Florida moves to ban shark feeding
Date: 10-Sep-01
Country: USA
At a meeting in Amelia Island, Florida, the state Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) voted to draft a rule banning marine life feeding. The new regulation may be enacted at an FWC meeting scheduled for Oct. 31-Nov. 1.
Several horrific shark attacks this summer have focused public attention on so-called "interactive" scuba dives, during which tour leaders hand-feed sharks while other divers watch and take photographs.
Commission members said they were concerned that such dives might modify the behavior of marine life. Critics say shark-feeding dives cause sharks to lose their natural fear of humans and may serve to attract and concentrate sharks in areas near popular beaches, increasing the possibility of attacks.
"My concerns relate to public safety as a result of behavior modification and my philosophical opposition to feeding wild animals," FWC Vice Chairman John Rood said.
The FWC said its decision was not related to the recent shark attacks. It said an increase in Florida shark bite incidents in recent years was probably the result of increased numbers of swimmers using the state's coastal waters.
The Florida-based International Shark Attack File has recorded more than 40 attacks in U.S. waters this year.
On Monday, Sergi Zaloukaev, 28, of Arlington, Virginia, was fatally mauled by a shark in waist-deep water near Avon, a remote town on North Carolina's Outer Banks.
A day earlier, 10-year-old David Peltier died after a shark tore a 17-inch gash in his thigh and severed an artery as he surfed with his father at Sandbridge Beach in Virginia.
The two fatal attacks, the first in the United States this year, occurred after a pair of notable incidents in Florida and the Bahamas earlier.
In July, 8-year-old Jessie Arbogast was attacked near Pensacola, Florida. His arm was torn off by the shark and later reattached by surgeons.
In August, Wall Street banker Krishna Thompson was bitten as he swam off Freeport, Bahamas. His mangled left leg had to be amputated.
Only four Florida scuba operators offer interactive dives that feature the feeding of sharks, rays, eels and other predators. But the industry estimates that globally some 100,000 scuba divers a year participate in shark-feeding dives at 300 sites in 40 countries.
Industry operators say shark-feeding dives serve to educate the public about sharks and argue that there is no evidence the dives increase the likelihood of attacks.
The FWC said it had worked with the industry for two years to fashion a set of acceptable voluntary guidelines for feeding dives but had decided an outright ban was needed.
"Even though the dive tour operators have an excellent safety record, the potential for tragedy is real," Chairman David Meehan said. "I think it's not a good conservation practice to take animals that are equipped to be hunters and train them to rely on people for food handouts."
