Tuesday, September 02, 2014

Scientists about Shark Mitigation Measures!


97% of those polled scientists are against lethal control measures.
Incidentally, those would be the very people that were picketed, heckled and insulted by Lesley Rochat and her Shark Warriors.

Vindicated my ass!
That whole project, or whatever, is increasingly becoming bizarre and frankly, rather sad.
What a shame.


Clare said...

That whole Sharks International fiasco (the protests, not the conference) was a blight on the credibility of South African shark "conservationists". I suppose we should not be surprised by subsequent revisionist readings of the history, depressing as it is to witness.

Syllogistic Sam said...

New Age + Narcissism = Blech

Uri The Info-Graphic Propagandist said...

When was the last time you saw a marine scientist surfing, wake boarding, or scuba diving for abalone and crayfish on a regular basis?

There's your info-graphic.

Number of marine scientists who wholeheartedly agree with non lethal shark controls whose asses are too big for their chairs aka non water users aka data crunchers vs actual surfers, divers, and tourism ministers.

Not saying that wasn't a fine info-graphic just saying that anyone can create one and 90% of the time the "data" is skewed beyond comprehension.

Reminds me of the old info-graphics from the 50's.

Are you aware that more Doctors smoke Camels than any other cigarette brands?


Uri The Info-Graphic Propagandist 2 said...

Apologies, that info-graphic was more slippery than first read, "Shark Experts Polled" not, "Marine Scientists."

Assuming there were a paltry few Marine Scientists in that poll I wish to make a revised statement.

To all fat assed Marine Scientists I offer apologies.

To all fat assed "Shark Experts" I say, spend time in the sea with the animals you profess to know so much about and then make an informed decision.

On the scale of derision for polled individuals at shark conferences "Shark Experts" sit somewhere near the bottom. Right next to the guy who sets up chairs, and the team who cleans the bathrooms.

Oh, and you should never poll those people either.

Ian Campbell said...

As someone who was at the Durban conference, I can testify that the vast majority of the shark scientists in attendance all spent their own money to actually go diving with sharks while there. And not just great white dives, but reef dives on the off chance of interacting with any sharks.

The others I spoke to who took some time out to explore South Africa's fantastic terrestrial wildlife went there because they normally spend their lives in one of two places. The lab or at sea.

Uri The Info-Graphic Propagandist said...


Do you have an Info-Graphic for that statement Ian?


Well then.

DaShark said...

Witty witty...

But given the choice = increasingly insane new age blech vs shark nerds, I'll take the nerds anytime!

Anonymous said...

... Not sure how to take that very strong, and mostly misinformed, opinion Uri. Almost every PhD student that I know, shark-expert or marine scientist, knocks off early most weekdays to go for a surf, scuba, free-dive, swim or spear-fish. We're a little more "freed" up than the big-guns in terms of time. If the weather is good, and with daylight savings in place, you'd struggle to find an Australian student around the office after 4pm.

Ian Campbell said...

I have about as many infographics on this as you have credibility.

Please remember not to type too hard or too angry.

Anonymous said...

Every marine scientist I know, myself included, thoroughly enjoys the marine realm. I am a shark scientist who was at the conference and I dive with sharks as often as possible, including with the so-called "dangerous" ones, outside of the cage.

Seems like the prevalence of pitiful ploys for attention from the self-obsessed faux "eco-celebreties" is slowly catching up to the number of self-proclaimed shark experts which troll social media groups and blogs. Not quite there yet though, as beautifully demonstrated by the lovely opinions of Uri.

DaShark said...

On a serious note.

There are two ways whereby people can be fully protected against shark strikes:
a. staying out of the water
b. remaining within Shark-proof enclosures, be it exclusion nets or Shark cages etc.

Noting else will work 100% - not the cull and not all those non-lethal mitigation measures, especially not over large areas, see here
Meaning that whatever one does, there will always be a small number of Shark strikes = exactly what is happening now.
On that, I'm 100% with Dovi.

Yes the Shark strike phobia has been a godsend for research money. But let's all be honest here - by all means, enjoy the windfall but stop pretending to have real solutions, because you don't and never will.

The cull is ethically wrong - that's the whole story.

DaShark said...

Self-obsessed faux "eco celebrities" huh.

Case in point - barf...

Syllogistic Sam said...

At least they kept their clothes on!

The next logical stunt for Leslie Rochat is to try to copulate with a shark... Go on Leslie: we'll all be watching!!!

DaShark said...

I know I know... when that nonsense was launched, I chose not to blog about it out of a sense of, believe it or not, compassion...

Like I said, this is increasingly embarrassing and sad.

Syllogistic Sam said...

I agree: I have compassion for those poor sharks being abused thus.

jsd said...

The trouble is, Uri van Something-or-Another, you still have to take your 'research' back to the 'fat-assed' marine scientists to have the actual science done.


Anonymous said...

Uri The info-Graphic Propagandist
you have absolutely no idea what you are talking about. As a shark scientist I have spent thousands of hours in the water with sharks all over the world. My colleagues and I have done dives that 98 % of the population wouldnt do. Where do you get your facts?

jsd said...

'Uri' is doubtless the charming Sean van Sommeran of the 'PSRF': this rant is a favourite of his (so don't expect a response!).

He detests marine scientists because he isn't one. See Dr Domeier's dealings with him:-


'This email string instantly provided the crucial piece of evidence to validate or invalidate this important tag data; unfortunately for science, the emails proved that PSRF had falsified the data regarding this tag.'