Worlds Largest Marine Reserve? Yes!

Great news for all of us who love the Great White Sharks and all the other creatures that live in the Ocean! The New York Times reports that  Australia Plans World’s Largest Marine Reserve.

According to the report:

Australia plans to create the world’s largest network of marine reserves, encompassing a 3.1 million square kilometer patchwork of coastal waters, the government announced Thursday. The move is aimed at balancing protection for the country’s delicate reefs and marine life, which are facing growing environmental pressures, with the demands of its booming resource-driven economy.

Shredder, swimming at Guadalupe Island

It's great to see that Australia takes a major step to protect the marine environment. The article further states; fishing and oil and gas exploration would be restricted in nearly one-third of Australia’s territorial waters, an area of 1.2 million square miles that includes the pristine Coral Sea off the country’s northeastern coast and the iconic Great Barrier Reef.

Read the complete article

We at Shark Diver  are applauding  Australia for this action and hope that it will encourage other countries to follow suit.

Cheers,


Martin Graf
Dive Operations Manager
Shark Diver/Horizon
Isla Guadalupe, Mexico

“Now we know that while white sharks across Australia can mix, the intriguing thing is that they seem to return to either east or western regions to breed,” Bruce said.

Source: redOrbit (http://s.tt/1durs)

“Now we know that while white sharks across Australia can mix, the intriguing thing is that they seem to return to either east or western regions to breed,” Bruce said.

Source: redOrbit (http://s.tt/1d

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.

4 Reasons to Consider Shark Diving

Shark diving adventures have grown in popularity since 1990 with more operators and more dive sites than ever before. Safety and the understanding of sharks and shark behavior have led this unlikely revolution in scuba diving. Prior to the 90’s almost all species of shark were considered dangerous, even the beautiful Black Tip reef shark which today is the proud star attraction at many Shark Rodeos. Here is a short list of why you should consider a shark diving adventure on your next dive.

1. Safety first. Shark diving Rodeos have set the bar for safety and accessibility. This is when sharks are regularly baited to the same place at the same time with a small amount of fish carcass each day. Not enough to feed the sharks but just enough to keep their interest. Sharks will often come to places where they might get a chance at food. Operations like these have acclimated sharks over the years to the presence of divers. This is your chance to get close and personal with a shark, safely with trained professionals watching over your encounter.

2. Sit back and taken in the view. Caged encounters offer a more exciting way to view some of the top big shark species like the Great White and Tiger sharks. Newer cage designs and larger vessels have lead to an ongoing revolution in big animal encounters. Most operations do not require you to be scuba certified and run operations with either snorkel or with a Hookah or surface supplied air systems. With larger vessels divers can now visit more and more remote and pristine shark sites and offshore islands. The era of long range shark expeditions has just begun.

3. The “Eco Factor”. Shark dive leaders are a wealth of knowledge about the sharks you will be encountering. Operations worldwide are tuning to collaborations with shark research and will often have shark biologists on site as crew available to answer your questions. Dispelling the many negative myths surrounding sharks is the foremost concern of shark diving operations. For years the public have only seen the media’s view of sharks. With the help of trained shark staff and a marine biologist, you’ll come to learn that sharks are in fact in decline worldwide. The rewards of a shark encounter like this will change forever the way divers see big sharks. From the media hyped “killing machine”, to a more subtle understanding of the oceans top apex predators and the roles they play in today’s oceans.

4.Time is running out. “The Great White shark is, more importantly, endangered as the apex predator among fish.” Peter Benchley, author of Jaws, wrote this in response to the unregulated mass killing of sharks worldwide for just their fins. Sharks in the hundreds of millions are being taken each year to fuel the growing shark fin soup trade and many species are on the brink of collapse, never to be seen again. Sadly, shark diving encounters may be providing a last look at some of these magnificent predators that have been on this planet prior to humans. The good news is where ever you’ll find a shark dive company, you’ll also find a tireless champion of the species and with that comes eco protections from a growing chorus of thrilled divers and shark fans alike.

Shark Trust Wines, Sharky Good Vino

Our friends at Shark Trust Wines asked us to provide a testimonial for their website. For the past few years we have fully supported the efforts of this scrappy little wine company to spread the word about sharks and shark conservation...oh, and it's great wine as well:

When we first "discovered" Shark Trust Wines I was excited about the prospects of a "wine company with a conscience". Traditionally wines focus on the message of the wine. Here was one that focused on the understanding and knowledge of sharks with 10% back to shark causes.

