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Shark talk, Elasmodiver news, Conservation rants,
Forthcoming projects, New shark pictures, Exhibitions, Photography workshops,
Incoherent ramblings and more...
Shark
Pictures, Shark Projects and Shark Photography Workshops!
November 15th 2009
 The
2010 Central American Predators in
Peril Expedition is taking shape. This will be the most exciting
project that Elasmodiver has ever been involved in. If you thought that
the 2009
North American Shark Diving Tour
was ambitious, please have a quick look at the itinerary for
the 2010 expedition. Its all laid out on the new
Predators In Peril page on Elasmodiver.com
To quickly outline the
mission: Beginning in early May, we will be traveling through nine
countries along the entire length of Central America to photograph new
species of sharks. We have arranged to work with local researchers in
many locations and we will also be working with artisanal shark
fishermen and with a number of Central American dive operators.
We are hoping to photograph
at least a dozen new species that have not yet been documented in the
wild. The images will be used in an extensive public awareness campaign
and then offered to regional conservation groups to promote local
conservation initiatives.
We have put in a couple of
funding proposals but we still need help with equipment and field
expenses. Please take a look at the
Predators in Peril Expedition Wish
List if you think you may be able to help. And, please spread
the word about the expedition through any networks that you are involved
with. Media coverage is a very important part of the project.
TIGER BEACH
In other news, I have just returned from
Tiger Beach in the Bahamas. It was an unexpected last minute shoot that
I almost didn't go on but I'm glad I did because the sharks were VERY
friendly on this visit and the shooting opportunities were
outstanding. If you've never been to Tiger Beach you'd be forgiven for
imagining a palm fringed island surrounded by big striped sharks but TB isn't
actually a beach at all. It's a sand bank in the middle of nowhere that
rises to within about 20ft of the surface. The lemon sharks that patrol
the area have become accustomed to the occasional dive boat passing
through and the sound of an anchor chain rattling down to the seabed
acts like an aquatic dinner bell.
For first time visitors it
can be very daunting seeing a score of large lemon sharks circling just
below the swim step but lemons tend to be pretty well behaved sharks.
Tigers (in my opinion) are a little more unpredictable. The tigers
usually show up in ones and twos but you never really know what Tiger
Beach will dish out. I've heard of divers encountering a dozen tigers on
a single dive. I'm sure that would be fun for the adrenalin junkies that
go shark diving for kicks but it would make my job a little tricky so
I'm glad that we only saw a handful of tigers over the course of the
week.
I need an accommodating
shark that is bold enough to come in close and pose but doesn't get out
of control and swim off with the bait box. The 4 meter female that
adopted us on this trip was almost the perfect shark. 'Fluffy' as we
called her, was a beautiful animal that moved slowly among us for the
better part of two days. Judging by her distended belly she was either
digesting a turtle or almost ready to give birth to the next generation
of baby tigers.
Between Fluffy and the
omnipresent lemon sharks it turned into a great shoot:
MORE IMAGES ON
ELASMODIVER
After Tiger Beach I had a
week to kill in Florida which would normally have involved lots of
snorkeling with stingrays and hunting for little coastal sharks but I'm
ashamed to say that I barely got wet even though I was holed up right
next the beach in Fort Lauderdale. I spent the week sitting in a
darkened hotel room cleaning and sorting all of the images that I have
taken this year. It was a mammoth undertaking but I'm finally caught up
(almost). Pretty soon there will be a whole lot of new images on Elasmodiver.com
- I promise!
Here are some new leopard
shark pics to keep everyone happy:
2010 SHARK SHOOT IN THE
BAHAMAS
While in Florida I attended
DEMA - the yearly North American Dive Industry Bash. I'm glad I went
because after 4 days of schmoozing with magazine editors and dive
operators I walked away with lots of exciting plans for next year. So
many plans in fact that there is no way I can work on them all, but even
if I make half of them happen it is going to be an amazing 2010.
One tentative plan I have is
a Shark Photography Workshop in the Bahamas. This is a new direction for
me. Other professional shooters have done similar workshops but I have
been biding my time until I was sure I had something worth offering.
Now I'm ready. We're looking
at a
3 or 4 day shoot, mostly working with Caribbean reef sharks in different
environments. Two dives a day plus 'how to' workshops, photography
critiques (don't be shy) and daily slide shows.
The idea is that you walk
away with some good pics, a better understanding of how to shoot sharks
and some great stories about the crazy time you had with a slough of other
shark shooters in the Bahamas. Space will be limited so if that sounds
like fun let me know! Depending on interest, I'm hoping to set some
dates in April before the Predators in Peril Expedition gets underway.
NEW ELASMO T-SHIRTS!
Another spin off from DEMA, I bumped into Tom Sergent who operates the
company Amphibious Warrior Scuba Wear which raises money for shark
education and conservation activities. Tom is a big supporter of Elasmodiver
and he has agreed to
produce our new Elasmo T shirts that have been getting rave reviews. His
new AWSW website will soon be up and running but for now, if you want to
order an Elasmo T, go to Tom's AWSW fan page on FaceBook:
Amphibious Warrior Scuba Wear on Facebook
The Elasmo T's are US$22.
All proceeds go towards the Predators in Peril Project.
BAIT BALL DIVING IN THE
SEA OF CORTEZ
Tomorrow I leave for Cabo
san Lucas in Baja to shoot Marlins with Shark Diver Magazine. "MARLINS?"
I hear you say. Well, its a trip to shoot marlins attacking bait balls.
Don't tell the editor but I'm only going incase some sharks show up to
feed as well. If they do, I'll just have to wait for those pesky marlins
to get out of the way so that I can get the shot.
