FLORIDA (8 Sep 2000) -- The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has voted to suspend a draft rule to prohibit the feeding of sharks and other marine wildlife. The commission has decided to defer to the dive industry, which will attempt to establish regulations to control the feeding of marine life in Florida waters. The proposed regulations will be submitted for approval first to environmental groups and then to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission on May 21, 2001. The Humane Society and other critics of commercial shark feeding point to scientific studies that show marine wildlife can be conditioned to associate humans with food, which endangers both humans and the conditioned wildlife. | | The dive industry counters that shark feeding turns divers into conservationists although CDNN polls show that the vast majority of divers want sharks protected from both shark finners and shark feeders. © CDNN - CYBER DIVER NEWS NETWORK |