As the CEO of a shark diving company I fully understand the power of the shark. People are simply fascinated by these animals, they will travel half way around the planet to see them in person and millions of viewers tune into shows like BBC Blue Planet and Shark Week each year.

Shark Trust wines taps into that shark conscience and directs the consumer into action, through the purchase, and the enjoyment of the product. We stand behind this wine brand because it is a forward thinking "smart wine".

In an age where consumers are increasingly looking at their buying power as a way to effect change, we support that change and look forward to supplying this product on all our shark diving vessels in the years to come.

Dead Seal Mystery-Solved?

By now you're probably saying, "not another twist to that mysterious dead seal case up in Oregon!".

At least that was our take this morning when word came out the 6 seals died of...heat exhaustion, not gun shot wounds as was reported earlier.

Why does this matter? Politics. Water politics, salmon politics, resource politics, and the grandaddy of them all the news media.

So here it is, until someone else says something different, which in this very unlikely case of 6 dead seals-is likely to be the case:

Heat killed 6 sea lions trapped at Bonneville Dam

On Wednesday, NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service said the sea lions had died of heat prostration. Officials say more conclusive results should be available in another 10 days, once tissue sample studies are completed.

The investigation into the deceased sea lions remains open.

Great White Lies-"Fair and Balanced Media"

This mornings news from San Diego also included this article about white sharks. In the aftermath of a recent shark attack near here this piece serves as a critical look at the myths and biology of the great white shark.

Overall the reporting is fair-if not "glossy".

Enduring myths about sharks create mistaken identity

May 15, 2008

Peter Benchley once said he could not have written “Jaws,” his best-selling 1974 novel about a giant white shark terrorizing a New England beach town, if he knew then what he later learned.
“When I wrote 'Jaws,' I really didn't know much about sharks,” Benchley said in 2002. “There wasn't a lot of material about them.”

These days, much more is known about white sharks. (The “great” is a misnomer. It's not part of the species' traditional or scientific name.) Benchley, who died in 2006, came to be an ardent advocate of stronger efforts to protect and understand sharks.

Click link for complete article.

Sea Shepherd Credibility Gap

There's an old story about the Emperor of all the lands who strolls through a crowd completely naked and a child who shouts out "but he's got no clothes!".

That's the feeling you get with the activist Sea Shepherd organization these days following their much covered claim that Paul Watson, titular hear of the organization, had been shot by Japanese whalers.

The claim was bogus. Since that time not one follow up investigation has been made into the alleged shooting. Leaving us and many others to shout "but he's got no clothes!".

If Sea Shepherd is to have any lasting credibility in the eco world, they will have to radically change course. Already they are running out of International ports to call home, nations are turning away Sea Shepherd vessels and or impounding them as soon as they arrive. How can an activist organization continue without ports to dock in?

Sea Shepherds eco madate is a fine a noble one. It's the execution of that mandate, under the guidance of Paul Watson, that has turned a once proud eco organization into a continuing farce and slide towards irrelevance.

Case in point this latest event in Watson's home country of Canada. Political theater aside, does anyone believe any claims made by Sea Shepherd crews anymore?

HALIFAX - The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society vowed Tuesday to bill Canada $1,000 for every day it holds the seized anti-sealing ship, the Farley Mowat.

The ship was boarded by RCMP officers on April 12 off Cape Breton during the annual East Coast seal hunt in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The ship's 17-person crew was also taken into custody. The Dutch-registered ship is being held in Sydney, N.S.

"At no time did my ship ever enter the 12-mile limit," Alex Cornelissen, the ship's skipper, said in a release. "They had no right to board us and these charges are ridiculous.All we did was take pictures of seals being slaughtered on the ice."

The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society said it will send an invoice to the federal Fisheries Department on the 12th of each month, asking for $30,000 for the time the ship is held.

"This will be $365,000 every year," the society said in a statement

Island of The Great White Sharks-Boston

Richard Theiss and Mexican shark researcher Mauricio Hoyos recently presented the new white shark documentary Island of The Great White Shark to rave reviews in Boston last week.

After 3 years of intense filming Richard and Mauricio completed what has been hailed as one of the "best shark documentaries in the past five years".

NPR Television was invited to review the film last week and interviewed the pair.

