"Doc" Gruber Madly in Love .....

Photograph: Kristine Stump
Click on image to enlarge

...... or should I say: "Doc" Gruber having a quasi-religious experience?

Whatever - there is not much I can add to this fantastic image. Maybe this: It is hard NOT to fall in love with the striped babes whom Dr. Samuel Gruber, undisputedly one of the most respected shark researchers world-wide, calls the Buddha Sharks.

Only self-styled "shark experts" with little or no personal and up-close experience with these awesome creatures invariably refer to tiger sharks as one of the most 'dangerous' shark species, not to mention the notorious media people, and those infamous and coward shark hunters who portray them as "man-eaters". Stupid ignorants all.

Does this female tiger shark look as she'd like to eat our one and only "Doc"?

I'd say it is rather the "Doc" who'd like to give the tiger girl a hearty love bite.... :-)

An Update from Samuel Gruber and Lemon Sharks in Florida

Lemon Shark - Photo by: Wolf Leander

As per Samuel Gruber:

Dear All: Herewith is a summary version of the recent meeting in Fort Lauderdale where we presented testimony to the FWC. As Bill said, we have to keep up efforts as we move strongly in the conservation arena. Out goal will be to get the lemon shark on the prohibited list or at the very least extend its closed season. We will need to convince both the Florida Wildlife Commission and the National Marine Fisheries Commission and this will take data, effort and time as well as funding to get the job done. There are funding agencies in interested in helping us attain this goal.

Changes to Current Shark Fishing Rules on the Horizon--Our effort to get Florida’s

Lemon Shark, Negaprion brevirostris protected by the FWC

Walt Sterns and Samuel H. Gruber

Last week we attended one of five Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) public workshops held this month to receive comments on a plan to bring he Florida’s shark regulations into agreement with the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission's (ASMFC) Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Atlantic Coastal Sharks.

Attending last night’s meeting, held at International Game Fish Association headquarters in Ft. Lauderdale was Gary and Brenda Adkison for the Shark Foundation, Steve Stock for the Guy Harvey Ocean Foundation, Drs. Samuel Gruber and Bryan Franks for the Bimini Biological Field Station, Bill Parks for the Christine Baltzer Parks Environmental Foundation and members of Reef Rescue, a few dive operation representatives, some university graduate students and Walt Sterns, senior author of this report.

The series of meetings was to record public comment on various options for amending its shark management rules (68B-44, F.A.C.), with the possibility to modify them to comply with or go beyond the ASMFC shark management plan.

According to the introduction by FWC’s staff, the ASMFC’s management plan sharks includes a minimum size limit of 54” (4.5 feet)/137.2 cm, measured tip of nose to fork of the tail; a bag limit for lemon, bull, sandbar, dusky, hammerhead, tiger, etc., and other caveats designed to "achieve conformity" with the regulations agreed upon by the ASMFC.

Public comments were generally in agreement that instituting a blanket, minimum size limit (54”) without taking into account that species’ natural history, would be counterproductive and not protect or benefit the conservation and management of sharks.

Several informed comments were presented, based on the life history strategy of the large coastal species suggesting that it is more important to protect the young breeders than the juveniles. Thus the commercial and recreational take should reflect a minimum size that excludes sharks in their first years of maturity. Such a regulation will protect both the juveniles and first breeders. In the lemon shark, this is about 74” or 190 cm fork length. Other problems for large coastal shark include development or destruction of coastal nursery habitats required for juvenile development.

More specifically In the case of the lemon shark, several of the public spoke in favor of moving this species to prohibited status. The lemon shark’s life history pattern was discussed and it was pointed out that this shark has been reported by NMFS as THE most vulnerable of the large coastal species. Lemon sharks take from 12-15 years to reach sexual maturity equivalent to a length of approximately 92” (7.8”)/235 cm which is a lot bigger than the present suggested minimum length of the ASFMC.

From juvenile to adult, lemon sharks most of their lives in a coastal habitat from very shallow to 200 feet of water. This nearness to shore makes them highly vulnerable to both commercial and recreation fishers. But more recently it has been shown that adult lemon sharks from far and wide gather on large aggregations off Palm Beach and Martin counties. This greatly increases their exposure to targeted fishing. It would not be unreasonable to predict that if targeted the entire breeding population could be wiped out in a number of days or weeks. Based on the data we have been compiling over the past three years on the South Florida’s lemon shark aggregations, the “highly vulnerable” status could be taken as an understatement.

From a commercial standpoint, the lemon shark catch has historically been miniscule representing only 0.7 of the entire Atlantic coast long line fishery. Lemons rank # 7 in commercial landings at 62,000 lbs. vs. 1.5 Million pounds of sandbar shark taken annually. Further the value of the fins is relatively lows, being grade B on the world market. Thus the total value of the lemon shark take is very small and would not seriously impact the economy of the fishery if they were excluded.

Historically the lemon shark was not particularly targeted or under heavy fishing pressure. But recently that picture has changed as fishers are trying for larger individual sharks.

Our goal over the next several months will be to bring together all relevant information on the lemon shark to make the case that this species is highly vulnerable, has a relatively low abundance and could be extirpated from Florida waters unless protected. This applies to both federal and state regulation. We believe that elevating lemon sharks to a prohibited species for both commercial and recreational fishers is a goal that can be achieve with the help of the public at large.

More information: To see the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission's (ASMFC) Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Atlantic Coastal Sharks in its entirety - http://www.asmfc.org/speciesDocument...stalSharks.pdf

Tiger Sharks Rock!!!

Some people think that I "ride" sharks. These folks neither know me nor do they understand tiger sharks. I do not "ride" sharks - I am not a cowboy nor am I a sharkboy for that matter. I caress sharks, as you can see me here just being nice with one of the Tiger Beach beauties.

