, restaurants I guess. Gallagher report is great, it should be shown to all the operators. They have a big role to play in balancing good and bad with sharks. Salty divers should be embarrassed at this review but my experience is clearly the same as the author here, they don't dare about the guests or sharks, just the dollars. Not good. Step it up salty divers and Scubaworks
Sorry, but this argument: Diving with sharks will help protecting sharks is just industry bull sh**. The usual diver did never eat sharks in the first place and so it is easy for him to point his finger at a foreign culture to feel good. I can show you videos where western divers are coming from a "tuna dive" and demand to eat bluefin tuna (a heavy endangered fish species) and similar. I even learned a dive sign for yummy. Diving does not protect animals. it would protect sharks if western divers would know that half of all dead sharks are dead because of the western fishing industry. With other words going vegan or at least more vegan would really help, but hey this means you can't point your finger at someone else.
I've never done a shark feeding dive, my encounters have always been opportunistic from having a tiger shark want to feel my exhale bubbles on its belly to Nurse sharks sleeping in a gutter. I've always felt that sharks should be seen in their eco-system rather than like some kind or performing seal (pardon the pun). They are graceful, even beutiful, scary (whey you're surfing) but always knowning I'm in their domain. We have know less than 0.5% of them and their environment, we need to protect it and study it.
I did shark diving with some chum/bait in the water in Mexico, Bahamas, Maldives and the Red Sea. For me personally I'd say the pros outweigh the cons for this kind of diving. All the operators I've been with treated the animals with the respect and love they deserve.
Regarding the 'no touching' you talked about: for some species it is actually a good idea to gently redirect them to the side if they bump into you, since otherwise their next action just might be a test bite if they're really curious.
You do you, but I don't know that I'd have the cajones to push a shark away. In all fairness, I haven't done a shark dive (yet), and if that were my best chance of survival, I'd like to think that's what I'd do, but still.
When I did my shark dive, we were told that we were only to touch them if they are approaching you, as if you let them get too close without pushing them away they might want to figure out what you are, and the way that sharks do that is with their mouth. But we were also told that it just needs to be a gentle push down on the top of their head, that anything with more force would get us pulled from the dive. And I genuinely believe it was a safety issue as at one point the DM rushed behind a diver to push a bull shark that had gotten behind the diver away.
That being said I am against shark dives because they genuinely affect shark behavior. I think I've mentioned it in the comments here, before my first shark dive, I went out with PDC and I overheard the DM talking to a customer about not doing any spearfishing in the WPB/Jupiter area because all the shark diving made the shark associate humans with food. So it was not very safe to spear in that area. Well during the dive, I watched how the shark gave the dude with a selfie stick a lot of attention. I didn't think much of it until the DM speared a cobia that he wanted to keep not just to feed to the sharks. Unlike else where I've seen spear fishing, once he speared the fish be did an immediate ascent to the surface. While he was gone I figured out why the selfie stick dude was getting so much attention from the sharks, as I noticed the sharks would go up to the pole spear hanging from the DM's basket, and bite it. I realized very clearly that they associated divers with food.
Hi James, This video makes me think of one thing only, i don't want to teach scuba, I want to work in Active-Conservation. How can a scuba diver work in active conservation?
Dude i met you on a boat in jan 2020 u had like 10k subs. You shot up to 40.5K!!! Congrats!!! yOU'RE MAKING SOLID CONTENT. People will continue to watch these videos for years to come. You can bet on that.
Thank you.
James I like that you bring up the debate and think of other opinions, not just state one as fact.
Hi James, I had only ever heard about the negative views of shark baiting diving. Thank you for highlighting some of the positives. If I were to plan to do it, I will do a lot of research on the operator. Thanks again James for an informative vid.
Never fails to be a great scuba channel - engaging and informative. Thanks so much!
Just returned from a dive in Australia. One shark dive included in my week of diving. I, like you, prefer to see sharks naturally while diving. However, the operator would have received a 16 based on this evaluation method. Sharks were not handled. Bucket was drawn down and released from a distance bringing the sharks close while waiting for the small amount of chum in the bucket. The thing that was interesting is we dove later in the afternoon in the same general spot and all you had to do was hangout at the point of the reef in a little current and you were looking at a wall of sharks. Just not swimming right on top of you. Diving in Belize we consistently saw sharks near an abandoned shark feed site every time we showed up they would come in for a look. Much more natural. As always great video.