The film attempts to present white sharks in a positive light for the first time. Typically white sharks are presented as little more than eating machines with no thought to solid research and story lines.

Island of the Great White Shark will be screening in a major city near you summer of 2008. Stay tuned for a complete list of screening dates.

Ocean Pillage-High Tech Sales

This morning we got the following spam email-with a twist. Here's what's interesting about this one:

1. The sheer amount of ocean/wildlife product for sale "direct to consumer"

2. The method of sale (email)

When people in the eco community throw around numbers like 100 million sharks taken each year just for their fins, one would be well reminded after reading this email how that comes about.

Those that harvest from today's oceans no longer have to rely on old school distribution methods and even government regulations. Today, with a click of a mouse, 600 tons of sea product can be traded direct to consumer overnight:

we can offer,

100 tons of squid illex tentacles seafrozen of jigger vessel packing 1 x 20 abt without eyes and beak Price usd 1700 c+f china port

300 tons of squid illex tentacles seafrozen of jigger vessel packing 1 x 20 abt with eyes and beak Price usd 1400 c+f china port

600 tons squid tubes seafrozen of jigger vessel ask !!!

ask for more products available

Our Best Rgds
Gustavo Suarez
Salinas Seafood Arg
SALINAS_SEAFOOD@SPEEDY.COM.AR
SALINAS-SEAFOOD@SPEEDY.COM.AR
SALINAS.SEAFOOD@GMAIL.COM
SKYPE:SEAFOOD-ARG

Salmon Wars-Seals in Crosshairs

This ugly eco news was almost inevitable. With salmon stocks up and down the California and Oregon coast disappearing at an alarming rate, the natural predator gets the bad rap.

In this case the seal. Sadly several elephant seals were also shot on California's central coast this week as well.

Sea lions shot dead on Columbia River as salmon battle rages

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — For years, the sea lions lounging at the Bonneville Dam have had easy pickings from salmon waiting to go up fish ladders to upriver spawning grounds.

Over the weekend, the federally protected sea creatures were themselves easy prey for a gunman who shot and killed six of the sea lions as they lay in traps meant to humanely catch them.

State and federal authorities were investigating the shootings, which came less than two weeks after an appeals court issued a temporary injunction against authorities killing the salmon-gobbling mammals. Agents have been trapping them instead, but trapping will be suspended during the investigation, said Rick Hargrave, a spokesman for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Fishermen and American Indian tribes have pushed to protect the salmon and remove the sea lions, by lethal force if necessary.

The carcasses of the four California sea lions and two Steller sea lions were found Sunday around noon below the Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River on the border of Oregon and Washington.

The six animals appear to have been shot by somebody on the Washington side during the night, said Brian Gorman, a spokesman for the National Marine Fisheries Service.

Underwater Shark Park-Bahamas 2013

The proposal is simple. The details enormous.

What would it take for the Bahamian Government to enact laws that not only protected all species of sharks in their water, but simultaneously created a series of Shark Parks or protected areas where sharks would be guaranteed safe sanctuary?

The idea is not so new and with global shark populations shrinking at rates never before seen- unique sites like Tiger Beach become prime sites for big ideas like these.

Recently, this blog covered several sites worldwide that are loosing their sharks to short term fishing pressure and turning, perhaps too late, to tourism to save these animals.

Tiger Beach, Bahamas is one site that has everything going for it, a stable government, a thriving eco tourism client base, researchers who have expressed interest in studying these animals, and the good will of many members of the dive community.

The question remains, what would it take? Who would step up and make it happen?

One thing is for sure, looking into the Crystal Ball 15 years from now, we will look back at this blog post and say one of two things.

Hopefully it will be-"Let's go see some of the only remaining Tigers at the Shark Park this week".

Aussie Gold Coast Madness-Kill Sharks

With the recent fatal attack off the coast of Australia last week, age old "voices of vengeance" are calling for a return to 70's style shark hunts or "culling" of sharks.

This quite naturally is madness on a scale that would devastate the shark populations off the coast.

The image featured in this article is from a Tiger shark said to have been caught recently by the fishermen in the picture. One more magnificent shark reduced to a set of jaws.

A LEADING fishing expert believes northern NSW needs to introduce a shark control program similar to the Gold Coast to reduce the number of the deadly predators in the area's waters.

