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Shark Practices Questioned
CDN:
I’m sorry but I have a big problem with the practice of white shark cage diving at Guadalupe Island. My problem is this: Many of the sharks that are being seen off Guadalupe carry the yellow tags that are being put in their backs off of good old Northern Cal. That tells me these fish are traveling up and down the entire coast passing countless non-caged scuba divers, free-divers, surfers and swimmers. We have learned through many hours of watching shark week that these are pretty intelligent fish and probably pretty easily trained to come to a Pavlovian style dinner bell... So here we are at Guadalupe Island we set our big anchor with chain which can be heard for miles underwater then we put the chum in the water... Then they hang chunk baits of cut-up tuna etc. to get them more excited. Then we put humans into metal cages with all sorts electronic cameras and play this game of “you can't get me.” I’m sorry but it seems stupid to be teaching one of the smartest aquatic predators to come to the sound of a boat and the smell of blood to find humans at the other end. All for the sake of money. All the people doing this might want to have a talk with Randy Fry’s family, a man who devoted much of his time to fighting for divers fishing rights. He was bitten and killed recently while diving for abalone from his anchored boat in Northern Cal.

Hans Haveman
via email

Ab Diet Disputed
CDN:
Good article on abalone, but I thought you might be interested in a slightly different take on their eating habits. My understanding is that they have a tongue-like organ called a radula. The radula has a rough surface. They use that radula to scrape the film of green algae off the rock surface as they move around on the rocks. In other words it is the film of green algae that grows on the otherwise bare surface of the rocks that is their primary food. The numerous times I have cut open their stomachs I see very finely processed green algae. I am interested to learn more about what you have seen relative to their actually eating the large leaves off the kelp. That is news to me.

Dr. Ivan Colburn,
Emeritus Professor
Dept. Geological Sciences, Cal. State L. A.

Dr. Colburn,
On occasion, I have seen abalone munching on kelp fronds at the base of a reef as the surge pushed broken-off fronds into their reach. A friend of mine told me about the “trick” of hand-feeding, and I have tried it several times successfully to my amusement.

Dale Sheckler
Editor