Are you buying my Google search data? The last 2 information videos including this one have been directly helpful in the research I've been doing as of late for a dive trip I'm planning. Keep it coming brother
A few months ago we did the “Creature Feature” dive in Taverniere. I found it to be beneficial promoting conservation of shark species. Granted the multitude of sharks were Nurse mixed with green Moray eels but seeing animals in the environment and we as spectators can provide a better understanding of how they live in their surroundings. It also helped to demystify “Jaws” mindset that all sharks are man eaters. That said, I’ve seen sharks either basking or cruising along and not interested in our activities.
I believe being exposed to these sort of experiences can promote better conservation practices than being “told” it’s good to the planet. For most people the notion of I cant see it so it doesn’t affect me or understanding the importance of sharks within aquatic ecosystems.
on the one hand, I totaly agree that we should not feed sharks, but on the other hand - if its possible to make people more aware about sharks we could save quite a lot more of them.
- my recommendation for shark-dives
Feeded Dive: Bullshark-Dive - Fiji Barefoot Kuata Island (They even have a marine-biologist)
Went shark cage diving at Port Lincoln, South Australia and they used music to attract in the shark. No chum or baiting. They did use decoys.
Hey Dominic. I’m just in the process of booking a dive with Great Whites at Port Lincoln. What time of the year did you go?
@@robottelli2788 I went at the start of April. Look up the shark sightings stats and you can see which time of year is best. I went with Adventure Bay Charters as they don't chum and do the deep cage dive.
@@robottelli2788 I'm diving with Adventure Bay Charters on Dec 11 & 12th 2021. Out of Port Lincoln out at Neptune Island, looking forward to the experience. Maybe I'll see you out there.
Ironically, last week I went out for my first shark dive off of Jupiter, Fl and also had mixed feelings before the dive. I shoot macro photos and was excited about the opportunity to put the wide angle lens and port on and take pics of some much larger underwater critters. But I was torn because many of the same cons you pointed out… sharks associating people with food, human interaction with sharks (touching them). During our briefing, the DM did discuss the pros and cons and mentioned a few researchers that have specifically looked at the impact shark diving has on the sharks which was nice. While I’m still torn, I am trying to make a positive thing come out of it by posting my photos with educational info about sharks and hoping to change the mind of one person to see sharks at not being the villains of the sea. I am not sure I will be doing a dive like that again (and the rush of seeing a shark during a normal dive is priceless) but I sure will do what I can to promote shark conservation ❤️🦈❤️🤿
I did an internship in South Africa for a month in which we did cage diving.
I'm 100% in favor of it.
In our team we had 4 biologists one south African, one USanian , and two Brits. All of them were doing advanced degrees (masters or doctorate).
Part of the revenue of the cage diving operation went to fund their study.
Not only that but cage diving is a very entry level eco tourism, as in it's not necessary to have any previous training, so many people that would never scuba dive get a chance to see a Great White up close.
Mixed feelings like most here. I have done a shark dive in Roatan and it was excellent. Great briefing, DMs watched the divers for their reactions before letting them leave the wall. No touching. Also a percentage of the money went to the shark conservation people. Also Honduras has banned all shark fishing in their waters.
I also just returned from Grand Turk. A lot of reef sharks came in close. Mainly because they have been getting fed the lion fish that are destroying the reefs. The sharks are learning to eat them but also see divers as a food source. The sharks are doing a good job keeping the lion fish population down and can dive much deeper then humans spearfishing for them.
Great job as always with your content.
I have not done any shark dives but I would like to see the rating put in place to preserve the shark community
One of the standout dives I've done was with Blue Sharks in the Azores. The water was chummed with a bait box, so it was an 'artificial' experience, but only in the respect that it brought the sharks to us. I have seen sharks in spontaneous interactions as well and that is the 'ideal', but if 'baiting' means that people will protect the sharks for divers to experience then I'm all for it.