Gold Coast Bulletin and Channel 9 fishing expert Paul Burt last night said without a shark control program, 'the sharks were free to come and go as they like.' "Our guy catches quiet a few sharks when they are running which is eradicating the problem, which is why we don't get as many attacks," he said.

The call for northern NSW to introduce a shark control program, like the Coast's nets and drum lines, comes after 16-year-old Peter Edmonds was fatally attacked by what experts believe was a bull shark while body boarding at Lighthouse Beach at Ballina yesterday.

Slaughter-Threshers Decline In The Philippines

One of the most elusive sharks (for shark divers) is rapidly declining in the Philippines-according to recent reports.

The whole story is sadly familiar, poor fishermen who have run out of traditional fish stocks now targeting this rare and beautiful animal for it's fins.

Surprisingly a recent illegal fishing bust at the Socorros, Mexico revealed a healthy population of Threshers at this site as well...caught in the nets.

BATANGAS CITY – The Philippines may soon lose its thresher sharks – listed as “vulnerable” species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature – if their slaughter for meat and fins continues unchecked.

“The extent of the fishery situation with regard to the thresher sharks in the Batangas Bay area is absolutely – in my honest, scientific opinion – not sustainable,” Dr. Simon Oliver, shark specialist and chair of the Thresher Shark Research and Conservation Group based in the United Kingdom, said.

Latest White Shark Sightings Report-California

RECENT SHARK SIGHTINGS

March 26
Location: South Pier, Huntington Beach
Surfer Jeff Duncan reports seeing a shark while surfing on the south side of the pier. “I was sitting watching the horizon, for the next set wave, when I noticed something surface just to my right of view and approximately 20 to 30 feet away,” said Duncan in his report. “It took only a moment to realize that it was not a dolphin, whale or other animal…it was a shark. It slowly surfaced only enough to see its side and dorsal fin. I only saw a large triangular dorsal fin and about 4 to 5 feet of the shark’s dorsal/side, which was a very light gray. The large dorsal fin had a somewhat irregular edge which almost looked damaged in someway, though not seriously. It seemed to be swimming north toward the pier and not toward me, but I was the only surfer near the animal at the moment.”

March 22
Location: Bolsa Chica, Huntington Beach
Beachgoer Matt Moore reports seeing what appeared to be a shark or sharks circling a small whale 50 to 75 yards offshore. Having seen great whites before in person while surfing, he reported that he was quite certain the dorsal fin was that of a great white. Two surfers nearby concurred with Moore that they’d seen a shark.

March 14
Location: South of Bay Street, Santa Monica
Surfer Dan Burks reports seeing what appeared to be an 8- or 9-foot shark some 70 yards away from him. Burks says that another surfer nearby also saw the shark.

March 7
Location: Dog Beach, Huntington Beach
Surfer Tom Larkin reports having been attacked by a shark, which bit his surfboard. “I was waiting for a set for about five minutes when I felt a jolt down on the tail of my board, immediately followed by a violent bubble cascade, which sunk the board down about another 8 inches,” said Larkin in his report on www.sharkresearchcommittee.com. Larkin then caught a wave to the beach where he “emptied the board [of water] through the apparent bite mark.”

March 5
Location: Trail 1, San Onofre State Beach
Kelly Lewis was walking her dog along the beach at 1:45 p.m. when she came upon what appeared to be a 6-foot-long great white shark “thrashing violently [on the beach] until a set of waves came in to float it,” said Lewis on the Web site. “It then spent another two to three minutes in very shallow water sometimes on its back, eventually swimming into deeper water and disappearing.”

Source: www.sharkresearchcommittee.com

Delta Airlines-Shark Fin Consumers For Beijing

In an effort to please Chinese business Americans are serving up Sharks Fin in heroic portions.

This time the offending American company is none other than Delta Airlines. You might think after Disney's disaster with Sharks Fin in China that someone at Delta might say "you know, this might not be the best of ideas".

Shanghai, China — They served Coca-Cola along with the "braised shark's fin soup with cucumber and fish maw" Monday night at the welcoming celebration for Delta Air Lines' inaugural non-stop flight from Atlanta.

A blues band belted out "Georgia on My Mind" at a 10-course banquet to celebrate Delta Flight 19, which touched down at 2:09 p.m. local time -- the middle of the night back in Atlanta.

"This flight fills a critical void for the 65 million people in the Southeast," Kenneth Garrett, U.S. consul general for Shanghai, told a crowd of about 200 people at the 88-story Grand Hyatt of Shanghai.