For the sharks,
Andy Murch
Shark Projects
September
25th 2009
Now
that the
shark
tour is officially over, I
am back on Vancouver Island formulating a game plan for next year. My
fall schedule is looking a bit grim regarding actual time in the water
with sharks but there are so many exciting projects that need my
attention that I'll be too busy to go diving anyway. Here are a few of
the things that I am working on:
 Image
Exhibition
An
exhibition featuring a selection of dynamic shark and ray images
designed to draw attention to the critical position of critically
endangered elasmobranch species. This will initially start locally
but if it is well received I will try to turn it into a traveling
exhibition. It is a great opportunity for me to get on my soap box
in a friendly setting to reinforce the message that shark stocks are
in decline and need to be protected at a global level.
There
are a lot of obstacles holding the project back such as: set up,
printing, framing, venue hire and advertising expenses but we have
high hopes for pulling this together by the spring of next year.
Shark-Shop.com
A retail
website affiliated with Elasmodiver that will ultimately become our
portal for marketing limited edition prints and other elasmodiver
goodies. This is not that big a project but its way beyond my web
savvy so if anyone wants to lend a hand...
The
Shark Dive Operator Initiative
The
original mandate of Elasmodiver was to create an exhaustive
shark and ray
field guide on the internet where divers could look
up a particular species that they were interested in and immediately
find out where they could dive with it. Well, eight years later I'm
nowhere near finished but I think that I've made a pretty good
start.
One of
the factors holding the project up is that I still don't know where
each and every elasmobranch is hiding and when dive operators are
talking about their dive sites on the internet, they don't usually
bother saying that stingray species A is sometimes found swimming
around at dive site B. Consequently, I've decided to approach the
problem from another angle.
The
Shark Dive Operator Initiative (I'm still working on the name) is an
email campaign to get every dive shop or dive operator that we can
find on the internet (not just those that run organized shark dives)
to fill out a quick survey answering which shark and ray species
they see in their neighborhood.
Once we
get the results, their contact info and a brief outline of what you
might encounter with them will get added to the
Dive Operator Directory.
I'm guessing that most dive operators will be pretty happy to have a
link from one of the largest shark diving resources on the internet
so the survey should get a good response. In return, we'll get
priceless information for our database and maybe even some location
ideas for upcoming shark tours. It is a mammoth project. Why any
sane person would attempt it I don't know...
Elasmodiver Expanded
No
surprises here. I'm swamped with new shark and ray images from the
2009 tour and it is going to take me months to add them all onto
Elasmodiver. There are at least 6 new species profiles to be added
to the Field Guide (like the Atlantic Guitarfish shown here) as well
as location pics, some new 'shark diving hot spot' features and lots more
that I don't even want to think about right now.
Shark
Diver Magazine Issue 21
Some of
you may have heard that
Eli was so inspired by the North American Shark Diving Tour that he
decided to dedicate the next issue of the mag almost exclusively to
our adventures. That was a nice gesture on his part but the reality
is that after I agreed in principle, I soon realized that I would
have to rewrite and expand upon my entire road trip blog so that it
would read well in a magazine. And, sort, clean and edit lots and
lots of pics so that Eli can cherry pick his favorites. It is very
time consuming but its kinda fun reliving all the high points and
writing about them from a more retrospective point of view.
From
what I've seen so far, the mag is going to look awesome. Here are a
couple of screen shots that Eli sent me. That's Claire surrounded by
silky sharks on the cover:
 Elasmodiver
on Facebook
Elasmodiver now has a Facebook Page:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Elasmodivercom/130919737853
A month
or two ago a friend of mine started an Andy Murch Shark Photographer
Group on Facebook. That was going well but I couldn't figure out how
to keep everyone updated unless they actually visited the group to
see what had changed. So now there is a simple page that anyone can
join. Once you join Elasmodiver (or become a fan of it) on
Facebook you'll get all my website updates zapped straight to your
Facebook status updates page - much easier for me to manage.
Speaking
of Facebook,
Lately
it has seemed like there are so many shark group postings and worthy
causes that its difficult to know which ones to support. I am sure
that they are probably all worthy causes. The Shark Safe Network is
trying to get likeminded organizations to work together. In their
own words:
 The
Shark Safe Network provides a framework to combine and focus the
efforts of committed individuals and shark conservation groups
towards specific shark conservation campaigns. If you have a
passion to protect sharks, Shark Safe Network helps you to get
involved and make a difference - by participating in a current
campaign or by launching your own campaign in your community.
Shark Safe Network provides the
information, tools, raw materials and support. You provide the
passion!!
The goal of every Shark Safe
Network campaign is to reduce and ultimately eliminate wasteful
and unsustainable activities and products that threaten sharks'
survival. Shark Safe Network invites and welcomes participation
from any and all organizations and individuals, provided that
all campaigns are conducted according the Shark Safe Network
campaign principles.
And we always keep in mind that
helping sharks = helping people. When you consider any of the
issues that threaten sharks today, there is also a corresponding
negative impact on humans and the planet.
Shark Safe Network is all about
getting involved and doing something that counts. Join the Shark
Safe Network and you will make a difference!
Many
organizations have already endorsed the initiative so if you're
looking for an effective way to make a difference, take a closer
look at what the
SharkSafeNetwork is trying to do.
There
are lots more projects that I would like to start at some point but
these will keep me busy for a while.
I am
planning to go to DEMA in November so if you see me wandering around
in an Elasmodiver T-shirt please come up and say hello. It'll be a
busy weekend but there is always time to talk shark.
For the
Sharks,
Andy
Murch
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