They are incredible creatures and I count myself lucky to have had any contact with them. -Most people are still terrified by the word shark, the most common response I get when I tell people I scuba dive is "Aren't you frightened of the Sharks?!"
I am pro conservation but anti shark feeding diving. As a recreational diver this type of business has put WPB on my “don’t like to dive” list. For the very reason that has already been stated…sharks are associating humans with free food. A diver on my last trip ended both her dives early because the sharks found her hunting & wouldn’t leave her alone, even after she speared one multiple times! Good conservation methods should NEVER put any diver in a situation like that. I was looking into learning how to spearfish but because of the new learned behavior sharks have from this business model I’ve decided against it. There are other ways to save the sharks that don’t interfere with their natural behavior. Yet still allow me to hunt Lionfish. I fear many divers like myself will stop hunting & then there will be a more serious Lionfish issue. Because we have yet to find a way to commercially fish for Lionfish & Sharks don’t kill them on their own.
I have never been against shark dives,I think they are awesome. With that being said I live in the Jupiter Florida area, and I can tell you first hand it should be completely banned from any populate areas. They have zero fear of people now, they come right up to you aggressively now looking for food, and if you are spear fishing by the time you shoot a fish they are circling looking for a free meal.
One of the coolest dives I've done was a night dive in Turks & Caicos. There were three nurse sharks feeding and the reek sharks were coming in looking for scrapes. It was so cool to see the sharks coming out of the dark and swimming between us. This went on for the entire dive.
I participated in two shark dives near Jupiter, FL in late 2021. We were surrounded by Bull and Tiger sharks. It was one of the coolest dive trips that I've ever experienced. I did, however, feel uncomfortable with the idea of these animals being hand fed and the fact that they seemed to be too comfortable around humans.
I've never gone for the very same reasons...don't associate divers with food. There's lots to read about it...I remember an account where sharks would bite where a diver usually kept the bait or spearfished catch. I've considered but not gone to Jupiter for the blacktip migration. I feel like it's hard to find an op up there that doesn't chum though. Really good discussion James.
I did my only shark dive out of Jupiter New Years weekend. I don't think it was with the same outfit you went with. It was a very positive experience in and out of the water. The captain and crew were top shelf and the boat was as good as most. The briefing was highly educational.
That being said, I probably won't do another one for the same reasons on your cons list
Mike Ball Dive Expeditions run amazing liveaboard trips on Australia's Great Barrier Reef. One of the dives on our trip was a shark dive, and they get full marks by these criteria. They offer the shark dive less than once a week, so as to have minimal impact on the sharks' natural behaviour.
Hi James. Did a shark dive off Perebere in Mauritius. They had found their feeding/cleaning station which could be entered via a cave passage. Don't think the sharks even ,knew we were there. Have had a few surprise encounters which were brilliant.
I’m doing my first shark dive over Thanksgiving in the Bahamas and this has definitely given me something to weight my experience against
I dived with bull sharks in Mexico earlier this year, 1 dive, an alimentation dive and 2 dives on spec. Both types were absolutely awesome, the pregnant females come to the same spot every year between Nov and Feb, you are more or less guaranteed to see them.
On the feeding dive we had 9 swimming round us, on the others between 2 and 5 sharks.
For now, I would say shark diving is a necessary evil… the alternative is much worse. But as you say, casual encounters are MUCH better!
I love your set up for vlog podcaste style videos thinking of doing something similar one day!
Did it in Bahamas with Stewart Coves. I would honestly rate them a solid 18 of the 20 possible on the grading system. I did enjoy the first dive more than the actual feeding dive. The first of the 2 was a much more natural dive, with plenty of sharks around, but not is a large group trying to grab a quick snack. In short would do it again in a minute. I feel that the pros for sure outweigh the cons.
Yes I'm with you James, feeding sharks only associates food with humans and is not a good practice. Seeing them in the wild, behaving naturally and not expecting a free feed is best. I've dived Fish Rock here in Australia where you can swim with grey nurse sharks, it was an awesome experience. On that dive we also saw hammer heads swimming past above us.
