PENSACOLA, Florida (12 July 2001) -- The recent shark attack on a young boy playing in the surf on a Pensacola beach has renewed concerns regarding the wisdom of continuing to allow sport divers to feed bull sharks and other dangerous predators off Florida's beaches. Environmentalists have been trying to stop shark feeding in Florida waters but the scuba diving industry, led by PADI, DEMA, Rodale's and Skin Diver magazine, has fought a high-profile, legal battle to keep shark feeding operators in business. "While there is no evidence linking this particular attack to shark feeding, the tragic results highlight just how dangerous these wild animals can really be", said Dr. William Alevizon, a marine biologist and expert on fish life of Florida and the Caribbean. "Its bad enough that Florida's coasts are home to large numbers of dangerous sharks, but to deliberately go out and teach these animals to associate humans with food and then turn them loose on an unsuspecting public is just plain stupid," Alevizon added. Most shark attacks on humans are believed to be mistakes, but according to Alevizon, the likelihood of just such a tragic mistake increases dramatically once sharks are trained to make the connection between an outstretched human arm and a free meal. "This type of food conditioning has led to numerous documented injuries from marine predators like barracudas, morays, and sharks that have bitten hands, arms and even faces of divers who were not even participating in a feeding dive but nonetheless unknowingly made the wrong move at the wrong time, in the fish's mind signaling that dinner was served", he said. | | In 1999, the Marine Safety Group, a Florida-based environmental group that opposes shark feeding, petitioned the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to prohibit the feeding of all marine wildlife in Florida waters to protect both people and wildlife. However, the Commission has as yet limited the exercise of its regulatory power to the ongoing development of a set of purely voluntary guidelines for shark feeders, rather than regulation backed by the force of law. "Unfortunately, it appears that it will take a death or serious injury that can be directly and unequivocally linked to a shark feeding dive to get the FFWCC to take effective action", said Bob Dimond, President of the Marine Safety Group. According to Dr. George Burgess, a shark attack expert who maintains the International Shark Attack file at the University of Florida, such an event is a virtual certainty if these activities are allowed to continue. © CDNN - CYBER DIVER NEWS NETWORK |
