Dive Dubai aquarium

[Frogette35]

I know it is gimmicky but I would love to do this.........start saving

http://www.divemahara.com/daily-scuba-trips/shark-diving-in-dubai.html

[rockinrobin]

Thanks, but I'll stick to the Stuart Coves shark feed in the Bahamas. That way you get to actually swim around when they've finished eating (hopefully finished anyway).

See my avatar

[smileydiver]

You can do the same thing at the Blue Planet Aquarium in Ellesmere Port - cheaper and closer

http://www.blueplanetaquarium.com/diving-with-sharks/shark-dive

[Noggin the Nog]

I used to think I'd like to do it. Now I'm not a fan of these big aquaria & I'd just rather see them in the wild. No baiting either. If they turn up, they turn up.

But diving with any shark is just amazing.

[AndrewRawlingson]

Odd that a website that sells "Shark Diving in Dubai Mall" also has links to shark conservation organisations.

There is nothing like a wild shark encounter, especially one that isn't expected. I got buzzed by a large bronze whaler recently, it certainly got the heart going! Failing that, I've been on shark feed dives in Fiji and Australia, both memorable.

[smileydiver]

I 'like' the last two posts and agree, much better to see sharks in the wild and on chance encounters. I personally would not want to go on a dive where sharks are baited or chummed or fed.

I am a bit divided on the aquarium issue. The one in Ellesmere port I did when I had just started diving and wasn't so aware of the issues.

[Paul H]

Re: Dive Dubai aquarium

Is chumming bad?

Maybe a bit simplistic opinion, but surely sharks need all the help they can get atm and if a chummed shark is nice and full, maybe won't go round tasting Russian snorkellers and hence hunted out of existence due to over excitable headline writers?

And the eco-tourism aspect, encouraging locals to make money out of showing the sharks off in the water rather than for food or fins?

I've never done either and prefer the idea of natural encounters, but reckon chumming may have it's place?

[Chris Brown]

Is chumming bad?

Maybe a bit simplistic opinion, but surely sharks need all the help they can get atm and if a chummed shark is nice and full, maybe won't go round tasting Russian snorkellers and hence hunted out of existence due to over excitable headline writers?

And the eco-tourism aspect, encouraging locals to make money out of showing the sharks off in the water rather than for food or fins?

I've never done either and prefer the idea of natural encounters, but reckon chumming may have it's place?

Yes, they need all the help they can get, which is why I personally support shark feeds like Stuart Coves. They are not 'fed' as such, more of a snice smell and a bit of a taster. They still need to hunt in their natural habitat. A few local sharks that have been 'affected' is worth the tens of thousands of happy humans who are not shark fans and may support their conservation in the future IMO

I dont however, support aquariums that keep pelagic animals in tanks. Whale sharks and great whites for example are not designed to be in one place. They roam the oceans and generally dont do well in captivity. Sand tiger (raggies) are popular and seem to do a lot better.

[drmwc]

I've done the Beqa dive in Fiji, where bull sharks are fed. It's an amazing dive - we typically had 15 to 20 bull shareks turning up, and lots of littler sharks in the shallows.

Bull shark numbers in Fiji have apparently increased since the feeding began in 1999. The food used wood otherwise go to landfill. The worry is that the feeding would lead to different behviour of the sharks. The only study I'm aware which has looked at this concluded that the feeding does not materially change the sharks' behaviour. (http://www.plosone.org/article/info%...l.pone.0058522 .)

So on balance, I think shark feeding is probably a good thing. And it gives rise to brilliant dives.

Low quality photo* of a bull shark at 30 meters:


*I like photography, but I'm rubbish at it, particularly when it gets relatively deep.

[smileydiver]

I think there is an argument for eco tourism and agree that large pelagics should not be in aquariums. The slow moving / bottom dwelling sharks I have slightly less of an issue with.

I personally would still rather just have natural shark encounters though and see them in a natural state, not over-stimulated by something. Just the experience I would prefer.

[Chris Brown]

So would I, but then it would only leave the 0.000000001% of the population that actively wants to go out and seek shark encounters. With everyone else still watching shark week, reading the papers in the summer lull and still thinking that sharks are dangerous man eaters and not having the misconception challenged.

I still vividly remember the 'aquarium' at the Atlantis resort on Grand Bahama. you can go down some stairs into a reception area surrounded on three sides by water tank. Stay there for half an hour and watch the reactions of the visitors as mantas and reef sharks circle around. Some of the things I heard people say:

"Aaarrrggggghhhh!!!!! look at the size of that shark!!!!!!!!!! Holy shit its gonna like eat us!!!" (It was a MANTA) "Shut up dude, thats not a shark its is a WHALE!" (Still a MANTA)

"OMG! Do they really put those things in there, its like gonna totally eat the other fish!"

"Will it break the glass?? Kids, dont stand too close."

"Holy fuck dude, its a great white" "no its not" "Is Too! Havent you seen Jaws you retard?" (It was a reef shark)

The ignorance of the general public regarding the marine environment is staggering. However, a few days later they are all happily going down the water slides into pools of sharks without giving them a second glance. Interaction and familiarisation seems to remove the fear and misconceptions created by the media and popular folklore.

I hated seeing the mantas at Atlantis. But perhaps theres a few thousand more people who have grown to admire them as much as we do??

[rockinrobin]

I caught part of a programme on radio 4 in the last few days about shark conservation. I don't know where it was talking about, and I'm not 100% sure of the figure, but I think they had worked out that in this particular place each shark was worth $10,000 per year in "shark tourism".

Sounds FAR better to me to encourage people to feed their local shark populations, and attract divers with all the extra spending money we splash about, than to not get any income from them forcing people to fish for them.

[Noggin the Nog]

I caught part of a programme on radio 4 in the last few days about shark conservation. I don't know where it was talking about, and I'm not 100% sure of the figure, but I think they had worked out that in this particular place each shark was worth $10,000 per year in "shark tourism".

Sounds FAR better to me to encourage people to feed their local shark populations, and attract divers with all the extra spending money we splash about, than to not get any income from them forcing people to fish for them.

Divers generally don't seem to have any problems from aggressive sharks, with or without chumming/baiting. However we can't be sure of the long term consequences of an intervention in a natural feeding pattern.

From what we heard when we were out in Sharm, the French(?) snorkeler who was attacked by a shark just happened to be in an area at the same time as a dive boat was illegally chumming for its vociferously demanding clients. The German woman swimmer attacked was allegedly carrying a bum bag of breakfast sausage (most hotel guests seem to try this at least once) so I think it's fair to say there are dangers associated with chumming.