I can’t dive as of yet, it is a goal for the future, however I have been on snorkelling shark trips which have both used food and not. I believe it depends on the circumstance. One of the feeding experiences was with nurse sharks. Which gather alongside rays in a certain bay at a specific time as they associated the boats with feed, the tourists are encouraged to get off anywhere from the boat during this and swim as they please (but return to the right boat). The crew got in the water towards the end but I found this quite irresponsible as no discussion prior about shark behaviour etc and typically took inexperienced tourists, however the same tour took us on a knowledgeable snorkel of the reef unbaited and that was the more enjoyable aspect despite not seeing any sharks. The other was in another country where they used to hunt whale sharks, however they changed their attitude and started providing eco tourism experiences, the sharks come to the area as they please but it has lead to an increase in the population in the area and the economy of the local town has improved, they also do not allow anyone to touch the sharks (have to stay at least 2m away) and there is a fine attached, the only negative to me was the amount of people in the water at any given time. Finally, the one without any food (on our boat I cannot vouch for others) pre warned us that the sharks may or may not be there and also they often follow divers up to the surface from the sink hole but again not guaranteed, luckily for us they did and it was my first experience with Caribbean reef sharks, not only was it a safer way of operating it was also more humbling as it was authentic. Personally I am not big on the association of humans with food but do think redirection is important.
I've never done a shark feeding dive however I did have the opportunity to dive and visited and surrounded by 5~6 Reef Sharks while in Grand Bahamas. Very nice and memorable but it was intimidating and humbling to say the least.
I've not seen a shark on a sea dive. I've done a couple of Shark Aquarium dives.
I'd love to do one of these dives for many of the points that you mention. I'd say that the number of sharks who know where the feeding is, is very low. Would be interesting to tag and track and see if its always the same ones.
Oh wow you could see octopus battle scars on that shark at 7:10 amazing! :O
Hey James, I'm on the fence right now because I haven't been on a shark feeding dive yet. I have been diving and seen sharks though which is really cool. We are going on a trip to Nassau later this month for some R&R and diving and saw there is shark dives available. So, I guess I'll be able to decided from there. Thanks for the great video!
Dont do it
I’ve had a lot of questions about this. I’d prefer a natural experience myself, but I also understand that some people are on limited time/dives at a location and want to see a shark. As for the exposure through video and photography I imagine I could be easier to plan out that expedition, and that is useful in conservation. In the end my bucket list is to get experienced enough that I can hit Cocos or Socoro and see hundreds of hammerheads schooling.
Well done on this one, taking the positives and negatives into this. My 50 cent on this is, I would never do a feeding shark dive.. it took me barely 40 dives to be lucky enough to see my first shark and it was amazing. From this point on, I „chased“ sharks, meaning I went to locations where the chances are pretty good to see them. I love to see sharks in the wild in their natural behavior.
We need to safe the sharks but I honestly do not see how a bad trip you have explained safe millions and millions of sharks of beeing slaughtered. This needs to be done by political dessisions and bringing the problem into the minds of the general public.
And finally, there is nothing mor pleasing of seeing a wild shark gently cruising past you.
@diversready I wanted to point something out to you. You mentioned that it was not necessary to touch the sharks. That may be so with the lemons, and sandbars that i saw in your video. What I didn’t see was the tiger shark. If a tiger shark comes to you on a dive like this or anytime actually you will 100% need to redirect by gently pushing down and away on its head. That’s why that is in the briefing. Maybe they should have been a little more clear on that but it is absolutely necessary
James, if the operator was out of Jupiter, Florida, I’m surprised they got 14/20. I did that dive last year and was throughly unimpressed. I’d prefer to see sharks as happenstance allows but any encounter is good. They’re so amazing and graceful. It sickens me to se how Hollywood has portrayed them as vicious killers.
Been on that dive 30 and been on it with zero. It’s the ocean and nature
Thanks for the complete analysis backed-up by science. This mouthpiece was way more than just opinions.
Yes I have done shark diving ! Loved it ! I truly believe that the positive image ,and awareness, shark diving has done , more , for the preservation and the implementation of laws ,for the protection of sharks, than any other single factor(s)!
“ We will only protect that which we love”! Jaques Cousteau
I agree on the association of food to people 100%. I always feel it a bonus treat to get to see sharks 🦈naturally.
