Duck "Doc"??

Photo: Wolfgang Leander

--------- yes, that's right: The one and only Shark "Doc" also loves ducks. He has a few in his house, just to have them, not to eat them. I have forgotten their names but they all do have names as befits full-fledged members of a family.

"Doc" hand-feeds his ducks and talks to them in their language which is what true animal lovers generally do - Quack, quack ... :-).

A couple of weeks ago, when Karin and I were still in Miami, "Doc" and his charming wife Marie invited us and our kids, Felix and Carmen, over for coffee and cake. The cookies they offered us were good, old Jewish "rugelach" - the sweet equivalent of "gefilte fish", as it were.

We had much fun with the Grubers, but not only that: Being around the "Docman", as I call Samuel, is always an inspiring educational experience.

While I learned quite a bit about the sharks' highly developed intelligence, Karin got an expert introduction into the anatomy of the upper human spine - actually, Samuel explained Karin with a truly DaVinciesque drawing why he needed an operation of his neck.

Photos: Wolfgang Leander

If you want to learn something about lemon shark behavior, try to meet the "Doc", and if you are lucky enough to get invited for lunch or dinner, you can be sure that the hospitable Grubers will serve you excellent stuff, Japanese, American, East European, just about anything that is exquisite - but duck!!....

"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

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.

You'll never guess who this is....

Click on the image to enlarge

No, it's not a very young new world record apnea diver, and it isn't a daring freediver about to dispatch a large tiger shark with a bang-stick either.

You probably won't recognize him although you see him constantly in TV - Animal Planet, Discovery Channel, National Geographic, BBC. However, you will never get to see him in the documentaries freediving with tiger sharks; maybe with other shark species such as, say, lemon sharks.

His appearance is refreshingly boyish enhanced by a well-worn base-ball cap but he sports an unmasking grey beard. So, a youngster he is not.

You still have no idea who it is?

OK, I won't torture you anymore.

Tarammmmmm - the guy in the pic is the "Doc", the legendary "Herr Professor Dr. Samuel Gruber", as he would be addressed to in Germany and Austria!!!

Although we had exchanged a few e-mails before, it was not until last month that we actually met, quite appropriately in "our" element - in the Bahamian Sea, at Tiger Beach to be precise. The good old Doc was with a BBC film crew on a chartered vessel that was anchored close to the "Dolphin Dream", our boat.

Samuel invited me over to the yacht he was on to dive "his" spot where he wanted us to play with a big tiger girl. That was where I "framed" him and the shark.

I like this memorable image - it is sober, almost minimalistic: Doc, the tiger, and the rippled sand of Tiger Beach.

Have you kissed a shark?

Samuel Gruber does not need any introductions - he is pretty much synonymous with sharks. And while the Doc has been researching sharks for over 40 years, he has also developed a very deep relationship with these animals. I think the sequence above sums up his love for sharks.

The photos were taken by Tristan Guttridge. Says the Doc: "This mama gave birth to 14 pups, all filmed by National Geo. We took each one to the mangroves, measured, weighted and released after taking a small fin clip for DNA."

I believe it was just Samuel's birthday - two days ago - HAPPY BIRTHDAY.