IMMP table of contents.
The Pelagic Shark Research Foundation (PSRF) is working to halt the practice of attracting great
white sharks through "chumming." Chumming is the creation of an ocean-borne trail of animal
parts and blood to lure sharks, which have a highly developed sense of smell, to vessels. Operators
typically dump some 2,000 pounds of chum, including terrestrial mammal entrails, into the water
to create a mile-wide chum slick to attract the sharks. Clients, who pay upwards of $800 each, are
then lowered into the water in a steel cage to watch the sharks feed. Since sport chumming for great
whites targets the sharks for the "thrill of close observation," it violates a California law that
mandates that great white sharks are a protected species that cannot be commercially or
recreationally fished or otherwise pursued.Despite widespread public opposition, commercial charter boat operators in the Santa Cruz/ Monterey Bay area continue chumming, claiming that it is a benign practice, equivalent in impact to whale watching expeditions. PSRF Executive Director Sean Van Sommeran disagrees, "Sport contact with the sharks through chumming violates the protective spirit of California law AB-522 and can be extremely hazardous to the sharks and humans involved. Intrusive human activities such as chumming alter sharks' natural predatory behavior and disrupt the research on which we need to base protection efforts." The Surfers' Environmental Alliance and Division Ten of the Commercial Abalone Divers Association have brought a lawsuit against two shark chumming expedition operators. Lawyers are proceeding on the basis that the practice of chumming violates the Federal Marine Research Protection and Sanctuaries Act, the Ocean Dumping Act, the Clean Water Act, and California Fish and Game codes that protect great white sharks from being pursued and harrassed.
The Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary (MBNMS) is currently considering restricting or prohibiting chumming. Aaron King, Program Specialist at MBNMS commented, "The Sanctuary Program and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration are very concerned about the issue of shark chumming and whether or not it is compatible with other uses of the sanctuary and with the preservation of sanctuary resources."
Pelagic Shark Research Foundation
333 Lake Avenue, Suite H
Maritime Center
Santa Cruz, CA 95062
Ocean Alert -Winter/Spring 1996.
http://www.earthisland.org/immp/chum.html