Volkswagen Shark Week 2012 - The Engineering Team

The engineering side of the 2012 Volkswagen Shark Week Commercial came from the pairing of Florida based Greg "Moondog" Mooney and the absolutely metal genius of Andre who quickly picked up the nickname, "Metal-Angelo."

In the world of sight engineering there's no better crew and the results after 20 days of hard work speak for themselves.

These guys were the heart and soul of a completely revolutionary undersea vehicle.

The challenge for this particular vehicle, being a wet submersible, ran the gamut from propulsion systems which were provided by Silent Submersion to a complete made to order life support system that no one has ever seen before.

In short, this unique engineering crew designed, created, and launched the equivalent of an undersea moon shot in 20 days.

Here's the second teaser installment of the 2012 Volkswagen Commercial - enjoy:

 


About Shark Diver. As a global leader in commercial shark diving and conservation initiatives Shark Diver has spent the past decade engaged for sharks around the world. Our blog highlights all aspects of both of these dynamic and shifting worlds. You can reach us directly at sharkcrew@gmail.com.

Georgia Aquarium P.R Backlash

We have been updating you on the Georgia Aquarium's efforts to bring the public to their captive Whale Sharks in a new and some say...yes we say-ridiculous manner, with the addition of paying "thrill divers".

Those in world of commercial aquariums dance a fine line between captive animal ambassadors and commercial exploitation.

Monterey Bay Aquarium has managed that fine line with their ground breaking white shark program. If there was ever a road map to follow this program would be it. Unfortunately the folks over at the Georgia AQ have not seen this map.

Meanwhile the rest of the research and whale shark community remains unimpressed and in some cases in open rebellion:

Georgia Aquarium invitation riles some conservationists

Isla Holbox, Mexico — Georgia Aquarium officials want to hold the next international whale shark conference in Atlanta, but some conservationists bristle at the idea because the world's largest indoor aquarium exhibits the huge polka-dotted fish.

Full story.

Editors Note: One look at the Georgia AQ website and the Monterey Bay AQ website shows how P.R is won and lost by pushing the envelope from captive animal ambassadors to commercial exploitation. Georgia AQ needs to make a decision fast. Either break with traditional aquaria completly and become a full fledged commercial operation, or cease allowing "thrill divers" into captive whale shark enclosures. Clearly there's little room for a hybrid operation that seeks to maintain credibility within the research and traditional aquarium communities.

Shark Finning-A big idea to "Chew On"

A while back we had a conversation with the CEO of Wild Aid Peter Knights. Wild Aid is the "master of the message" getting major players in the entertainment and sports world to come forward and do pro wildlife PSA's (Public service announcements).

We spoke about an idea we had about viral PSA's for a cash prize. Here's how it works. In the USA alone there are hundreds of small, upcoming, digital media production houses all looking for work. These folks are, in a word, brilliant-but they lack the main stream exposure they need to get the entire world to see their talent.

What if someone offered a $50,000 cash prize for the best anti shark finning viral video based on several criteria, one of which would be the number of downloads.

It's called a force multiplier. Now hundreds of PSA's that catch the eye and showcase raw digital talent would be all over the place, spreading the message in multiple languages, and multiple formats-being seen by the world.

$50,000 may seem like a lot-but when you consider a single Wild Aid PSA has a donated value of many hundreds of thousands, you get the idea. Here's an example of a commercial shark video that has become viral. Imagine if you changed the message slightly how many people would be affected. By recent counts 87,000 and growing:

Great White Sharks:Do The Dew "Classic"

What's not to like about this video?

Every once in a long while along comes a commercial that rips through conventional shark wisdom like a hot knife through buttah. This video was no exception to that fine rule.

Featuring the on screen talents of Chris Fallows from South Africa (Air Jaws) and the now deceased Aidan Martin (ReefQuest).

You can count on us to dig up the good stuff: