ST. PETERSBURG, Florida (1 Aug 2001) -- St. Petersburg Representative, Charles Justice, announced that he and his staff are working with the House Committee and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission to file legislation that will regulate or ban shark feeding off the coast of Florida. "There is growing concern with these shark feedings, sharks will eventually associate humans with food." said Representative Justice. "If that concern is found to be justified, then feeding them to close to the coast is not acceptable." The International Shark Attack File reports that in 2000, there were 34 unprovoked shark attacks off of Florida coasts, the most in the nation. There are currently four dive tour operators in south Florida that give shark feeding tours. The actions of private individuals as well as dive tour operators are part of the growing debate over shark feeding. The shark feeding issue was recently featured on Dateline, a news program that is broadcast nationwide in the US. "My first concern is with public safety, safety for our residents and our visitors. This is too important of an issue - too important for our citizens and too important for our tourist industry for us not to take a closer look," Justice explained. "The timing is right to come to a determination on this before this industry expands." | | Environmentalists and public safety officials have sharply criticized the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission for caving in to pressure from the dive industry to endorse the business of shark feeding off Florida's popular beaches. At the invitation of the FWC, a dive industry coalition led by PADI, DEMA, Skin Diver and Rodales recently proposed "guidelines" that attempted to put an environmentally and educationally correct spin on the business of shark feeding. © CDNN - CYBER DIVER NEWS NETWORK |
