(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. read more »
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