Unfortunate Sightings

Comment by John Natoli on October 15, 2009 at 8:17pm

It was in April 2008 on a weekly dive at my local dive spot, Julian Rocks, NSW, (Aust) that we came across a 3 mtr female Grey Nurse (Ragged tooth, Sand Tiger) that had an 18 inch rod hanging out of it's jaws. Had the camera with me at the time and took 3 quick snaps. Once back on land, I reported this to local Marine Parks authority ... the snaps made their way to Southern Cross University and ultimately to Seaworld (Gold Coast, QLD). By day 5, Seaworld sent a boat down with a team of marine bio's and vets, etc. The shark was located, caught, lifted up onto the boat where a 4.5ft gaff was remove from the sharks gullet. This ultimately saved the sharks life. This was an incredible effort - all for the purpose to make a difference in the life of one poor wounded shark. How the gaff got there in the first place is, no doubt, a mystery.

This story achieved global media attention ... a very positive for the conservation of sharks ... rather than the mass slaughter we are so used to hearing.

Pictures see ....

Comment by Scuba Shark on October 15, 2009 at 8:47pm

Great story John and yes, a fantastic show of people working towards a greater good.

Comment by John Natoli on October 19, 2009 at 8:08pm

Here is the full frame photo of this unfortunate occurrence.

Comment by Scuba Shark on October 19, 2009 at 8:10pm

Tha looks just crazy. Did anyone ever get to the bottom of how the Gaff ended up in this poor sharks throat?

Comment by John Natoli on October 19, 2009 at 8:19pm

Nobody really does know Mark. We can only speculate. I don't think anybody did it deliberately. My guess is a fisherman has gone to gaff a fish he caught and in the process lost the gaff, 'fish and all' over the side of the boat. So off goes the fish trailing the gaff through it's body when the grey nurse happens along chasing the injured fish and then with one big swallow takes in the fish and gaff at the same time???????? That's my theory ... but as I said, no one is really sure how it happened.

Comment by Bryce Rohrer on October 21, 2009 at 8:11am

I've seen a bunch of sharks with "nooses" around there necks, plastic, fishing lines, etc. Each time I've been able to cut or pull them off.

Comment by John Natoli on October 28, 2009 at 7:57pm

Here is a story that has been all over the papers in the last couple of days about a monster Great White Shark attacking another Great White shark caught in the shark nets ...
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1223001/Great-White-Shark-bitten-nearly-half-BIGGER-monster.html

Some newspapers seem to have gone to great lengths to embellish the story a little further suggesting Queenslanders are living in fear of a monster shark ... more sensationalism against the shark?

John.

Comment by Scuba Shark on October 28, 2009 at 8:44pm

That really is a sad attempt at reporting. "The most dangerous creature in the sea?"

I guess the writer was trying to impress the boss.
Cheers,
Mark.

Comment by John Natoli on October 28, 2009 at 9:54pm

What about the lines ...

News of the shocking attack on the smaller shark has sent jitters along the Queensland coast from Stradbroke Island, near Brisbane, to the Sunshine Coast further north down to the tourist mecca of Surfers Paradise, south of Brisbane.

'We're all being very, very cautious.'

Lets not worry too much about the murderers, pedophiles, drug pushers, drunken drivers (you've got the drift by now) that are filling our courts on a daily basis ... but let us 'jitter' with fear about an animal that hardly a person in Queensland will see in their lifetime. And then the stupid line ... 'the shocking attack' ... as if this is not a daily occurence in the animal kingdom ... where does the shocking part enter into it??????

This sort of sensationalism irritates me to no end.

John.

Comment by Shark Diver on December 2, 2009 at 9:57am

Ensenada Fish Market - Mexico's White Sharks

This week I was in Ensenada, Mexico for a series of meetings with government officials. With me was long time business associate and friend, Greg Grivetto, owner of Horizon Charters.

For the past four years we have been documenting white sharks taken off the coast of Enseneda and sold a swordfish and marlin for 50-75 peso per kilo at local markets.

Most of the sharks taken are "Young of the Year," usually less then 6 feet in length and taken, according to local fishermen, not far off the coast.

This week we quickly spotted another shark that had just arrived fresh off the boats for processing. It was a 6 foot female.

The local fishermen here are not the bad guys in this yearly drama. In fact they could be shark conservations best assets, as they and they alone know where these animals are found, at what depth, water temperatures, and even seasonal numbers.

What these animals represent is a treasure trove of basic data from DNA sampling, stomach contents, to sex ratios.

All that is needed is the desire to gather the data. As I told Greg who was snapping images of this weeks sad take, "Right now all these animals represent are carcass, when they could even in death be telling us the story of their short lives until this point."

During our short sampling effort this shark represents the 17th animal we have documented here.

The Good News

I sent this image along with a few others to John O'Sullivan from Monterey Bay AQ, who quickly forwarded them on to Dr.Oscar Sosa in Ensenada. The interest was electric, and if all goes well these animals just might be able to tell us the rich and important "back story" missing from this weeks catch.

Cheers,
Patric Douglas CEO
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