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Sign Petition to Support Shark Diving in the Bahamas PDF Print E-mail

This petition is now closed for further signing. Thank you to all those who participated. 

The petition text is as follows: 

 

The recent death of Markus Groh is truly an unfortunate tragedy. We are both saddened and shocked by this, the first fatality ever caused by a shark bite during an organized shark dive. Our hearts go out to his loved ones. 

We represent a cross-section of divers, conservationists, shark enthusiasts, scientists, and professional photographers and filmmakers who strongly support conscientious and responsible cageless shark diving operations including Jim Abernethy's Scuba Adventures in the Bahamas. Such operators have allowed tens of thousands of divers to safely go beyond the constraints of cages and experience compelling shark interactions. 

Many of us have spent time in the water with these predators and know firsthand that the risk of injury, let alone death, while diving with sharks is incredibly low. The fact that we are discussing the first fatality in commercially organized shark diving after decades of such a practice is a testament to that. In comparison, more common leisure activities such as biking, swimming and boating result in significant numbers of injuries and fatalities each year. The relatively low risk posed by diving with sharks is far outweighed by the reward: enabling people to develop a healthy respect and passion for a majestic yet misunderstood animal that is critical to the health of our planet. 

The Bahamas represents one of a handful of remaining places in the world where people can still go to experience the magnificence of the large, charismatic sharks including tigers, bulls, and hammerheads. That means that the Bahamas is a beneficiary of an eco-tourism niche that is valued by an unusually passionate and committed customer— shark divers. This is a credit to the Bahamian government’s commendable stance on protecting sharks at a time when a growing number of shark species are approaching extinction, with over 100 million sharks killed each year.

Through Jim Abernethy, many of us have developed a strong respect and affection for the sharks of the Bahamas. For many members of the professional underwater photography and filmmaking community, as well as thousands of recreational divers, Jim Abernethy has served as an ambassador for the appreciation and protection of the sharks of the Bahamas. Most of these divers would never have experienced the sharks of the Bahamas if it were not for Jim. The powerful and beautiful photographs and films produced from these expeditions would never have been viewed by countless others. These images would not have served as motivation to others to visit the Bahamas.

We urge The Bahamas Diving Association to preserve current shark diving policies and resist overreaction to this horrible, but isolated, tragedy. You have a unique opportunity to stand in support of responsible shark diving operations and mitigate the negative repercussions of this event. To do otherwise would only reinforce the public's stereotypes towards sharks and create additional barriers to save endangered shark species that are vital to our ecosystem. It would negatively impact the very operators, such as Jim Abernethy, who have developed and championed responsible diving practices. And it would drive the divers away who will then seek other locations that both protect sharks and enable people to experience them. 

The Bahamas Diving Association is in a powerful position to take a strong stance in uniting the world around a more enlightened view of sharks. In doing so, the Bahamas can set a powerful example and serve as a leader in protecting our oceans.

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RELATED ARTICLES:

List of who has already signed

Press release about the petition 

Debunking the myths: Our answers to issues raised by the incident

Statement from Sea Shepherd's Paul Watson 

A Shark Angel's perspective on shark diving and the recent tragedy  

South Florida's Sun Sentinel's editorial to ban 'shark feeding': Post your response to the editors

 

Comments (30)add comment

Jacqueline V said:

Keep shark diving Legal!!!
 
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August 22, 2008
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Allison Kalata said:

I have been on shark dives all over the world , many were in the bahamas, it is such an amazing experience. one tragic accident should not end the diving with sharks experience. How many car accidents happen each day???? Driving is not banned. Shark Diving is Amazing
 
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August 19, 2008
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Sally Cogan said:

I have had the incredible experience of diving with sharks, of entering their world, and only wish that more could have the same opportunity. Perhaps then we would not be so intent on destroying those magnificent and important creatures.
 
