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Welcome to At Sharky's Dive
Hurricane Jeanne, Closes Sharky's Pub 09/25/04!
At Sharky's Dive, Scuba Diving and High Power Shooting web site will
be splitting Information up and becoming two separate sites, in the very near
future.
This site is dedicated to my father, a diver and a shooter.
That's him in the hardhat suit.
Sharky's Dive is looking for local divers to contribute, dive reviews,
equipment reviews, news items, local issues!
If you have a underwater picture, send it in, and we will post it for you.
Have you gone on a trip, and want to share, send it in. There is no paid
advertisers, so no paid editors. maybe some day that will all change. I have
keep up this site since 1997, and want to turn it into a central scuba
information center.
Shark Species Threatened in Gulf of Mexico
Wed Feb 4,12:38 PM ET Add Science
By DOUG SIMPSON, Associated Press Writer
NEW ORLEANS - The population of oceanic whitetip shark, once among the world's
most common tropical sharks, has plummeted by 99 percent since the 1950s and the
species is nearly extinct in the Gulf of Mexico, scientists reported Wednesday.
The study published in the journal Ecology Letters blamed overfishing and called
for new restrictions, but federal fisheries officials said the study was flawed
and further assessments are needed.
Biology professors Julia K. Baum and Ransom A. Myers based their research on a
comparison of data compiled by the U.S. government in the 1950s and data
collected by trained observers aboard fishing boats in the 1990s.
"They're not extinct, but there's virtually none left. This requires a drastic
reduction in the amount of fishing," said Myers, a professor at Dalhousie
University in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
In addition to the oceanic whitetip shark, the study also found sharp drops in
two other species in the Gulf: the silky shark, down 90 percent since the 1950s,
and the mako, down 79 percent.
However, federal fisheries officials questioned those findings, saying silky and
mako sharks can be found closer to shore than the area studied in Baum and
Myers' research.
Chris Rogers, a fishery management specialist at the National Marine Fisheries
Service, also said comparing data from the 1950s and the 1990s could be
misleading, partly because the sharks studied are highly migratory and their
populations can fluctuate widely.
In May 2003, Myers published a study in the journal Nature reporting a 90
percent decline in large predatory fish in the world's oceans in 50 years. That
study also drew skepticism from commercial fishermen.
The latest study was funded by the Pew Fellows Program in Marine Conservation at
the University of Miami.
An advocate for U.S. fishermen disputed the study as a whole, saying its authors
failed to recognize that changes in fishing technology over the past 20 years
had drastically reduced the amount of sharks accidentally caught by fishermen
going for tuna or other fish.
"This study is not science. It's pretty random speculation," said Nelson
Beiderman, executive director of the Blue Water Fishermen's Association.
But Myers said previous studies have shown that changes in fishing technology
had little effect on accidental shark catches. He said fishermen in the 1950s
reported that whitetips were everywhere in the open Gulf. Now they are rarely
seen, he said.
"In descriptions from earlier studies, scientists were astounded at how abundant
whitetips were," he said.
The other day my Citizen Hyper Aqualand needed a new battery and I have
to say this is the place. They are certified Tag Heuer repair shop, and knew
just what needed to be done with my Citizen, so it could go back down to 300
feet. If you are in the South Florida area and need a dive watch repaired, this
is the place.
This was the first year I did not make mini season. I do hope to
get in the water soon! 2003
First Lobster of Mini Season 02
SPIEGEL GROVE DIVE 08/24/02
Human Bacterium Killing Essential Keys Corals
For the first time, researchers have pinpointed bacteria
common in human waste as the cause of a disease destroying one of the most
spectacular corals in the Florida Keys.
The discovery is a milestone, bolstering a theory many marine scientists have
long held: that sewage from people who have packed the islands is part of a
poisonous brew killing North America's only living shallow water reef, which has
shrunk by more than a third in the last six years alone.
The study, led by a team from the University of Georgia and just published in a
prestigious journal, used sophisticated genetic sequencing techniques to isolate
the cause of a lethal ''white pox'' that has felled thick forests of elkhorn
coral on reefs from Key Largo to beyond Key West. The culprit is Serratia
marcescens, found in waste of about half the human population.
Researchers stressed the study did not directly identify sewage as the source of
the bacteria, which also can be found in water, soil and animal wastes. But it
clearly offers compelling clues to the decline of a fragile reef chain as
critical to the Keys' economy as it is to the ecosystem.
''It's our first link between a bacteria found in human waste and a coral
disease, and a particularly virulent strain of coral disease,'' said Cheva Heck,
spokeswoman for the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, which, along with
the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, supported the project.
Link to
the original article
HAWAII BANS SHARK FEEDING - THANKS BOTTOM
LINE READERS!
On June 6, Hawaii joined Florida and the Cayman Islands as Governor Ben
Cayetano signed into law a measure that bans commercial shark feeding in
Hawaii state waters. The new law, which goes into effect on July 1, bans all
commercial shark feeding in Hawaii state waters and prohibits businesses from
advertising or soliciting shark feeding. We wish to thank all of the tens of
thousands of Bottom Line (and Hotline) readers who joined the CDNN ACT NOW
campaign to ban shark feeding in Hawaii. Together, we can make a difference!
WARNING - JUST SAY 'NO' TO DEMA'S
FRIVOLOUS LAWSUITS
Don't be fooled by an increasingly desperate DEMA intent upon squandering our
money on frivolous anti-environmental lawsuits that ruin our industry's
reputation among the general public. DEMA recently sent out a letter to its
members begging for money to pay off Bob Harris, the bungling, overpriced
attorney who continues to do everything wrong in Florida.
Apart from the same old ill-advised false statements aimed at disparaging and
discrediting the vast majority of our industry who support the shark feeding
ban in Florida, DEMA's letter misrepresents environmental regulations as a
conspiracy to discriminate against the dive industry.
WHAT??? Nothing could be further from the truth. Every industry must comply
with environmental regulations. PERIOD. Without such regulations, our
industry, in particular, will perish. Isn't it about time for DEMA to join the
rest of the industry (and the world) and embrace environmental regulations
rather than ruining our reputation and alienating the general public by
attempting to smear the reputation of government conservation officials, the
Humane Society, Reef Relief and a score of other respected international
conservation organizations?
Suggestion? Give DEMA (and their ill-advised Florida lawsuit) exactly what
they deserve: ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.
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