I’m pretty good at answering the first question: “No, I haven’t. In fact, most sharks want nothing to do with me. I have to hold my breath and avoid eye contact just to get close to them”.

This often leads to a period of confusion and disbelief followed by a funny look of disappointment. Then they generally walk away nursing their shaken preconceptions. I can’t be sure but I think a lot of them are thinking; what does he know? He just photographs them. I’ve seen Jaws. This guy is an idiot.

The second question is vastly more difficult to answer because I have never been able to decide where the best place to go shark diving is.

It really depends on your expectations. Do you want to see lots of sharks or just big sharks? Great white shark encounters at Guadalupe Island, South Africa or Australia can be pretty amazing.

But, beyond Guadalupe there are so many outstanding shark dives. There is Cocos Island off the coast of Costa Rica where scalloped hammerheads school in their hundreds and where other omnipresent species like silky and Galapagos sharks cruise above every reef top. Then there is Tiger Beach in the Bahamas where tiger shark and lemon shark sightings are virtually guaranteed. Fish Rock in Australia is high up on many diver’s bucket list due to its colorful wobbegongs and squadrons of grey nurse sharks. And what about the whale shark spots at Ningaloo, Holbox, La Paz, Utila and elsewhere. There are also chumsicle feeds in the Bahamas, wild rides through the entrances of current swept South Pacific atolls packed with reef sharks and places where you can wrestle with an ocean full of spiny dogfish sharks. You see the problem. There are simply too many amazing choices.

I generally try to gauge my audience’s interest level before launching into a monologue about all the different encounters they could enjoy. Some people are just vaguely curious but others want to know all the details. If they really want to talk about sharks I don’t hold back. Sometimes I can see the excitement building behind their eyes. Those people walk away not just with information but with plans and if I can be the catalyst that leads to their first shark encounter then I will sleep well because I’ve never met a shark diver that didn’t want to help protect sharks and in the 21^st Century, sharks need all the help they can get.

Unfortunately, I can’t talk to everyone personally so if your interest is starting to peak I have one bit of advice; don’t worry about Jaws materializing out of the abyss at the first sign of blood, become a shark diver. Once you spend some time in the presence sharks you’ll soon develop a new appreciation of their intelligence and grace. And then after a few years (once you’re as addicted to shark diving as me) get back to me on that second question and tell me where the best place to dive with sharks is.

For the sharks,

Andy Murch

The problem arises from a potential miscalculation on the part of researchers. Fisheries surveys conducted along the eastern seaboard of the US some years ago, indicated that although there were quite a few dogfish still at large, almost all of them were male. This led to fears that the population was heading for a crash and strict catch limits were put in place.
Again according to the fishermen, the survey was misleading and the leniency afforded to dogfish has led to a population explosion relative to other species. The dogfishes’ omnivorous appetite is now decimating the remaining fish stocks from New England to the Carolinas.
That sounds pretty bad but lets not dust off the long-lines just yet. Firstly, I’d like to see some concrete empirical evidence that all these anecdotal reports of marauding dogfish are true. Secondly even if they are, spiny dogfish are pack hunters. Swarming over the seabed like locusts is part of their natural behavior. Although I wasn’t around to witness diving in the good old days, I’ve heard some fantastic reports from British Columbian scuba divers that were active in the 1980s. Campfire tales of a wall of dogfish sweeping over the seafloor like the sandstorm scene from The Mummy. What a glorious site that must have been to be swimming along looking for Giant Pacific Octopuses on the reef and suddenly be engulfed in a tumbling maelstrom of meter long sharks.

The problems that the east coast fishermen are currently facing, speaks volumes about the sad state of our oceans in general. Where are the larger sharks that should be preying on spiny dogfish? And how did the ground fish and lobster stocks get so depleted that a school of dogfish can pose such an enormous threat?

Culling sharks to save the fish reminds me of the sophistical justification behind the controversial harp seal hunt. They’re looking at the problem backwards. If you want the fish stocks to recover, don’t kill the sharks, kill the fishermen.

Down Rambo! I don’t mean that literally. But perhaps a moratorium on depleted fish stocks would be a better way to handle the dogfish problem. How about we quit playing god and leave the oceans alone for a while to find their own balance.

Incidentally, BC is still a great place to dive with spiny dogfish. They are nowhere near as common as they used to be but a drift dive along the beautiful strawberry anemone covered walls around Quadra Island will still yield a handful of curious dogfish.

For further information contact
Abyssal Divers: http://www.abyssal.com.
Read more about spiny dogfish sharks on Elasmodiver: http://www.elasmodiver.com/spiny_dogfish.htm

Whether you actively seek out encounters with the ocean’s top predators or if you just bump into the occasional reef shark you are a Shark Diver and in my opinion that makes you a very lucky person.

If you have yet to see your first shark then stay tuned. Over the coming months I will be writing about some of the sharkiest places on the planet. Places that you will want to visit. Places where you’re guaranteed to see more than your fair share of sharks.
But, before I launch into stories about adrenalin drenching encounters with sharks there are a couple of things that I want to make crystal clear…

Firstly, sharks are not monsters. If you’re hoping to read about ferocious, man-eating, blood thirsty beasties you should head over to the Scuba Diving Marketing Section. Sure, some forms of shark diving can be dangerous but sharks do not prowl the oceans looking for tasty divers to munch. If that were the case they would consume every unsuspecting swimmer that entered their domain. After all, even a small shark could make short work of a human intruder if it wanted to.

Sharks are graceful, intelligent, magnificent animals. Some are large, powerful and bold but most of the 500 or so species (that live in virtually every marine habitat from freshwater rivers to the abyssal marine plains) are small and reclusive. Most are so shy that they have not yet been photographed in their natural habitat. And, unless there is a serious shift in thinking, many may become extinct before we learn anything about them other than the value of their fins.

Secondly, remember the expression ‘Don’t try this at home’ before you get too excited and leap into shark infested waters while waving around a bleeding tuna carcass. If you want to interact with sharks at very close quarters, join an organized shark dive. As I already mentioned, sharks generally are not interested in biting people. Humans are bony and don’t have a high enough oil content to make them a very productive snack. We probably taste bad too.
However, when divers feed fish to sharks it changes all that. Sharks can’t conceptualize such an alien behavior as another animal offering them food for entertainment. So, when they see divers with fish they interpret it as if the humans are competing predators.

Depending on how bold they feel, they may circle at a distance or rush in and try to steal the food. Sometimes, this inadvertently results in a shark bite.

Experienced shark diving/feeding operators usually know how far they can take things without the sharks getting out of control. So, at least initially, stick with the experts.

May the sharks be with you,

Andy Murch
Creator of the Elasmodiver Shark and Ray Field Guide
Staff Photographer at Shark Diver Magazine
Shark Diving Jedi