If you have ever been to a zoo, you have seen one or more signs conspicuously displayed that say “DON’T FEED THE ANIMALS.”
Interestingly enough, we have never seen a sign like that under the water while diving. To some people, it’s just fine to feed the animals- fish to attract sharks, to draw out a moray eel, or a goliath grouper.
The Team has seen all of these and disapproves of each of them. We oppose all of these activities, and so do most educated divers.
Feeding changes the natural behavior of the sharks and other hunters. We dive in part to enjoy just about the only place on the planet where human activity hasn’t messed with nature. It’s a lot more exciting to see a shark hunting than to watch it eat dead fish of a spear or crat box. We enjoy watching marine animal behavior and prefer it to be unaffected.
Let’s keep nature natural.
In some areas of the Caribbean, sharks and groupers are offered dead or wounded lionfish.
Feeding sharks can create negative behaviors between sharks and divers. In some cases, sharks have shown aggressive behaviors unexpectedly towards divers when extracting lionfish. This is unlike natural behaviors that are observed between sharks and divers.
It is crucial to avoid interacting with the natural behaviors of sharks.