I do spearfish, (fish for me and friends only) and that sometimes is a true adventure 😁
I have been on a bull shark dive in Riviera Maya and no baiting was used. No sharks were seen by us at the time, but it was noted as a bad year for the area (2019) in part due to the unusually warm waters. They shop O dive with there is very good and I would rate them as about an 18/20 on that scale. More education and reduction of misinformation as well as local gov mandates should be used globally to help in shark conservation. It's getting better in larger diving communities and large reef sites globally, but the global (mostly Eastern, but some smaller SA countries as well) fish markets are wasteful, greedy, misinformed, and need regulation. Sharks aren't the problem, commercial, irresponsible fishing (and their ignorant or arrogant consumers) are.
James I have read in the last few years there's been more shark attacks and it's been linked to sharks are learning to associate boat motor noise as dinner bells due to baiting.
I've always hated shark dives and never done one in my life but I can't disagree on what you've said. You actually raised good points but it's a fact that most of the accident occurred due to feeding and this can't improve "sharks image". Imvho
Ive dove with that op and the others out of Jupiter/West Palm. I would rate their animal respect higher then the average for the area.
Unfortunately for that dive op they have to launch the boat each day and only have two full time people working it (captain and the handler), so not surprised about boat cleanliness. I had better experiences when I was there in the spring, but I also might’ve just had worse other places too.
Also an FYI
When the tigers are around you often need to redirect them regularly, especially as a photographer in the sand on the wreck. The tigers investigate much more, and they do this with bites. All shark ops I’ve seen explain this pattern (dove with 11 in 5 countries), it’s a good safety tool and important to know before going in especially when you keep in mind they regularly see 12-14 foot tigers here. I’ve had to redirect Patrick (the local male tiger) several times.
Most of the sharks they feed off Miami are also seasonal pelagic sharks, meaning they don’t stay here. If we were drastically changing their patterns we would see more of a disruption in those migratory patterns but they hold true.
General seasons
Summer - Silkies, sandbars, lemons, tigers at the start
Fall - lemons, silkies, intermittent hammers
Winter - more hammers, tigers start coming back, lemon shark mating aggregation, regular bulls
Spring- tigers towards the end, hammers infrequently, bulls are more bold, lemons at some sites.
I agree with you James. I'm not into impacting the environment or the animals in it, but..... if it helps save a species, educate people, and improve the environment, i guess its not all bad.
The shark dive scene in jupiter really opened my eyes to shark behavior and that they do not view humans as food. It is also the most exhilarating dive in south florida for my money.
My only question is why rate 1 for treatment of animals? Most of those charters love sharks.
You should go with Emerald Charters - they tell you not to touch any sharks EXCEPT the tiger because the tiger is too curious and it needs to be redirected for safety. What kind of rating scale would tell you to let yourself get eaten and not touch the shark?
Hey James, may you make a video on how to interact with a shark someday? I've never been on a tour that aimed at diving with them, so I never got a briefing about them.
You said we shouldn't push them away if they are curious or invastigating, but I've seen this in a lot of videos from ocean conservationists (that they carefully pushed them away at their snoot)
I don't really know other does and don'ts about shark diving either, but I would love to dive with them one day so I would be happy if you could make a video about it :)
Here’s my biggest issue with it in a question form lol. When the sharks get their feeding response and the level of aggressiveness increases significantly, does that truly promote sharks in a good light to the general public.
You see videos of divers getting bitten on those chum dives. Recently happened actually. Jupiter dive center doesn’t chum and they will still get you in with sharks. You get to see them acting naturally though.
Have not done one yet, however when Fiji opens up again we have one booked with aqua trek
My wife and I would love to do a shark dive but would definitely want to do what's is best for the sharks. We would also choose a dive excursion that supports shark conservation and research over someone just trying to make a buck.
Here in French Polynesia, sharks are protected but the commercial practice of "shark feeding" is prohibited. Sharks behave naturally, not like zoo or circus animals that you attract with food. Feeding sharks is absolutly not "eco-tourism"
I’ve never done a shark dive, but as a person who lives on a boat and travels throughout the East Coast and Caribbean, I HATE to see dive operators or individuals feeding sharks. It’s not unusual to see a fellow cruiser chumming for sharks in the anchorage, which is stupid and dangerous. Leave those sharks alone!!