White Shark Discovered in Hotel Pool

Sydney Morning Herald, Australia- A strong storm system that lashed the Northwest coast of Australia this week provided a moment of "sheer terror" for a local pair from Germany staying at the Four Seasons hotel in Cowaramup Bay, near Gracetown this morning.

The recently completed mega hotel in Oceanside, known for it's 3.7 million litre interactive salt water swimming pool, had an unexpected and unwelcome guest that arrived sometime during last evenings tempest.

When Dieter Franz and his wife got up early for a swim they saw something that chilled their bones, a 5 meter great white shark in the pool. "At first we did not know what it was, but then it turned and swam towards us at high speed, we thought this was not mentioned on the holiday brochure".

The shark was reported to police and sea rescue about 7:00am AWDT by hotel management who arrived on site and promptly shot the massive shark. "If we get a confirmed sighting of a large shark in the area then we just get on the water, patrol around, sometimes with boats moving around and that sort of thing," said police Superintendent Robbie Taylor. "This was something we never expected".

A local fisherman told police the a shark of similar size had followed his boat as he was leaving the bay the week prior. Police think the massive predator was somehow washed into the pool during the height of the storm and that the animal survived only to be discovered by the German tourists.

The shark was donated to a local research lab who took samples from the animal. The jaws were donated to the holiday makers by the hotel management. "We have one of the best holiday stories ever when we get home!"

The Following Underwater Onion was brought to you by Shark Diver yes, it is the 1st of April what did you expect?

MSNBC-End of the World Adventures?

MSNBC came up with a travel article today. It's always nice to see great journalism at work. Of course we are kidding, this is your classic "End of the World" reportage that gets eyeballs (got ours) and needs to be addressed.

"No one knows why random things like ray attacks and zip-line snaps happen. You would need a mathematician — or a theologian — to wager a guess. Why are more people taking their chances on vacation, even when you take chance out of the equation? The answer, say experts, is we don’t know danger when we see it anymore. We can’t tell the difference being brave and being stupid."

Which leads us in the dive community to the timely discussion about assumed risk and what is a "safe" wild animal encounter or not. That discussion is being had right now in the Bahamas and we'll know soon where it leads. In the meantime this latest event has provided media fodder for the likes of MSNBC as they chew out more doomsday articles that in turn provide great copy for sites like the Cyber Diver Network.

White Sharks Vacation Desination? Mexico!

It would seem that vacation planning to Mexico is not just limited to Canadians, Europeans and Americans...white sharks love the sun too. Image hat tip DBtechno

Recently released white shark pup from the Monterey Bay Aquarium has made it all the way down the coast to Baja in record time, just six weeks. A similar track was made by a previously released white shark-with the tracking tag coming off the animals side prior to entering the Sea of Cortez.

(03-22) Chronicle -- One of California's best wildlife stories of the year, tracking the coastal adventures of a young great white shark, took a stunning twist in the past week.

The shark was released in February from the Monterey Bay Aquarium and in six weeks has already swum past the southern tip of Baja at Cabo San Lucas and is heading south to the Mexican mainland. That is a distance of roughly 1,200 miles covered in 44 days, according to electronic reports, an average of nearly 27 miles per day - and that's if the shark is swimming in a straight line, an unlikely event. That is the fastest a shark has been documented migrating south from Monterey to Baja, according to the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

This past winter, more than 650,000 people saw the young great white shark during its 162-day stay at the aquarium.

Another twist is that the public can track the shark's position online, where its movements are updated and mapped. Check it out at: las.pfeg.noaa.gov/TOPP_recent/index.html.

Saga of Goldilox: A great white shark tagged by scientists and named "Goldilox" has swum 5,441 miles and is now roaming off, yep, San Francisco, likely looking for something to take a bite out of. They get hungry, you know. Check it out at topp.or

Eagle Ray Kills Boater-Florida

Karma has a few things to say about this latest and very bizarre accident in Florida. Expect to see George Burgess quoted somewhere in the next 24hrs.

MIAMI (Reuters) - An eagle ray leaped onto a boat off the Florida Keys on Thursday and stabbed a woman with its barb, knocking her to the deck and killing her, a Florida wildlife investigator said.

"It's a bizarre accident," said Jorge Pino, an agent with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

The woman and her family were aboard a boat in the Atlantic Ocean, off the city of Marathon in the Florida Keys, he said.

