SCUBA MARCH 2025 issue 153 | Page 61

A great place to meet sharks Paul Cox considers the value of sharkrelated tourism in the Bahamas , where baited dives are big business

Library image of a mako shark

Red Sea shark attack

A shark attack off Mara Alam , Egypt left one diver dead and another injured in December last year . On the morning of Sunday 29 December 2024 , Gianluca Di Giola , from Rome , was bitten and killed by a mako shark . His friend 69-year-old Peppino Fappani was injured trying to intervene and subsequently hospitalised with severe injuries . They were believed to be diving in deeper waters beyond an inshore swimming area . Mako sharks are seldom encountered in the Red Sea , and authorities are investigating environmental factors surrounding the tragedy .

Slumber of centuries

Spanish archaeologists have raised a 2,600-year-old shipwreck from waters off the country ’ s south-eastern coast , 20 years after its initial discovery . The ancient Phoenician shipwreck dates back to the 7th century BCE . It was discovered in 1994 off the coast of Murcia , near the town of Mazarrón . Now called the Mazarrón II ( to avoid confusion with a different wreck in the region ), the vessel is of interest because it is one of only a few Phoenician-era shipwrecks discovered largely intact .

Last week I had the pleasure of listening to SCUBA ’ s editor speaking about his enviable experiences diving with ( and photographing ) sharks around the world . Among the locations that he name-checked was the Bahamas , something of a Mecca for shark divers .

Today I find myself , courtesy of the Bahamas Ministry of Tourism , on a filming trip to the Islands . We ’ re travelling from Nassau to Bimini after two spectacular days diving and filming Caribbean Reef Sharks . What awaits in Bimini , we hope , are Great Hammerheads and Lemons . I have to say the experience has , so far , been wonderful and fascinating .

The Bahamas is a great case study in demonstrating the tourism value of sharks . Scientists in the past have managed to run some maths and place a dollar value on a living shark versus a fished shark . While I feel this approach is imperfect and definitely not universally applicable , it opens up a conversation about how we value our wildlife and protect it . And the Bahamas seem to have taken it on . Longline fisheries were banned in the 1990s and further spatial protection was added in 2011 , making the sharks around the Bahamas , theoretically at least , some of the best protected in the world . And there ’ s definitely a financial incentive to protecting them . In 2014 it was calculated that sharks and rays contributed $ 113 million to the economy of the islands , some 1.3 % of GDP .

So it ’ s interesting to see , close up , how a country adapts and builds up their shark diving sector as a significant economic contributor . From what I ’ ve seen so far , diving operations are slick , welcoming and responsibly managed . But there are some doubters . Part of the reason for the popularity of shark diving in the Bahamas , particularly among American divers , is that dives can be ‘ enhanced ’ by using bait , a practice outlawed across the water in the US . It ’ s a debate that goes on across the world and it goes to the heart of the development of sustainable shark dive tourism . I ’ ll be honest , I ’ ve not formed a view . There are arguments each way and , like almost all things , there are good and bad ways of doing things .

And it ’ s fair to say that more sharks isn ’ t necessarily a priory for people outside the dive community . So their value needs to be emphasised to non-divers and there are some great educational initiatives here that promote understanding and value of sharks to local communities .

It ’ s a great honour to meet so many passionate shark advocates and I ’ m really grateful to be given the chance to be here , to meet and talk with people and learn more about what is , doubtless , a great place to meet sharks . www . sharktrust . org

PHOTO : SPANISH NATIONAL MUSEUM OF UNDERWATER ARCHAEOLOGY

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