...He also laughed at the moronic claim by shark hunters that Great Whites are thriving. The science says otherwise. I saw the photos of the attack and his recovery. An amazing man who I have nothing but the highest respect for.
Shark hunters?? Science?? Photos??
Here's a little update on the eastern Pacific population of great whites. Can't imagine why the Indian Ocean would be any different.
A new census study shows there are more than 2,400 white sharks off California...
The study by a 10-member team led by George H. Burgess, director of the Florida Program for Shark Research, bolsters a recent National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration determination that the eastern Pacific Ocean population of great white sharks does not warrant listing under the Endangered Species Act.
“That we found these sharks are doing OK, better than OK, is a real positive in light of the fact that other shark populations are not necessarily doing as well,” ...
...The environmental groups were reacting to the first census of great whites ever attempted. Conducted by UC Davis and Stanford University researchers, and published in the journal Biology Letters in 2011, the census estimated that only 219 adult and sub-adult great whites lived off the Central California coast, and perhaps double that many were in the entire northeastern Pacific Ocean, including Southern California.
The surprisingly low estimate prompted environmentalists to launch fundraising campaigns to “save the great white shark from extinction,” and file the petitions that made Carcharodon carcharias the first candidate for listing as an endangered species in California ocean waters.
The UC Davis/Stanford University census also drew sneers from shark experts who claimed it was based on faulty assumptions. The actual white shark population... was likely 10 times larger....
...“In this case, the environmental groups were too quick on the draw,” Burgess said in an interview. “Their hearts were in the right place, but their petitions cost taxpayers a heck of a lot of money and diverted resources away from species genuinely at risk.”
http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-great-white-shark-census-20140623-story.html