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August 10, 2008
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Heather Demers said:

SAVE THE SHARK
 
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July 30, 2008
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Selena Torres said:

Have you ever seen Jaws? You probably have, and if you haven't you'd probably get second thoughts about signing this petition. But thats only because the people who make these movies give us the wrong perspective of sharks. They make us think "Wow sharks are very dangerous! I dont want them around!" But they aren't like that! These animals have been around for millions of years! And its their nature to attack. But the reasons for this is because we are in their territory. So most likley they will confuse us for prey. Or they'll be curious.
I know I'm just a kid, but we can all make a change. We can all save the planet! hundreds of sharks are being killed every days! Some are killed for food,others for suveniers, and then theres the ones that are killed just because.....
It is our duty to save the world. We are supierior to everything else living on this planet. Yet were not helping the ocean.

SHARKS SHOULDN'T BE KILLED! THEY MUST BE SAVED! FOR IT IS OUR JOB TO SAVE THEN!
 
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July 30, 2008
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zuubar said:

i have such mixed feelings about this whole thing -- diving with lured sharks, with or without a cage. I went cage diving once and I felt guilty when i thought about it afterwords.

Sharks are smarter than most would give them credit. I saw an experiment in Gaans Bai, South Africa, where three different colored buoys were place, one containing bait. For 7 days, the bait was on the black buoy. On the 8th day, there was nothing available. The shark still came by, of course. And on the 10th day, the bait was on the white bouy and the shark went straight for it, never considering the black one in between himself and the white bouy.
From this experience, I formed the opinion the shark was easily conditioned to come around people for food. Even on the day where there could have been no scent of bait in the water, this shark hung out for a while. The color association of the buoys had no effect on behavior, so it is not the Pavlov kind of conditioning. The shark did not respond to the buoys, he responded to us.

So, i worry if it is a good idea to associate humans with food for sharks. The ocean is in a pretty rough state already; sharks are probably hungry and sick with chemical poisoning. With the world's fisheries in a precarious state, animals may become more desperate for food; you get what is called a tropic cascade. The algae feeds the krill, who are eaten by just about everyone, who feed the fish, that get eaten by bigger fish, etc. until you get up to the marine mammal level, and top predators. Less algae (happening right now because there is less ice for it to grow on) leads to less krill which eventually leads to starvation for many marine mammal species. And if there are no sea lions and fish for sharks to eat, they are the survivors who will go out and find a new food source. I sorta feel like people shouldn't literally be being presented as an alternative, hanging around while they feed on bait.

A non-chumming, non-feeding shark dive is a whole other thing. Sharks can be "called" with electrical pulses. They usually swim around curious for a minute and then dart away so fast, barely moving a muscle, it seems, so beautiful.

So, I have very mixed feelings about shark dives. They are necessary to instill that love. People have to see to believe, so to speak. They do not care about the shark until they witness the awe of how they swim and move.
But I don't think we should feed them, or chum cage dive sites. I do not think we should lure the sharks to a specific site with a regularly supplied-by-humans food source available like clockwork.
 
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July 19, 2008 | url
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Daphne said:

This should be supported, the only way to get people to know about sharks, as well as other marrine life, is to get the word out there. I hope this helps.
 
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July 18, 2008
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Cheryl Patterson said:

The only way to protect sharks is to expose more people to these beautiful, ecologically essential and greaty misunderstood creatures.
Shark diving in a quality controlled manner raises awareness and education to that many more people.
 
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June 18, 2008 | url
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Heidi Nagtegaal said:

Sharks are beautiful, gentle creatures. We should be able to dive with them and enjoy this profound experience.
 
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June 17, 2008
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Hilary Minor said:

I have dived with basking sharks, white-tipped sharks, black-tipped sharks, leopard sharks, bull sharks (Shark's Cave, Belize and also in Cuba)and hammerheads, so I know from first hand that, as long as you observe behaviour codes that do not disturb these wonderful animals and do not make the mistake of diving with them during their feeding periods, you will remain safe. However, I am totally against shark feeding. What a silly practice - does the shark know where the food your are holding out ends and your arm begins? Is it wise to train sharks to associate human beings in the water with food? Some of the most exhilerating moments of my diving career have been with sharks, but they demand great respect and at least a working knowledge of their behaviour.
 
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June 02, 2008
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bram honorez said:

sharkdiving is not only fun but also raises awareness about what they are and in what a diffcult situation they seem to be trapped.
SAVE THE SHARKS!
 