"A large ray jumped out of the water and collided with the victim and somehow the barb penetrated some part of her body, which caused her to fall back and hit her head on some portion of the vessel," Pino said. "We don't know exactly which one of those things caused her death."

Local media said the animal's barb had impaled the woman through the neck.

Eagle rays are common in warm or tropical waters and are often seen near coral reefs. The spotted creatures can grow to more than 8 feet across and have two to six short, venomous barbs near the base of their whip-like tails, according to the Florida Museum of Natural History's Web site.

The rays often swim near the water's surface and can leap out, especially when pursued, but are generally shy of humans.

"All rays leap out of the water from time to time but certainly to see one collide with a vessel is extremely unusual,"

Revillagigedo Islands-Eco News You May Never Hear

This is probably one eco news story you will not hear due to the sensitive nature of it. We can give you some of the details, the rest you'll have to ask the vessels owner and crew. When it comes to saving wildlife, sometimes you have to take matters into your own hands. In the case of this crew and divers, they all deserve awards:

"On March 2, 2008, an 80-foot fishing vessel was seized within the Bio-Sphere of the Socorro's. It was carrying an estimated 3½ tons of sharks, along with 8 giant Pacific manta rays. A professional video and still photography team documented the entire capture and seizure of the vessel. Close-up images of the fishing vessel’s roof show hundreds of shark fins drying. Under the direction of the commander of the Mexican Navy’s interceptor vessel, an underwater film crew documented the contents of a set gillnet that had been deployed in 140 feet of water. Fourteen sharks and one dolphin were found in the fisherman’s net––all caught in flagrant violation of the law".

This is the part of the story that might not ever see the light of day. The seizure was at the behest of a dive boat in the area. They saw, they acted, and today illegal fishermen are in jail. It's an amazing story.

Here's how you can help. The divers on board are putting together a documentary to help save this pristine site from further decimation...all they need is quick funding here's the email we got please contact Earl Richmond if you want to help:

Dear Friends,

The tactic we are taking is to put the evidence of the illegal fishing practice in the hands of those in Mexico who are in a position to influence and bring about change.

Fortunately, we are well connected with variety of influential Mexican businessmen and government officials, some who share our compassion for preservation. At this point, we have a far better chance of making a positive long-term impact through the conservation management officials then we do by creating a media spectacle. It’s not about pointing fingers; it’s about education and informed decision-making.

I am looking using this seizure of an illegal fishing vessel as a positive step in securing the preservation of Revillagigedo Archipelago. We’ll start here, and if that is not enough then we will pursue additional channels to bring the problem of enforcement to light. The images are very powerful, the evidence is completely documented, it needs only be presented in the appropriate manner.

We are in the process to secure funding through our 501(c)(3) non-profit World of Oceans entity, allowing us to move quickly in producing a documentary that encompasses the uniqueness of the Revillagigedo Islands as a one-of-a-kind region for a variety of large pelagic species, and the immediate need for enforcement of this preserve.

Sincerely,
Earl Richmond

Earl Richmond
Producer/President
Richmond Productions, Inc.
earl@richmondproductions.com
www.richmondproductions.com
Phone: 805-688-2718

Giant Squids - Dosidicus Gigas - Killing Off Salmon?

Scott Cassell, one of the foremost authorities on the Giant Squid sent in this article today.

If you follow recent events off the shores of California and Oregon talk is squarely centered around the imploding salmon runs. In almost every major river and tributary salmon runs this season are off by almost 80%. That's a stunning statistic.

At the same time giant squid populations are surging up and down the coast and in areas where squids were once only sighted periodically.

What is happening out there?

"His years in the water with the animal has convinced Cassell that the West Coast squid population is booming. He speculates that the animal's increased numbers coincide with a drop in its predators, tuna and sharks, which are commercially hunted. Cassell isn't alone in his belief. The Pacific Fishery Management Council, which has authority to set restrictions on commercial and sport fishing, identified Humboldt squid as one of 46 possible reasons salmon are disappearing".

"Cassell said he believes the squid are preying on the salmon, although one study showed no evidence of that. Another theory suggests the voracious squid have disrupted the food chain, which is contributing to the salmon's decline."

Clearly something is happening off our coasts with salmon being the "canaries in the coal mine". The giant squid nexus seems plausible from a guy like Scott Cassell.