Snorkelling with Great Whites - NO CAGE

Hi all, check out this video of a guy snorkelling with Great White sharks outside the cage:

http://dailymotion.alice.it/video/xjbfz_na...-le-grand-blanc

My jaw almost dropped when I saw what this guys was doing to these Great Whites, basically treating them like us mortals treat Whale Sharks. To me it looks real, but my question to the video gurus, is this for real or some kind of digital manipulation? Hehehehe...

Luiz

Rocha,

This is old news I'm afraid. Get the Who, What, When, Where, Why and WTF at the thread link.

Cheers,

Mark.

Since this topic is being revisited a little I wanted to point something out from a shark biology standpoint. the white sharks in the video are relatively small (somewhere in the range of 2+ to 2.5 m based on comparison to the diver). It would be safe to say that they are still juveniles at this point. Juvenile white sharks still derive a majority of their diet from fish as they slowly begin the transition to marine mammal prey. Snorkelling with these whites may not pose the same threat as a much larger one, as though the animal may make some passes (or maybe even look to exhibit 'test bite' behavior - it is not specifically looking at the snorkellers as prey as much as a larger shark would. I wouldn't say I advocate snorkeling with any white sharks but the smaller whites may be safer for this reason (oh yeah - and they have smaller mouths - haha). The part of the film that I find appalling is when Mike actually rides the dorsal fin. As a biologist who studies whale sharks, I advocate a strict no touch policy (as most places that have whale shark ecotourism do) - and I hate to see any shark ridden. It is highly unnatural and can be visibly stressful for the animal. In short - if it affects the animal and causes any unneccessary behavioral modification, it simply shouldn't be done...

cheers!

- MDP

Ops!! Missed it! That's what I get for spending so much time in the water...

Absolutely agree with you MDP on the no touch standpoint.

Cheers,

CamDiver