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May 27, 2008
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Jeremiah Allen said:

Diving with sharks is a magical experience and to ban people from participating in this form of tourism would be a loss. Limits placed might be reasonable or professional training but this one loss is a very small percentage if you look at how many divers have participated in shark diving. It's a freak accident.
 
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May 20, 2008
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Hilary Goodwin said:

I recently went to Fiji on my honeymoon just to do the shark dive they have in Beqa Lagoon. I saw bull sharks, lemon sharks, nurse sharks, and whitetip sharks. I felt very safe but on the other hand I realize that if something bad did happen, it would not be the sharks fault. Every diver signs a form releasing the dive masters, etc from any blame because you have to recognize these are wild animals. Sharks need to become more valuable alive than dead or they will never have a chance at surviving. The evil practice of finning and serving shark fin soup needs to be banned in the U.S. and especially Asia.
 
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May 20, 2008
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Matt Heath said:

With the rapid decent of the shark population, we wont have that much time left to dive openly with sharks. The Bahamas should take advantage of the population of sharks they have and allow as much tourism as possible. They can show the rest of the world how much money can be made in tourism when you can gurantee sightings. By stoping open feedings it just ads to the fear. Allow the feedings and let the world know of the outstanding safety and the massive amount of money made every year in tourism. I'm sure that every individual shark in the Bahamas is worth more money yearly in tourism than the few hunderd dollars you get one time for it's fins. Please Think!
 
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May 16, 2008
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Shark Savers said:

It is our understanding that there was no feeding of sharks on this particular occasion, or at other shark dives conducted by the dive operator in question.
 
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May 11, 2008
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Marco Popov said:

One should not mix shark diving with shark feeding. Observing wildlife in its natural state is instructive but attracting sharks for profit is not. Shark feeding will prove counterproductive in the fight to convince the general public that sharks are not our born ennemies. Diving on sites that have been regular shark feeding areas will potentially create new shark behavioural risks. The bull shark accident that occured recently was bound to happen because some sharks are territorial and other accidents will occur again. No need to increase the risks of bad publicity by shark feeding. Let us respect and admire nature as it is not alter it for show.
 
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May 11, 2008
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Shark Savers said:

Harriet, thanks for making the distinction between shark diving and shark feeding. We support shark diving, but don't advocate shark feeding. When we launched this petition, we spoke of advocating 'responsible' shark diving. We soon followed up with our 'debunking the myths' Q&A (which you can find the link to above). In that, we clarified the difference between shark diving and feeding. To our knowledge, Mr. Abernethy does not feed sharks on his shark dives but uses frozen bait in closed crates that slowly allows some oils out that attracts sharks but doesn't excite them. Jim is neither untrained nor inexperienced--just the opposite--as many of the comments to the petition can attest to.
 
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May 05, 2008
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Harriet Messing said:

I agree that it is wonderful to dive with sharks and I am all for it, but it is important that dive operators that offer diving with sharks and use feeding to attract them, should have an excellent understanding of their behavior and know when things get risky. I doubt that this was the case with the death of Mr. Gruh. So I am quite flabbergasted that SharkSavers is doing this petition. The petition should ask the government of the Bahamas to get dive operators like Jim trained to understand shark behavior, not to let them go on with a very risky business (a business that is making big bucks, so enough money to put better safety assessment procedures in place). The fact that this is a first, means that many shark divers before Gruh were extremely lucky and it proves that sharks are not mindless killers. But the accident could have been prevented and that is what counts. Shark behavioral courses for the diving professionals are available and should be obligatory for any shark dive operator.
 
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May 05, 2008
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Stanley said:

Sharks are the most magnificent and wonderful creatures. Without them, the ecosystem of the vast ocean will topple and will never be the same as it is now. A bowl of shark fin may be just another delicacy to you, but there's alot of unimaginable cruelty going on behind the scene just to deliver the bowl of sharkfin soup to your dining table. Stop shark finning and start saving sharks!
 
