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 | Links to articles: Know what’ll ban shark feeding? Somebody gets hurt. That’ll shut it right down.
— Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission commissioner Edwin Roberts
Shark attacks in Florida and the Bahamas have made headlines lately, but that’s not enough for the state to put an end to the feeding of sharks by divers.
At least another three or four people will need to be maimed or killed for the FWC to ban shark feeding.
I used to think the FWC would ban shark feeding simply because it’s not right for humans to hand-feed wild animals. The state doesn’t allow the feeding of bears or alligators or even manatees. Why sharks?
Here’s why: Four South Florida dive operators run shark-feeding dives off area beaches.
You’ll not find anyone in Florida making money from interactive bear-feeding tours in the Big Cypress.
The dive industry, which should protect the welfare of the thousands of divers who have no interest in feeding or interacting with sharks, supports the shark feeders. And as I’ve seen time and again at FWC meetings, and before that at Marine Fisheries Commission meetings, when people are making a buck off a natural resource, those people almost always get their way.
Commissioner Roberts once related at an FWC meeting how he and his kids were accosted by sharks near a feeding site in the Keys. He knows the terror that divers experience when a shark approaches too close, rather than keeping its distance. Yet Roberts and all but one of his fellow commissioners refused to ban shark feeding at the FWC’s May meeting in Palm Beach Gardens.
Of course, the dive industry won’t admit it’s about the money. Shark feeders tell how they gained an appreciation of sharks by interacting with them.
Michael Bane, in his excellent book, Diving on the Edge ($14.95, The Lyons Press), maintains that interactions with marine life are one-sided.
He compares hitching a ride on a shark or turtle to an alien popping out of spaceship and grabbing onto your shoulders as you flee.
As a human, we’ve had a relationship with an undersea animal. However, I would say that the undersea animal has not had a relationship with us. Very likely all we’ve done is induce fear, even panic, in the animal.
I think it’s amazing that even at this stage in our environmental awareness, good people can go diving, terrify the indigenous animals and then suggest that the experience helped them understand the animals and their environment.
A very nice, civic-minded woman called me after the FWC voted to fine-tune the dive industry’s shark-feeding guidelines, rather than ban the practice.
She came up with the perfect analogy.
“You know how parents and teachers will complain and complain about a dangerous intersection near an elementary school?” she said. “But politicians and bureaucrats won’t put in stop signs or a traffic light until three or four kids get hit by cars? This is the same thing.
“I’m just afraid that after several people get bitten by sharks and the commission bans shark feeding, our tourism industry will be devastated.
“Nobody is going to want to go to South Florida’s beaches. They’ll go to Disney World instead.”
Steve Waters can be reached at swaters@sun-sentinel.com or at 954-356-4648. BACK TO THE TOP 
State rejects ban on shark feeding
By Steve Waters
Staff Writer - Sun Sentinel
Posted May 25 2001
PALM BEACH GARDENS · Faced with the choice of banning or regulating the feeding of sharks and other marine wildlife, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission opted for regulation on Thursday.
At its meeting last September, the FWC directed the dive industry to come up with guidelines for regulating shark-feeding dives. Those guidelines were developed by the Global Interactive Marine Experiences Council and presented at the FWC meeting Thursday morning.
Although not entirely happy with the guidelines, after five hours of public testimony and discussion, the commissioners voted 8-0 to have FWC staff fine-tune the guidelines and present them at the FWC's next meeting, which is Sept. 5-7 at Amelia Island.
Commissioner Tony Moss of Miami made a motion to ban the feeding of marine wildlife, but none of the commissioners would second it.
"I don't like to ban anything," Barbara Barsh said.
"I'm not ready to prohibit it outright," Julie Morris said.
After the vote, Commissioner Edwin Roberts told Bob Dimond of the Marine Safety Group, which is opposed to shark feeding, "The reality is we can't ban it."
"Know what'll ban it?" Roberts said. "Somebody gets hurt. That'll shut it right down."
The feeding of marine wildlife became an issue at an FWC public workshop in West Palm Beach in September 1999. Dimond, a recreational diver and spearfisherman, said fed sharks were becoming more aggressive because they were associating humans with free handouts.
Four dive operators in Florida offer feeding dives. Some of the feeding sites in Broward County are within 200 yards of the beach and are popular with snorkelers and divers on private boats.
At its first meeting of 2000, the FWC voted to ban the feeding of marine wildlife. Eight months later, the FWC shelved a draft rule to ban the feedings in favor of the dive industry crafting a plan.
Those guidelines call for dive operators to be safe, to encourage conservation and to use only fresh, raw fish to feed sharks. Two of the operators at the meeting that feed sharks said they would abide by the guidelines.
Morris said she wanted more details on how the dive operators would minimize conflicts with other users, minimum distances of feeding sites from swimming beaches, species that would be allowed to be fed and hand-feeding of marine wildlife. FWC staff will now figure that out.
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RULING ON SHARKS A SURPRISE
Steve Waters, Sun Sentinel
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission took everyone by surprise last week when it voted to develop a rule that prohibits divers and snorkelers from feeding sharks in state waters. Going into the FWC’s meeting in Jacksonville, the belief of those on both sides of the issue was that the commission would defer any decisions until it had more data. But the FWC’s eight commissioners didn’t need any proof that feeding sharks, moray eels and fish can cause problems.
“The commission was great,” said David Earp of Pompano Beach, who admitted he was caught off-guard by the FWC’s ruling. “They all seemed to understand it, and they realized they couldn’t let it go on.” Earp, along with Bob Dimond and Stephen Picardi, wrote a proposal to ban shark feeding that was presented to the FWC at a marine fisheries management workshop in West Palm Beach in September. A number of dive operators who run shark-feeding trips in South Florida also were at that workshop, and the debate was often intense. The anti-feeders said sharks that are fed were making spearfishing dangerous. The pro-feeders contended spear-fishermen were attracting sharks by not immediately bringing each fish they shot back to their boats.
At a follow-up workshop in Dania Beach in October, there seemed to be little hope that the issue would be resolved soon. Both sides offered compelling testimony. There were recreational divers who were terrorized when sharks suddenly showed up expecting to be fed and longtime shark feeders who said they’d never seen a shark that was even remotely aggressive.
The reaction of FWC staffers at the workshop was that they would probably have to spend a lot of time trying to find out if feeding sharks affects their behavior and makes them lose their fear of humans.
When the issue came before the commission Thursday, one of the recommendations was to create a panel that would help the shark feeders regulate themselves. None of those in favor of feeding sharks spoke at the meeting and only half a dozen, including Earp, spoke against the practice. The commissioners, however, had heard enough. Especially after Commissioner Edwin Roberts related how he and his children were harassed by sharks near a feeding site off Marathon.
In voting unanimously in favor of a ban, the commissioners essentially agreed that feeding sharks does not help the species. No one has been killed while feeding sharks and moray eels, but several have been bitten.
The next step is to come up with a rule, then have a public hearing and a vote on it. A proposal should be ready by May. Earp said he expects shark-feeders to be out in force at that meeting.
“I think we’ll see some opposition next time,” said Earp, a commercial lobster diver who recently had a bull shark sneak up on him.
“[A ban] is a great step in keeping our ocean safe for everybody. I think in the long run it will benefit both the dive and tourist industries to have the safest waters possible.”
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