Institutionalized Bias? - Australian Commercial Shark Diving

With some alarm we watched the following ABC news piece this morning on Australia's white shark tourism industry. Well known for "doing things right," leading the rest of the global industry with initiatives that run the gamut from embedded research to advances in cage diving technology.

It would appear that Australian government scientists are now releasing data showing that white sharks are being impacted by these operators and that this data will be used to drop two operations from the area and reduce the number of days the last surviving operations can operate.

Is this institutionalized bias?

We tend to think so as we have seen this same brand of anti-shark diving creep before. Most notably at the Gulf of the Farallones islands off the coast of California where laws and regulations make it impossible to attract white sharks in any manner save static decoys and have enforced a 164 foot rule as of 2009.

Operations must now stay 164 feet away from white sharks at this site at all times.

We will be keeping a wary eye on events as they transpire in Australia as elsewhere with white shark commercial operations. Australia, with folks like Rodney and Andrew Fox remain beacons within an industry often maligned and attributed with all manner of institutional and media bias.

What happens in Australia resonates across the rest of the planet for our industry, and this weeks news is not good.

RTSea Blog - Basker Warning Flags

From the RTSea Blog today, Baskers off the California coast have now been declared by NOAA.

So what does this mean?

NOAA, the U.S. National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, took a slightly unusual step by declaring the eastern North Pacific's basking shark a "species of concern." While it sounds a bit like a suspect in an unsolved homicide, what the designation actually does is recognize that the basking sharks that migrate along the coast from Canada to the central coast of California are not recovering in numbers as expected since the taking of basking sharks commercially was curtailed in the 1970s.

The importance of a government scientific agency taking a step like this is that it essentially greases the wheels for marine scientists to consider the basking shark as a study subject. With NOAA's acknowledged concern, the designation can assist scientists in seeking funding for research projects.

Complete Post.

Oil Spill Update - NOAA Ignoring Scientists?

At the beginning of the BP oil disaster 25 days ago we were introduced to Sky Truth.

Their estimates of the amount of oil being spilled into the Gulf were far higher than official estimates by NOAA and the Coast Guard which they maintain is 5000 barrels a day.

Since then NPR and other Gulf coast researchers are estimating the flow of oil to be 40-80,000 barrels a day.

So we called Rachel A. Wilhelm, a NOAA public affairs specialist, and asked her to comment on May 10th, 2010. Her response was surprising, "the actual amount of oil being spilled into the Gulf is irrelevant at this time." It was evident NOAA was uninterested in any challenges to the official flow estimates.

Today's headlines seem to mirror our earlier encounters with NOAA:

Florida State scientist: NOAA ignores spill findings

A prominent oceanographer, who was among the first to say official estimates understated the volume of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, charged Tuesday that a federal agency is punishing scientists whose findings disagree with government figures. Ian MacDonald, an oceanographer with Florida State University, who more than two weeks ago said the oil spill was likely five times as large as the 5,000 barrel-a-day estimate from the National Oceanic Atmospheric and Administration, said the agency is attacking scientists who challenged government estimates, while itself doing little to glean new information about the spill size.

“The scientific community in the Gulf of Mexico is fairly small ... and we've been very dedicated for a long time and not only is nobody listening to us in this, but it seems like they really want us to shut up,” MacDonald said. “It's very, very punitive and anybody who is doing this is getting attacked by NOAA.”

A NOAA spokesman did not address MacDonald's claims directly, but said that the agency's spill response includes scientists with key federal agencies as well as partners in the scientific community and the private sector.

The stinging criticism comes amid debate about the size of the oil spill emanating from BP's Macondo well about 40 miles off the coast of Louisiana. An April 20 blowout in a well under 5,000 feet of water triggered the oil spill, destroyed the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, and killed 11 workers.

Some independent scientists have made estimates that sharply depart from NOAA's estimate, which equates to 210,000 gallons a day.

Complete story.

Wild Shark Chase Ends in Fines

You hate to see images like these especially if you are a white shark guy, but it would seem not all fishermen out there understand that white sharks are protected in US waters.

In this Florida case perhaps they did know:

TAMPA | At first, Roger Young thought he was the victim of a practical joke. A great white shark in the Gulf of Mexico? No way," the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission captain recalled.

Over the years, Young has been sent on his share of wild goose chases. "But if we get a tip, we have to check it out, no matter how improbable it may be," he said.

The anonymous call, placed two years ago this month, reported that a white shark, like the villain from the movie "Jaws," had been caught on a grouper longline boat and brought into Madeira Beach.

"The species has been protected since 2004," Young said. "If you catch one, you have to let it go."

If you don't, it can be trouble.

Full Story

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.

Aliens at the Gate?

The Earth is mostly covered by oceans, we're a blue planet.

For a shark diving company with a cool blog this pretty much gives us an unlimited supply of items to cover, like, for example this latest weird news coming out of NOAA.

NOAA has a series of deepwater microphones listening for any underwater sounds they can hear. These listening stations have recently heard "strange noises" in our oceans.

But don't take our word for it, click this link and have a listen yourself. We're not even going to try a speculate what this sound might be...O.K, maybe aliens?