Dear divers among you,

I don't want to appear rude, but I don't understand too much this
excessive shark protection. I'm diving weekly at night, and sharks are
a constant worry here when going a little deeper at night. Just last
week we met two small 1 meter reef sharks 25 m deep at night when
trying to find some very nice red mappa. We indeed found an average of
two pieces per diver, but one shark almost hit one of us because it
was in the same cave as the mappa.

Another one passed me at a couple of meters in the flashlight. It is
indeed a magnificent sight and it's OK when he looks like this one:
peaceful and beautiful.

When we know there are sharks around, we use the shark shields
occasionally, this new Australian invention, but I've not seen the
reaction of the beasts as yet.

Fortunately most sharks in the Philippines are, as the fishermen say
here "in the market". This is just to tranquilize their minds.

As all dangerous animals, the shark species should be kept alive and
well, exactly as lions. But still, we should as a species be able to
swim and dive in peace in the major part of the tropical oceans. There
is no reason to accept the oceans are from the sharks, not from the
humans. Lions and wolves were also around in Europe, but I'm so glad I
don't meet them in the centre of Paris today, even if this is "their"
territory as people understand it now.

Sharks never attacked me but to my big surprise, I was attacked by a
yellow and black snake two weeks ago, only 8 meters deep, near the
Doong Islands, at night. It was very very frightening and only a
strong knock on her head, during here third attack,  with my
flashlight, could make here stop the attack and go to the surface.  A
couple of days later, one of our divers saw two different species of
snake fight in the night....

These are also protected animals here, but don't believe the people
who say they are "harmless", even when on television they show an
"expert" keeping several of them by the tail.

Values change all the time. In Asia, the vast majority of people
prefer sharks in their dish. The west wants them swimming - but in
Belgium we eat them by the millions, they are sold as "eel" but people
don't known they are sharks.

I guess the good attitude is between the two.

But be careful when you see them, they are indeed unpredictable. The
world statistics are clearly faked: there must be much more people
dying from sharks than said, as I know personally a good dozen eaten
or bitten by sharks, among these one of my better friends, Philippe
Van Wim. We also all know the history of the Coucom family, the shark
bite of shell collector Briano by a harmless nurse shark, the Weaver
story etc... etc... and these are only a few of the shell people that
suffered from these "harmless" animals. A hundred of years ago we put
dangerous animals in cages, now we put divers in cages. Funny.

What a wonderful world.

Mabuhay from Mactan island, the Philippines.

Guido T. Poppe
Vice President Conchology, Inc.
Scientific Associate, Malacology Section, Royal Belgian Insitute of
Natural Sciences, Brussels.
Scientific Collaborator to the National Museum of Natural Sciences,
Paris.
Philippine Coast Guard Auxiliary Squadron 201A.

Conchology, Inc.
Cebu Light Industrial Park,
Basak, Lapu-Lapu City,
Cebu, Philippines 6015

Phone #: +63 32 495 9990
Fax #: +63 32 495 9991

Websites: www.conchology.be
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                   www.poppe-images.com
                   www.mambele.be

Email: [log in to unmask]

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