With increasingly nice white sharks flocking north to hunt for seals, there are new alternatives to rise up shut and private with the toothy apex predators.
The newest ecotourism expedition within the Northwest Atlantic Ocean includes cage diving with sharks at a rising nice white shark hotspot.
Atlantic Shark Expeditions off of Nova Scotia, Canada has openings for its 7-hour journeys this fall. People on the expeditions can view sharks from the boat, or get cozy with nice whites within the water from the shark cage.
“It’s really great to engage the public in science and conservation, and it’s a cool opportunity for them to see these rare and special animals that they otherwise wouldn’t be able to,” Neil Hammerschlag, founding father of Atlantic Shark Expeditions, instructed the Herald.
The cage diving can completely change peoples’ views of the apex predators, added Hammerschlag, who was once the director of the Shark Research and Conservation Program on the University of Miami.
“People may think that the sharks come rushing in, but that’s not at all what they’re experiencing,” he mentioned. “When the sharks are there, they’re slow and gorgeous, and not menacing at all.”
Hammerschlag had been finding out nice white sharks off of South Africa. That shark inhabitants has now disappeared, whereas the alternative has been occurring off of Canada within the Atlantic. The causes will not be clear, nevertheless it’s probably associated to their recovering populations, will increase of their prey, and warming waters from local weather change.
Great whites now migrate to the waters off of Nova Scotia each summer time and fall, together with the Cape Cod shore.
“People are amazed at the science,” Hammerschlag mentioned of the friends on the expeditions. “We make it educational and informative on the boat… It’s a really rewarding experience for people.”
Atlantic Shark Expeditions is allowed to conduct scientific analysis with nice whites through a allow by the Canadian authorities beneath the Species at Risk Act. Through this analysis, ecotourists can be a part of scientists on boat-based expeditions to seek for sharks, view sharks from the boat and underwater from the cage, study from the analysis workforce, and watch scientific actions.
The expedition’s shark cage opening is 7-feet tall, 7-feet vast, and 3-feet deep. The cage holds three to 4 individuals at a time. The opening of the shark cage sits on the floor, so all cage diving is with a masks and snorkel (not scuba).
“While bait is indeed used to create an attractive smell that lures sharks to the boat, the amount of bait we use pales in comparison to the copious amounts of attractive smell being emitted by their natural prey (like seals),” the expedition’s web site reads.
“In fact, we often focus on areas where there are lots of seals present as the seals are what attract sharks to the area,” the web site provides. “In addition to the odors emanating from their natural prey, the boat-based attractants used in our shark research and ecotourism pales in comparison to the huge amount of chumming being conducted by fisherman to catch fish.”
To study extra about Atlantic Shark Expeditions and to guide a visit this fall, go to www.atlanticsharkexp.com/great-whites-nova-scotia.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”