Like so many socioeconomic things these days wading through all the misinformation is a tough one
We definitely need to educate the world that sharks are not the mindless feeding machines depicted in most media. Sharknato anyone? However I do not really see the benefit in teaching sharks to do tricks and beg for snacks from a diver with a chum basket. I think it much more valuable to see divers in the water with sharks, and the sharks basically going about their business. Everytime a "shark wrangler", or tourist gets nipped, or worse while feeding a shark it negates hundreds of videos showing divers and sharks co-existing in the water together.
So I don't see myself participating in a shark feeding, but I have been in the water with numerous sharks of varying sizes many times, and still have both hands and all ten fingers.
Awesome information on all levels 👌👌
#DiversReady, where those divers laying down on the reef? if so, what the heck... drop that boat operator another point.
I feel Shark feeding dives sadly are a necessity for humans to engage and appreciate them. I have done the Shark Dive outside Jupiter Florida. It was an amazing experience and one I will do again.
Remember it’s not just the potentially dangerous sharks they feed. In the Philippines they feed the Whale Sharks to show to the snorkelling tourists. It’s wrong but it’s the ex whale shark fishermen that are now employed for this so lesser of two evils I guess. Anything that stops fishermen hunting sharks has to be a good thing, right ?
Hello James, yes it is a difficult dilemma. I’d just like to add one more layer to this debate (if it is not difficult enough). who should get the right to do shark feeding tourism? I went to Maldives some years ago, and there is a fishing island that offers shark dives. I understand it generates income for ppl on the island. But when the sharks are used to getting fed at their specific dock, it becomes impossible for other diving operators to find sharks in their natural habitats, and they are often “forced” to bring their customers to the island eventually. shark feeding tourism may be the necessary evil in some places, but when you need a place to carry out the feeding, the ppl that own such place effectively monopolise the resources of a much wider area, which could force some of the other operators to go out of business. I don’t know the business well enough to tell what would be practical and fair. What do you think?
I've learned from fishing Charters that sharks learn to associate the fishing boats with easy meals, as a large portion of catches are taken by sharks. I also find on shark dives, many have fish hooks stuck in their mouths. Now my question is, does a shark know a scuba diver is human, as compared to a beach goer?
We have dove at shark junction a few times with out the feeding and guess what.... There were still lots of sharks to see. My thoughts are if the dive operators are good then they will be able to take you to what you want to see. No need to condition sharks to associate food with humans. Love to dive with sharks. It is the most peaceful yet exhilarating thing I have ever done in my life.
I always thought that Shark Feeding is a bad idea. Just like feeding alligators or bears. Of course people are not the normal diet of these creatures, but the animal can make that decision in a moment.
Great info. Giving both pros and cons.
I really wish there was a sustainable way to make shark fin soup. That shit is so good, but I won’t eat it.
A question about touching the sharks : I see the push back or push away thé sharks if they come to close to you as a way of sending a "I am not food and I am not giving food" message to the sharks.
Mostly for the safety of the customers/divers because sharks are so used to have divers giving them food that sometimes they try to get to any diver to try a bite off of everything that is extended from the body of the diver (long hair or extended arm)
Am I wrong to see the "push back thé shark" as a safety measure ?
I am not talking about hitting the shark, of course
did one in roatan. i thought it was excellent. totally withdrew any fear of sharks but i still have respect as an apex predator. never touched the animals
I like the concept that shark is better in the sea than the restaurant menu
Humans being the custodians of the planet; I think exploiting the few (sharks) for the needs of the many is necessary. My question is, are shark dives really conservation? What percentage of proceeds from the operators actually go towards meaningful research and conservation efforts? Or do they simply pocket every dime and call it an economic benefit?
🦈 Wonder no more… They pocket every dime 🦈
Purely a rhetorical question that I sadly knew the answer to already.
try Stuart coves next time james a few friends of mine has have good experience with them and they offer shark programs including shark awareness
Thanks for the tip! Dive safe.
This is easy for me. I never go into water that has sharks and I always test the water for sharks before going in.
