Did you know that Crystal Divers is a Shark Guardian dive center ?
Why should we care about Saving Sharks and support organisations like Shark Guardian ?
Sharks are misunderstood creatures that have developed a negative and exaggerated reputation as big monster killers, but that is not true. Shark guardians aim is to change this twisted view of sharks and introduce sharks as they are in reality – amazing, beautiful creatures.
Sharks are apex predators and keeps the ocean health and balance stable, so if the sharks diapers then what happens with all other marine life ? They play a crucial role in the marine ecosystem by maintaining a balance in the food chain and directly affecting all other species. This keeps our oceans healthy and full of life, ultimately helping to support all life on earth. Which should be in all our interest.
Between 70 and 100 million sharks are killed each year from over fishing and targeted shark finning. The demand for shark fin soup and other related products is responsible for the decline of many shark species around the world. Many sharks have already disappeared and face serious threats of extinction in our lifetime. That is why Crystal Divers has become a Shark guardian center to assist them in the hard work of educating people about sharks so that we can stop the madness of killing sharks.
We assist shark guardian by having presentations to inform people about sharks, and how we can interact with them rather than killing them.
We also sell their products where all the money goes straight to their conservation projects and hard work to save the sharks.
Shark Guardian T-shirts, Shark Guardian Ladies west’s, Children’s T-shirts
Shark Guardian Wristbands
You can find all these products in Crystal Divers shop or if you’re not in Bali and still want to show your support to sharks you can order them directly from Shark guardian though their online shop: http://www.freewebstore.org/shark-guardian-merchandise
Who are shark guardian ?
Shark Guardian is a UK Charity for shark and marine conservation projects worldwide. Founded by experienced scuba diving instructors with a great passion for sharks, Shark Guardian has been focusing on shark and marine conservation activities, education, supporting and promoting shark conservation efforts and leading scuba dives for shark encounters since 1998. The unique and inspiring Shark Guardian presentation is viewed by thousands of people each year.
Shark Guardians 2 main goals are:
- To advance the education of the public in shark species worldwide, enhancing knowledge, skills and understanding that can be applied to protecting the natural environment.
- To advance for the public benefit the conservation of shark species worldwide, enhancing knowledge, skills and understanding that can be applied to protecting the natural environment.
Crystal Divers also teach the PADI shark awareness specialty where you get to know more about this amazing creature and you also get to dive with them.
What kind of sharks and where can you dive with them around Bali?
One favorite site to dive with sharks is Candi Dasa where the chances are very big to spot White tip reef sharks. But you can bump into various sharks on most dive sites in Bali for example:
- White tip reef sharks are also often spotted in some dive sites around Padang bai.
- Black tip reef sharks you might be lucky to spot in Tulamben
- Bamboo shark, Wobbegong shark, treasure shark, grey nurse sharks sharks you can occasionally spot on the dive sites around Nusa Penida when diving with Crystal Divers.
- Whale sharks you have to be lucky to spot since they normally just comes by Bali on their long migrations in between oceans.
Interesting facts about sharks
- As sensational as shark attacks are in newspaper headlines, the reality is that you’re more likely to be bitten by another person than a shark.
- What’s older than sharks? Almost nothing. Sharks have been swimming in the ocean for more than 400 million years. They predate practically everything that has a spine, including humans and dinosaurs.
- You may think of sharks as ravenous, man-eating terrors of the sea, but in reality, only 3% of the more than 500 species of shark — a small minority — are known to attack humans.
- Humans are the shark’s biggest predator, but killer whales, crocodiles and seals have been known to eat sharks as well. Large sharks will even go after smaller, younger sharks that might make easy prey.
- The prehistoric shark Megalodon probably grew to 60 feet (18 meters), and it’s popularized today as the largest shark ever to exist. However, there was another plated fish called the Dunkleosteus, which, though not a shark, weighed in at around 4 tons. If they’d lived during the same era, Dunkleosteus could have proved to be a deadly match for the Megaladon.
- Sharks’ skeletons are made entirely of cartilage, an elastic tissue that is much softer than bones. When a shark dies, salt from the ocean water completely dissolves its skeleton, leaving only the shark’s teeth behind.
- Sharks’ eyes are on the sides of their heads, so they have an amazingly wide sightline spanning nearly 360 degrees. Their panoramic view of the undersea world is inhibited only by two blind spots, one in front of the snout and the other directly behind the head.
- Instead of closing its eyelids, a great white shark rolls its eyes into the back of its head when it attacks. This behavior helps the shark protect its eyes from debris and the thrashing of its prey.
- You are more likely to be killed by a falling coconut than being killed by a shark. Roughly 150 people are killed each year by coconuts compared to sharks killing only 4-12 people a year. Coconuts are more dangerous than sharks!
- You can’t see a shark’s ears, but that doesn’t stop it from being able to hear you from more than two football fields away. That’s because sharks only have inner ears, which they use to track the sound of their prey from lengths of more than 800 feet (244 meters).
- Sharks have an astounding sense of smell, so powerful that they can detect a single drop of blood in an Olympic-sized pool.
- Every once in a while, a female shark can reproduce without any contact from a male, an act known as parthenogenesis.
- While many of us have learned to fear sharks, they’re the ones who should fear us. People are sharks’ biggest predator. In fact, humans kill more than 73 million sharks annually.
- While many people fear sharks and think of them as one of the world’s most aggressive and deadly animals, the chances of dying from a shark attack fall well below the chances of being killed by hornets, wasps, bees or dogs.
- There are at least 500 shark species (perhaps even more) roaming the world’s oceans today. They vary in size and even shape, but they all tend to share similar body characteristics like large livers, flexible cartilaginous skeletons and enhanced sensory systems.
For even more facts come and visit us at Crystal Divers on the 17th July 2015 at 18.30 when shark Guardian is holding a presentation about sharks.
If you can not attend you will find more info about sharks and how to get involved by visiting their website: http://www.sharkguardian.org/
