Tuesday, July 31, 2012

South Australia shark attack - near Streaky Bay


A man has been bitten on the arm following a shark attack at Streaky Bay in SA. At about 2.40pm it is understood the 48-year-old local man was surfing at Back Beach. The man has been taken to Streaky Bay hospital with non-life threatening injuries.


(Source: http://www.sapolicenews.com.au/component/content/article/4-news/9125-shark-attack-near-streaky-bay.html )

Friday, July 27, 2012

SHARKS CAN JUMP QUITE HIGH


Sharks can jump quite high out of the water as demonstrated in some short video footage of a ‘flying’ mako at http://video.adelaidenow.com.au/2260998870/Is-this-really-happening?area=videohighlights1

SHARK SWIMS OFF WITH A DIVER’S CAMERA


Check out the short video footage of how a shark swims off with a diver’s camera at http://video.adelaidenow.com.au/2260957753/Shark-eats-camera?area=videohighlights2

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

SHARK WEEK ON DISCOVERY CHANNEL IN AUGUST


Shark Week is celebrating its 25th anniversary on the Discovery Channel (August). Shark Week is featured on the Discovery Channel this month. “Air Jaws Apocalypse” will be shown at night on 12th August. It sees Chris Fallows returning to Seal Island, South Africa to see what has been happening with a 14-foot great white named Colossus. “Shark Fight” on 14th August focuses on shark-attack survivors who ended up as shark advocates fighting to save the animals from extinction. In “Great White Highway” on 15th August, Stanford marine-sciences professor Barbara Block shows off new tagging technology that tracks great whites in real time. “Adrift:47 Days with Sharks” on 16th August is about people surviving 47 days on a raft in the "shark infested waters" of the Pacific after their plane crashed. 

MORE THAN 100 WHITE SHARKS TAGGED


More than 100 white pointer sharks have been tagged as part of a WA Government-funded program to monitor their occurrence off of metropolitan Perth beaches.

Sharks won't be used to attract tourists to WA


According to the following report:-
“SHARKS WON'T BE USED TO ATTRACT TOURISTS
Shark cage diving is unlikely to go ahead in Western Australia because of fears that operators could lure in more sharks to the area. Fisheries Minister Norman Moore today announced that regulations were being drafted for a ban on targeted or dedicated shark tourism ventures in the state, including cage diving operations. "I have decided that Western Australia will not be the place for shark cage tourism, like those currently operating in South Australia and South Africa," Mr Moore said. "While such ventures may generate direct or indirect economic benefits, there are also concerns that sustained activities to attract sharks to feeding opportunities have the potential to change the behaviour patterns of those sharks." The minister said South Australia and South Africa had cage diving operations at specific sites where white sharks were known to group together, but WA did not have any known areas where sharks congregated. "Lack of such sites in WA may result in operators wanting to maximise berleying and baiting to attract sharks to meet tourist expectations, which may have unwanted consequences," he said. "CSIRO research at shark cage diving sites in South Australia found that white sharks in the study area changed their distribution to align with areas of active berleying and, while there was no determination from the study about the longer term effects on shark behaviour or outside the study area, I would prefer to take no risks until more is known. With four fatalities in WA from shark interactions, since last September, the Government is not willing to allow any ventures that may raise even greater public fears than already exist." Mr Moore said no applications for shark cage diving ventures in WA had been made.”

SA SHARK DIVE LICENCES


The South Australian Department of Environment has now become the “Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources”. It has therefore changed from DENR to DEWNR. The following reportwas found on the DEWNR website: -
SHARK DIVE LICENCES OFFERED (Date posted: 29 June 2012)
Three licences to allow tourism operators to continue to take tourists cage diving with great white sharks have been offered by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) today. Under new licensing arrangements for this tourism activity confirmed in May this year, three licences were offered to Rodney Fox Shark Expeditions, Calypso Star Charters and Shark Cage Diving Pty Ltd (a joint venture between Adventure Bay Charters and McMahon Industries). DENR Chief Executive Allan Holmes said the three operators were offered their new licences today. “Each of the operators will need to comply with all of their new licence conditions from July 1,” he said. “This will include the revised condition that two days each week must be free of shark diving activities. Consistent with proposals received during the EOI process, Rodney Fox Shark Expeditions and Calypso Star Charters will be allowed to use berley. The joint venture will be allowed to use acoustic attraction methods.” Mr Holmes said the new licence conditions would balance the need to protect sharks from activities which might adversely impact on their behaviour, with the need to ensure the sustainability of the South Australian tourism industry.”