Growing up on a farm you learn feeding animals from your hand teaches them to bite. This is not what you want a shark to learn. On the other hand it's a lot easier to sell tickets for a dive that can say you will see 🦈 🦈. More money in the boat owners bank wins every time. The real challenge is to put more money in the local economy and keep the sharks alive.
I have dived in near Tokyo, there is a pot call shark city which local fish men put bait there to attract sharks to avoid they eat those fish they caught, does it count as shark feed diving?
Japan and China are so far behind the rest of the modern world when it comes to shark conservation.
They probably take you for a bowl of shark fin soup after
@@millward434 China I am not sure …… but now most of the shark fin that you can get in the restaurants in tw are fake!! They are made by glass noodles😊😊 that counts improvement
@@millward434 Japan and China are awful
I have done shark dives but will not do it again. As mentioned in the video on a fundamental level we don’t tie pieces of cow on land rovers in Kruger park to get lions to approaches this is not a smart idea to be teaching apex predators to associate humans with food and thus I don’t believe it should be done in the ocean
Great video, but I have to strongally desagree with the negatives you pointed, based on my expereience as sharkfeeder! However, would consider a collab video with me, maybe even be my guest on the Shark Cast on my channel?
James how can I contact you?
I have done 1 shark feed dive and dove where we had shark encounters and epic experience maybe 9 times... l must say ... gimmi shark chance meetings any day.
Yessss shark dive 🙌 I’m all for baited shark dives but as long as there not shooting fish while on the dive 🤯 that’s crazy to me. I hope u had a good time while blowing bubbles at least 🤙 sounds like everything else was a shit show
Excellent 😀
Chuming the water to attract sharks puts all divers lives at risk, Fact!
Sharks learn to associate food with divers in the water, this can be easily proved. If you believe otherwise you're kidding your self. 🦈
Stuart Coves have done thousands of shark dives in the Bahamas over the past few decades and yet out of all the times I’ve been to the Bahamas, I’ve never heard of any diver getting hurt, shark dive or not. So I’m going to keep my belief that if a reputable company does it, it’s a good thing. I was scared of sharks but got lucky enough to be friends with the training manager at Stuart coves at the time and my first dive I did after getting my certification was a private shark feeding. Actually two, one in the shark arena and one on a sunken boat that was even better. And ever since then, I became a vocal supporter of shark conservation. And no way I’m the only one.
@@seriosmusic you don’t mention what type of shark they are feeding, it’s certainly not Great Whites. Tiger sharks that have been fed by hand and have attached humans on many occasions. The risk is slightly mitigated if you’re wearing chain mail. If you are feeding an docile special like lemon sharks well that’s different again but that’s not what we are talking about here. We are talking about morons chumming the water with blood, offal, tuna and horse meat to attract great white sharks.
@@marineboyocean I was pretty sure the video was about shark feedings in general. I would agree with what you're saying, especially with Great White and Tiger Sharks. With Stuart Coves, Nacho and the other feeders wear the chain mail suit and they would be the only ones touching the sharks, which are pretty much only Caribbean Reef and Nurse Sharks in that area. They only do it in one area not around any beaches and the sharks do expect food because it's been done on such a regular basis, but you can dive there without there being a feeding and there have never been any issues.
So in summary, my point was that not all shark feedings are bad in my opinion. If they are handled by experts who believe in shark and ocean conservation and take everything into consideration. Before starting his dive charter business, Stuart for a couple decades was Hollywood's go to man for underwater filming, particularly with sharks involved. The James Bond movies and Into the Blue for example. If you're ever in the Bahamas and dive with them, you can go to the remnants of the James Bond sets and dive.
@@marineboyocean dude nobody is hand feeding great whites lol. As for tigers they are extremely inquisitive and why people get bit by them when not paying attention. As for lemons, those are some of the most snappy around but completely docile without bait.
