Shark News in October

National Geographic's New Shark Show Clip:



UCSB Student Dies From Shark Attack:
ABC News Reports:



CBS News reported in may have been a Great White: "(CBS/AP) The huge shark that attacked and killed a body-surfer off the central California coast may have been a great white, a spokesman for the local sheriff's office says. The victim, Lucas Ransom, 19, was body-boarding two feet away from his friend, Matthew Garcia, who was surfing. Garcia says he heard a desperate cry for help. Within seconds, a shark flashed out of the water, bit into Ransom's leg and pulled him under in a cloud of blood." "The University of California, Santa Barbara, junior had a severe wound to his left leg and died a short time later on Surf Beach, the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Department said in a statement. "The beach, 130 miles northwest of Los Angeles, is on the property of Vandenberg Air Force Base, in Lompoc, Calif., but is open to the public. Sheriff's deputies patrolled the coastline to search for Ransom's missing leg but were only able to recover the body-board, which had a 1-foot segment on the side bitten off."

     "There have been nearly 100 shark attacks in California since the 1920s, including a dozen that were fatal, according to the California Department of Fish and Game. But attacks have remained relatively rare even as the population of swimmers, divers and surfers sharing the waters has soared. The last shark attack on Surf Beach was in 2008, when what was believed to be a great white shark bit a surfer's board. The surfer was not harmed. The last fatal attack in California was that same year, when triathlete David Martin, 66, bled to death after a great white shark bit his legs about 150 yards off of a San Diego County beach. Randy Fry, 50, died from a great white attack in 2004 while diving off the coast of Mendocino, north of San Francisco Bay. In 2003, a great white shark killed Deborah Franzman, 50, as she swam at Avila Beach, about 30 miles north of Vandenberg."

Shark Tagging Videos Released From Summer 2010
8 Great White Sharks Tagged Off Of Falmouth:



Great White Shark Devours Seal:


An older basking shark tagging from '07:

January Jones in Oceana's Shark PSA:




Canada’s Greenland Shark and Elasmobranch Education and Research Group (GEERG) recently posted a video featuring the successful tagging of a Greenland shark (Somniosus microcephalus) to their YouTube channel. The tagging process seen in the video involves diving in 10 ºC (50 ºF) water with very little visibility, off of Baie-Comeau, Québec. The Greenland shark is a coldwater species that can inhabit subarctic and arctic waters as cold as -2 ºC, according to Canadian Shark Research Laboratory. It is believed to be the only shark species that can inhabit these water. The average length of adult Greenland sharks is 11 to 16′ (3.5-5m), with the largest Greenland shark on record being measured at 21′ (6.4m). The species is also known to inhabit extreme depths.

Fishing trip in Boca Raton greeted with a hammerhead visit:




Obvious threats include what we are putting into the sea (millions of tons of pollutants) and what we are taking out (millions of tons of ocean wildlife), as well as profound disturbance to natural shoreline systems — mangroves, marshes, sea grass meadows, kelp forests, coral reefs and even healthy, natural sandy beaches. But far and away the biggest problem is ignorance, something that OCEANS helps to solve. When people understand how important the ocean is to their lives, and how much damage we are causing, they can respond with action. If people don’t know, they can’t care . . .
-Dr. Sylvia Earle
There is no doubt that sharks, especially large species, are greatly depleted. The best numbers come from a 2003 study that reviewed 50 years of global data and concluded that about 90 per cent are gone. Those of us who have been diving in places such as the Galapagos, Cocos, Gulf of Mexico, Seychelles, Hawaii, the Bahamas, Bermuda and elsewhere since the 1960s where sharks were once very abundant can attest to the greatly diminished numbers. Sharks reproduce slowly and live a long time, making them especially vulnerable to overfishing.-Dr. Sylvia Earle

Conservation of Bahamian Sharks:


Bahamas Expedition hopes to Raise Shark Awareness
by TheDorsalFin on Oct.12, 2010: WPTV 5 is reporting that Guy Harvey, marine artist and biologist, is heading up an expedition to the Bahamas with a mission of “recording the beauty of sharks.” In addition to Harvey, Jim Abernathy, and artist Wyland, will also be involved in the effort. The group hopes to use shark imagery to encourage people to promote shark conservation.

Guy Harvey Ultimate Media Shark Contest:



The Hong Kong Shark Foundation organized a “flash mob” demonstration in Hong Kong’s Time Square to raise awareness about shark finning and shark fin soup consumption, according to CNN Go. The group of approximately 150 people “froze” and held the same pose for 3 minutes at 12:40pm today. The group is also organizing a campaign, via Facebook, to encourage Donald Tsang, Hong Kong Chie Executive, to call for a ban on shark fin soup during his upcoming policy address.