"I will give up my shark bait..."

[Coraltank]

"I will give up my shark bait when they pry it from my cold dead hand".The Florida shark feeding tours are sueing Florida to overturn the ban on feeding sharks in the wild.Truth is stranger than fiction.

 

[Len]

I sympathize with these folks.

Fact: This year has seen a decline in confirmed shark attacks.

Fact: This year has seen a decline in sharks found off coastal waters (information deduced from reported tonnage of shark meat caught around coastal waters).

Media decides to make shark's the celebrity monster of the year.

Shark tourism industry becomes scapegoats. Shark fishermen lobby for deregulation of their industry (free for all on threatend shark populations).

Thank you CNN!

You're right though: Truth is stranger than fiction.

 

[Anonymous]

I completely agree with the media is creating a frenzy over some cases and the attacks are below last years totals, that were a 40 year high. With all that said I do belive as an avid diver these shark feeding encounters are complete stupidity. Lets take a preditor that will almost all the time try to avoid humans and positively re-enforce it to come to us for food. DAAAAAAAh Some things are just dumb!!!!!

 

[esmithiii]

Steve,

The ocean is not a national park. It is not illegal to feed bears outside the parks.

I am not saying that it is good, nor that it should or shouldn't be banned, just that the two situations are very different.

E

 

[fishfarmer]

It is not illegal to feed bears outside the parks. But is this a good practice? I'm starting to think that conditioning sharks to feed near humans is not such a good idea.

[ September 08, 2001: Message edited by: fishfarmer ]

 

[Bomber]

With the enforcement of the net ban, you now have more bait and food fish (pompano, mullet, jacks, greenies, etc). These are all fish that customarily travel (migrate) adjacent to the beaches. With the increase in food next to the beach, you are seeing more predators next to the beach. That's all.
Jerel

 

[Anonymous]

Why is it ok to feed the top ocean predator but not the bears in our National parks?