OAHU, Hawaii (10 May 2007) -- Notorious Hawaii shark feeder Jimmy Hall is dead after a daredevil stunt took a tragic turn on Baffin Island. Hall, 41, died while chasing fame and fortune as a "wannabe" daredevil performer by filming himself parachuting off a 4,000-ft cliff. Something went wrong after Hall jumped and he slammed into the side of the cliff. As the owner of Hawaii Shark Encounters, Hall was infamous for harassing marine wildlife and endangering public safety by feeding sharks for thrill-seeking tourists off the coast of Oahu. Due to overwhelming scientific evidence that shark feeding is bad for both sharks and people, in 2002 Hawaii joined Florida, the Cayman Islands, the Maldives, the Red Sea and many other renowned diving destinations that have banned feeding, petting, riding and other forms of harassment of marine wildlife. But backed by U.S. dive industry behemoths PADI, DEMA, Scuba Diving Magazine and Project Aware, Hall defiantly flouted the law by feeding sharks three miles off the coast of Oahu just beyond Hawaii state waters. Despite ongoing efforts by concerned citizens, government officials and conservationists to shut down Hawaii Shark Encounters, Hall remained defiant boasting about his exploits. "People are like 'Oh! You are feeding the sharks!'" Hall laughed. "I am feeding sharks--that's what we do," Hall said defiantly. "The sharks don't come around just because we are such friendly guys!" In December 2005, Hall spun off a second career as a TV adventure show stuntman after a shark feeding incident that lured in producers of Discovery Channel's Shark Week and other adventure TV shows. | | Emulating TV animal act celebrities Steve Irwin, Philippe Cousteau and Erich Ritter, Hall leaped in the water and filmed himself fooling around with a great white shark, then boasted about it on his company web site saying that he had performed the stunt without weapons to protect himself. According to industry sources, within days Shark Week producers where clamoring for more and Hall hired agent Micah Johnson. Johnson said that filming on Hall's debut performance for the Discovery Channel's Shark Week was only half completed when his client died. "It's just a shock," Johnson said. "(Jimmy) hit the side of a mountain ... we don't know much." © CDNN - CYBER DIVER NEWS NETWORKSCUBA FORUMDISCUSS THIS TOPIC - Dive in and have your say at Scuba ForumCDNN Related NewsHAWAII - Deja vu all over again: Feds ban shark feeding in HawaiiHAWAII - Feds, citizens meet to discuss banning Hawaii shark feeding toursHAWAII - Defiant shark feeders deny endangering public safety |