Photo: Paul Spielvogel

I am still rather weak, now more than before because I am back home in Cochabamba located at an altitude of 2.600 m which makes it difficult to breathe normally. All I need now is a well balanced combination of rest and exercises.

"Doc" Gruber has sent me this - and I thought the best I could do is to share the clip with you. It shows how very cool tiger sharks are.

Enjoy.


Wolf:

If you have's seen this one it will make your day! Turn the volume up, go full screen and enjoy. The film was made by Duncan Brake while we were doing a program at Tiger Beach last October.

I think it is just beautiful and shows how serene these tiger sharks really are.

http://vimeo.com/4333835

Doc


PS: Please be aware of the fact that diving with sharks can be potentially dangerous. Do NOT closely interact with sharks, touch them, feed them unless you are very experienced and know exactly how to interpret their body language. While it might look easy and harmless to interact with sharks the way I do, I do NOT encourage this type of underwater activity.

A Shark of a Dinner

Wolf Leander, Felix Leander, Samuel Gruber

Last Thursday the Grubers invited my dad and me to their home and dinner. While initially the conversations were mostly about sharks - they quickly went into all kinds of directions and topics which actually was very pleasant. The Wolf and the Doc have a lot more in common than just sharks.

Wolf, Felix, Marie, Doc

After dinner, the Doc was kind enough to give us a tour of his office (not the ocean one) - every photo and book has a great story in that room - and it is a sharky room. We had Japanese tea (Genmaicha) and cookies to end the night. Marie gave me a bag of the tea to take home - it was that good.

Wolf, Felix, Doc

Marie, the Doc's wife, is extremely warm hearted, fun, and full of energy. I spent most of the night talking to her - was great listening to her stories about the shark lab (in Bimini), the old Miami, and her family. I knew her son-in-law at a previous employer - at the time Brett mentioned to me that he was dating Marie's and Doc's daughter Aya, a law professor AND a talented musician. I had shown Brett OceanicDreams - never did I imagine then that I would actually meet the Grubers.

Just wanted to thank Marie and Doc again for everything...

On another note, my dad left for Nassau yesterday for a memorial service for one of his best friends, Guy Meeker.

Next week Doc will meet up with the Wolf there...more to come on that.

Felix and Doc

PS - have a look at Fallz (Aya Gruber's and Brett's music project) and if you ever need any search engine optimization (SEO) be sure to check out The Hits Doctor.

Feeding Sharks - a Battlefield of Opinions. Finally a Voice of Reason and Authority...

Dr. Samuel Gruber in his element
Photograph: Wolfgang Leander

... the voice of "Doc", Dr. Samuel Gruber, one of the most experienced shark biologists of our time.

Very kindly, Doc gave me the permission to quote a letter he wrote to a TV producer who wanted an expert opinion on the subject of diving with, and feeding, 'dangerous' sharks; specifically, how it does affect or else alter shark behavior, and also whether Dr. Gruber would consider cage-free shark diving a "hazardous" activity.

Quote

Hi ................. :

I am a proponent of shark diving. While it does affect a few sharks, when compared to the approximately 100 million killed annually for fin and flesh the minimal impact of this human activity pales in comparison.

I feel that shark dives produce several very beneficial outcomes for humans and sharks. First exposing divers to sharks, safely and professionally - and in a beautiful environment will inevitably turn fear into fascination. Quickly these people become ambassadors for shark conservation. Further it produces jobs and income for areas and folks that need the work - especially in an economy such as the Bahamian one. Tourism in the Bahamas is the country's life blood, and sharks are a draw!!

As for hazard - tens of thousands of divers worldwide have safely enjoyed professional shark encounters ever since they were established in the Bahamas nearly 40 years ago. It is true that some people have been injured and there was even one fatality, but compared to other water sports this is a pittance.

Nearly a decade ago the World Health Organization estimated that over 400,000 people drowned in year 2000 making this the second leading cause of unintentional death after highway accidents. So shark dives turn out to be a very SAFE form of water activity when conducted in a professional way.

Dr. Samuel Gruber using his "magic wand" to lead a lemon shark, Bahamas *)
Photograph: Matthew D. Potenski

What I have written is controversial. Animal lovers think that humans have no right to interfere with non-human creatures. This is their opinion, not mine. Biologists always say "don't feed the animals." But I have been feeding sharks at my field station for over 20 years www.miami.edu/sharklab, and have observed their behavior carefully (my degree is in marine animal behavior and sensory physiology). I know for a fact that our shark encounters do not greatly affect the Caribbean reef sharks we feed.

- They do not become habituated to humans such that they completely lose their natural fear.

- They do not begin to consider us as food.

- They are very focused on what we do and learn almost instantly what the feeding situation means.

- They do not depend on us for food but hunt normally and supplement this ordinary behavior with our feedings.

- New individuals join the colony all the time, learn what we do and do not pose a danger. These reef sharks leave the area during breeding season in August and go about their normal reproductive activities. They return about three months later.

My favorite dive site is Tiger Beach in the Bahamas, and I would be very pleased to take you there (on your nickel) to show you amazing sights that should make you a believer. We are planning a trip later in the month.

"Doc" freediving at Tiger Beach, November 2008
Photograph: Wolfgang Leander

Remember many sharks are headed toward extinction which will have very deleterious effects on the Ocean ecosystem. We call sharks the "Lords of Time," having survived multiple extinction episodes for half a billion years. We really need sharks more than they need us! An ocean free of sharks will be a sick ocean. This is the story that shark dives engender - not the tired old monster jaws images.

Unquote

Thank you very much, Doc - that's certainly good enough for me!! :-)



*) Doc's "magic wand" is a bi-metallic rod that stimulates the sharks' ampullary system so that they think the end of the pole is a living prey.