@@greg_tally you’ve missed the point, read all the comments in order. I never suggest Great Whites we’re being hand fed, some one else commented on hand feeding sharks. My information and concern is about chunming the water with Blood offal and meat to attract sharks while divers are in cages. 🤦🏽♂️
A difficult question to be sure. Generally I am against feeding dives for the exact reason that you stated early in the video. And to back that up, last week a friend of mine was shark diving in Florida and her friend was bitten during the feeding (or chumming, I'm not sure which). It wasn't a "bad" bite and only required a few stitches but it could have been worse as easily as better. But I've also seen the other side of it. When Mexico opened up last year after quarantine my wife and I jumped a plane and went diving. I had heard that to survive the drought of tourism the locals had taken to fishing to survive. Can't blame anyone for doing what it takes to survive but what we saw was street vendors selling freshly boiled shark jaws for souvenirs. As many times as we'd been there we'd never seen that before. So...what's the lesser of two evils. I guess we all have to decide that for ourselves.
Some sharks are migratory so they don't stay and look for someone to feed them. I love to swim with sharks it's addictive. They are free and not in an aquarium is one point. The people that bitch about feeding fish are the one that live around the ocean . Not everyone is a diver.
🦈 feeding wild creatures is bad practice. Humans love to justify what they know in their heart of hearts to be wrong but that makes them money. Shark conservation can/is being done without feeding sharks. More is needed but feeding wild creatures off Jupiter Florida (insert area) is not the answer 🤯 🦈
I’m not against it however I don’t want to see divers feed and use medal rods to poke the sharks when they get close if they get to close gently push them away i have seen videos were the divers are stabbing the sharks after all the diver brought the food so feed them make awareness that sharks are not just killing machines and handle them with care.
Before i got into scuba i was looking at sharks as blood hungry killers. Now I look at them as amazin creatures of evolution, who actually don't care about this noisy thing with a tank on their back.
-----
If you ever see shark in the wild - enjoy the moment.
Sorry I'll never be convinced it's a good idea due to the ethics and the human , food association factor ...
I'm just a natural if it happens naturally on the dive guy ....✌️
i did a shark awarnus cours in australia we did not need to bring the sharks in they swam with us recomend this to anyone
New headline proposal for an old vid: The Ethics Of Old Ladies Sitting On Benches, Feeding Pigeons
...which is a known evil, contributes to those bird's overpopulation, possible sanitary consequences and blah, blah...
- - The worst thing about all eco-discussions is when people simply ignore scales and actual impact. Whilst some nations are finning sharks like wild, more than ever, some discuss the evil of tossing them half a sausage. Good night, common sense.
Yet, at least not to a 100% in this video, not in the comments either. Are we divers more rational than average people? But of course... 🤪.
Dive boat was the dirtiest you've ever seen in the world....disgraceful and uncaring. All dive boats should be clean in today's era !!! No compromise!!!!! A dirty boat shows the operator doesn't care, period! Nitrox analyser didn't work on a dive boat yet the boat is attached to a dive shop Scubaworks, Jupiter, fl. What ? Guest safety is obviously paramount on salty divers.... not.
I think shark diving is great for awareness, perception and protection. It must be done with the animals at the forefront at all times. I've been on several operators in Jupiter and treatment is variable to say the least. A good shark handler won't use too much bait, it shouldn't be about feeding them, more just to get them around. I don't like too much feeding or the big open mouth photos as that goes against the change of perception of the shark. It is good for employment and all the hotels, restaurants I guess. Gallagher report is great, it should be shown to all the operators. They have a big role to play in balancing good and bad with sharks. Salty divers should be embarrassed at this review but my experience is clearly the same as the author here, they don't dare about the guests or sharks, just the dollars. Not good. Step it up salty divers and Scubaworks
I love diving and love sharks!!!!
Done it once. Don't like - not a natural experience.
Keep your PC out of diving world!
you and your "invisible book of Ethics"...
😍
Sorry, but this argument: Diving with sharks will help protecting sharks is just industry bull sh**. The usual diver did never eat sharks in the first place and so it is easy for him to point his finger at a foreign culture to feel good. I can show you videos where western divers are coming from a "tuna dive" and demand to eat bluefin tuna (a heavy endangered fish species) and similar. I even learned a dive sign for yummy. Diving does not protect animals. it would protect sharks if western divers would know that half of all dead sharks are dead because of the western fishing industry. With other words going vegan or at least more vegan would really help, but hey this means you can't point your finger at someone else.