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May 03, 2008
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Ruth said:

Sharks may not evoke a warm and fuzzy feeling like panda bears or seals, but that doesn't mean they don't deserve our protection. I have had several shark encounters while diving and am fascinated by their grace and power. The more people get the chance to experience these amazing animals, the better, as long as it is under controlled circumstances which do not endanger the sharks and their environment. I am against "mass shark tourism", but support the controlled exposure. However, shark diving operators have to ensure their practices are not encouraging unnatural behavior among the sharks, e.g. by getting the sharks too used to feedings. Having said that, I wholeheartedly support those dive operators who are dedicated to educating divers (and non-divers) about sharks and their environment.
I was very sad to hear about the recent tragic accidents and my condolences go out to the families of the victims, yet as heart-rending as these losses are, we need to look at the bigger picture, and the fact that these events could invalidate all our conservation efforts very quickly. Today's media channels very quickly spread news all over the world, and nothing fans the flames of sensationalism more than a report of a shark attack.
No, sharks aren't fuzzy and huggable (well, if you are Rob Stewart, then maybe they are for you), but they have ruled the oceans for hundreds of millions of years and we "upstart" primates do not have the right to wipe them out just because they've clashed with us on occasion, and therefore have been portrayed as the stuff of nightmares and Hollywood shockers.
Think about it - millions of children love their Teddy Bears... yet a "tame" Grizzly recently killed its trainer. Are we going to take our kids' Teddy Bears away because of this? I very much doubt it.
 
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April 28, 2008
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edraptor said:

I went to the bahamas last summer to get my scuba license and dive with sharks.
It was one of the most amazing times of my life the most nervous I got was when I saw a barricuda right near me.
Those make me more nervous than sharks.
Lets keep the fun going.
Ed
 
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April 25, 2008
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ERIN MOOR said:

Please support shark diving in the Bahamas...only through close encounters and education will people realize that sharks are not cold killers but only curious about what we are doing in THEIR homes. We need sharks in the ocean to support the ecosystem which in turn supports US with oxygen!! Teaching people about sharks & ecosystems and showing them that they are in fact magnificent creatures that deserve our respect will only support the ban on shark fining and the thoughtless & cruel killing of these awesome animals!
 
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April 19, 2008
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Sanaa Benjelloun said:

we do not stop driving even if countless people die from car accidents, this is the first accident of that sort, so why stop diving with sharks after one accident
 
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April 13, 2008
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Eric Byron said:

I'm thrilled to see such efforts toward conservation of these magnificent animals.
 
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April 11, 2008
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Carol Schoelch said:

I am totally hooked on shark diving, and hope that the Bahamian Government does not restrict cageless diving. This activity is less dangerous than skydiving or bungie jumping, but do you see anyone rushing to stop these activities?????
We need to keep up the fight for freedom, and
SAVE SHARKS!!!!!
 
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March 28, 2008
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Brant Shenkarow said:

I am very sad to learn of Mr. Groh's death. I wonder if anything short of his not diving that day, all the way to a total ban on shark dives altogether could've prevented this tragedy. Nevertheless, the Bahamas Diving Association must continue to offer safe, organized shark dives as they have for so many, many years. I have experienced at least 50 such shark dives in the Bahamas alone over my 25 years of diving. The shark dive opportunity is so very important to experienced divers as we are are both willing and able to advance our underwater knowledge and our understanding and appreciation of precious marine life so we can tell our "land-based" friends and associates the value of the entire marine environment including all species of shark. While I mourn the loss of my fellow diver, lI cannot forget that he was a shark enthusiast, and I have to believe that he was doing what he loved to do.
 
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March 18, 2008
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Wolfgang Leander said:

Sharksavers:

You have done an outstanding job!! Thank you!!

Keep the flag flying!!
 
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March 12, 2008 | url
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Shark Savers said:

Yes, we're sending the signatures and the comments to the Bahamas Ministry of Tourism.
 
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March 12, 2008 | url
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Alisa said:

I hope the signatures on this petition to the Bahamas Diving Association will also be forwarded to Bahamian government officials. I imagine the goverment will have much to say on this issue as eco-tourism is a humongous part of the Bahamian economy. Cover all bases...
 
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March 12, 2008 | url
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