Want to see some Porgies?

Hi all

My short film on Porbeagle Sharks in now online and can be seen here along with a full expedition report.

Sorry the resolution is so small and the underwater shots of the Porbeagles are watermarked, but the footage is so rare (basically the only footage of its kind) that it is quiet valuable and wouldn't normally be out on the web yet if it were not for the conservation message.

Cheers, Simon

Nice work ... great message !

They are an awesome shark... were you in the water or was it pole cam?

Jon

Simon that was very good.

Commercial Media are only interested in one thing....making money and generally they will do and say anything they can to achieve that objective.

Popped Off..I like it.. They look like the same tags they put on the Floppy Whale Sharks.

Really excellent.

Alex

Thanks for the nice words guys and I'm really glad you enjoyed it!

Wags the tabloid media (in the UK at least) are a bunch of shisters as you've probably heard. I was standing next to someone during the summer when they gave a quote saying that a photo of a basking shark was definately NOT a great white. Next day it appeared in the paper word for word, apart from they had taken the NOT out. Makes you wonder if anything you read in them has any basis in truth. The tags are probably the same as the ones that you use on the floppy's as they are very specialised. They were actually pretty big for the size of the Porgies though, but everything seems to have gone ok so far with 3 of 3 popped off already and the 4th one due any day now.

All of the Porbeagles shots were taken using poles but everything else was 'in water' shots. The Porgies are very very skittish. As soon as anyone attempts to get in the water with them they bugger off. We're going to be trying a couple of new approaches next year that will hopefully keep them around so people can get into the water with them. The weather and sea conditions didn't help either. On many days we ended up getting chased off by storms and the water vis was normally less than 5m which made it less than ideal to be filming in!

Cheers, Simon

Just got confirmation today that an extended and re-editied version is going to be broadcast on BBC1's InFocus magazine programme on the 31st Oct

Cheers, Simon

Thats fantastic news Simon...

Any chance of a link for the peeps who cannot receive this lovely programme...

Dive safe

DeanB

I'll try to find one mate, not even sure of times etc myself yet, although it should be early evening news time I think. I'll probably still be poodling around in France as we're off to Paris after Antibes, but I may be home by then. There's always Sky+ to fall back on too

Cheers, Simon

Just watched the podcast version Simon. Great job getting an important message over. Good luck with getting in the water with them next year. Wondering what the new approaches might be. Rebreathers? Shark suits?

Thanks Nick. I don't think there is any danger from the Porbeagles, but we're thinking of using a cage next year. The common theory is that most sharks will see the cage and the boat as one item, therefore if the cage is already deployed and the sharks turn up we can slip into the cage without frightening them off. Well that's one idea anyway Hopefully we'll come up with a few more over the winter!

Cheers, Simon

Paris !!!!

Oh to be young and carefree....

Dive safe

DeanB

Simon,

I am late to this thread but had to say, i really enjoyed the film. Great work and effort to get this footage. I too have seen I can get certain action just not possible without a polecam.

I think your project is exciting and necessary to protect this species. What people don't see and understand, they NEVER protect. You are helping provide one more reason to consider protection.

Great work mate!

Thanks Shawn and I'm glad you enjoyed it

Porbeagles are sexy sharks, so if we can find out more info on them and get more images etc then we can hopefully get the word out on them.

Next year though I'm going to be trying to make the Spiny Dogfish look 'sexy'. Now that's going to be a REAL challenge!!

Cheers, Simon

Just a correction on the name of the BBC1 programme - it's not InFocus, it's 'Inside Out', next Weds 31st Oct at 7.30pm.

Cheers, Simon

Thanks Nick. I don't think there is any danger from the Porbeagles, but we're thinking of using a cage next year. The common theory is that most sharks will see the cage and the boat as one item, therefore if the cage is already deployed and the sharks turn up we can slip into the cage without frightening them off. Well that's one idea anyway Hopefully we'll come up with a few more over the winter!

 

Cheers, Simon

Hi Simon,

great stuff!!

About filming the sharks from below. What about using rebreathers? They might even be attracted by the electric signals of the solenoid.

Peter

We've not really looked into rebreathers yet Peter, but it may be something we could consider in the future. The main problem is that we're often working in strong currents (up to 5 or 6 knots) with limited vis (normally under 5m) and in completely open water. There is no way of retrieving a diver either unless we have two boats around, which makes it really difficult and pretty dangerous. Oh the things we do for our obsessions!

Cheers, Simon