Shark Dive Operator Recovering from Shark Bite

(Dive Travel Business News - January 31, 2011) -- Shark dive operator Jim Abernethy is recovering from a shark bite that occurred on a diving excursion with the commercial diving vessel Shear Water in the Bahamas last week. In a press conference this past weekend, Abernathy stated he had been mistaken for a fish.  The operator had been ten feet down tending to bait in rough water in a cluster of about 40 sharks when he was bitten on the arm. The choppy water stirs up the bait and can confuse sharks.  Abernathy stated that he would no longer bait sharks in rough waters.

Apparently concerned about the press releasing bad information about sharks,  Abernethy, who wore a shirt that read "Stop eating shark fin soup”, took the opportunity at the news conference to spread the his message that sharks must be protected.

"Any diver anywhere on Florida, the Bahamas, or most of the world, realizes that our reefs are covered with algae. Scientists now believe that this algae is caused by the removal of over 90 percent of the sharks," Abernethy said.

Abernethy, who runs Abernethy's Scuba Adventures, which specializes in tiger, hammerhead, and lemon shark expeditions in the Bahamas, is no stranger to controversy. Back In 2008, Abernathy was named in a letter sent by Neal Watson, president of the Bahamas Dive Association, that was sent to all dive companies operating in the Bahamas; The letter warned operators to cease and desist "conducting open-water non-cage shark diving experiences with known species of potentially dangerous sharks, such as tiger sharks, bull sharks, hammerhead sharks, lemon sharks & mako sharks." 

The letter went on to say "some dive operators have chosen to disregard standard safe-diving practices as it relates to interactions with tiger sharks and other potentially dangerous species of sharks, in various locations within the waters of The Islands of The Bahamas."

Based in West Palm Beach Florida, Abernethy's Scuba Adventures is not a member of the Bahamas Dive Association. Later that same year, Abernathy ran a shark expedition where a diver was killed by a shark bite.

At the recent press conference, Abernethy said he has full-range of motion in right arm but to avoid infection it will be at least ten days before his doctors clear him to get back into the water.

Shark dives where chum is used to get sharks into a feeding frenzy has always been controversial.  In the ongoing presence of humans, sharks lose their natural behaviour of being suspicious of unknown marine life. Scientists believe sharks exposed to chum-fed shark diving sites learn to associate divers with food and can become very aggressive.

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