Warning to Manhattan Beach paddlers and anglers: leave the great white sharks alone (via www.petethomasoutdoors.com)

Found this on http://www.petethomasoutdoors.com
My Manhattan Beach surf friends already told me about this and it's worth sharing with you. A few of them have recently been "bumped" by sharks in the surf line up so beware- be safe. Take care of yourself and each other:

Warning to Manhattan Beach paddlers and anglers: leave the great white sharks alone

When a coastal region has a great white shark problem, it generally means that a clear and present danger exists for water users.

But for Manhattan Beach in Los Angeles County, it's the sharks that are at risk of being harrassed by stand-up paddlers trying to videotape them, and by anglers attempting to hook the protected predators.

The state Department of Fish and Wildlife, citing a trend that involves paddlers with GoPro cameras intentionally trying to find white sharks, is warning people to leave them alone or face the possibility of being cited. The same goes for pier anglers.

"White sharks are a candidate species under the California Endangered Species Act and therefore fully protected," Traci Larinto and Michelle Horeczko, part of the DFW's White Shark Status Review Team, said in a statement issued Thursday afternoon. "They cannot be taken or pursued.  The public should take steps to avoid white sharks while fishing or being out on the water."

Though white shark sightings are up this year throughout Southern California, the epicenter is Manhattan Beach, particularly a mile-long stretch from the pier north to a surf spot called El Porto.

Juvenile white sharks–those measuring to about 10 feet–are seasonal residents of Southland coastal waters, and perhaps because of a mixture of abundant prey and warm water, many of them congregate off Manhattan Beach.

(Juvenile white sharks feed primarily on small fish, including sharks and rays. Most sightings occur in summer and early fall. The sharks are believed to migrate into Mexican waters during the winter.)

The increase in sightings could be due to an increase in the number of juvenile white sharks. But a definite factor is a sharp increase in the number of people who stand-up paddle, many while caring GoPro cameras in the hope of capturing footage to share via social media.

"Right now, every surfer/thrill seeker with a GoPro is going out to Manhattan Beach and trying to film them, ride them, and catch them on hook and line," said Christopher Lowe, a Cal State Long Beach professor and white shark expert. "Most people do not understand CESA regulations and that even incidental catch [or] being caught swimming after a shark with a GoPro camera can be considered take or harassment and is a citable, even jailable offense."

Paddleboard sightings began to increase in September. In October, a YouTube video of a close encounter, shared by Mike Durand, went semi-viral. He used a helmet-cam to record a shark swimming beneath his board as he paddled  off El Porto. Video is posted here:



Also catching the eye of the DFW was a Nov. 8 post on this website, showing Eric Martin swimming with a 9-foot white shark. Martin, co-director of the Roundhouse Marine Studies Lab and Aquarium at the end of the pier, said he had always wanted to swim with a great white.

Not long after he swam out with a mask and long pole for protection, one of two sharks that were spotted from the pier cruised within feet of him.

Larinto, of the DFW, says this sends a message that this is acceptable and safe behavior.

Martin, who has spotted dozens of white sharks from the pier over the years, said he swam with the sharks, in part, to prove that the juvenile sharks do not present a serious danger to swimmers and surfers.

Fishermen, however, are no friends of the sharks. Martin has watched anglers intentionally try to hook them. Last year, he almost got into a fight with a man who refused to let Martin cut his line, after he had hooked a white shark. The man eventually allowed Martin to free the shark.

Earlier this week KTLA posted footage captured by paddleboarder Nathan Anderson off El Porto. Anderson stated that three white sharks were picked up by the camera, all within 100 yards of one another. The video was uploaded to YouTube on Monday and is posted here:

As for fishing for sharks from the pier, it's not illegal. But catching white sharks is illegal and hooking them for catch-and-release seems to fall into somewhat of a legal gray area.

But these are a protected species that may or may not be mounting a comeback after years of overfishing. It's best to leave them alone.

Said Lowe: "One rumor is that a couple of fishermen have caught and killed some sharks off El Porto and supposedly found squid in the stomachs. I just don't think the public understands the ramifications of the law here." 

–Pete Thomas

–Top image shows Eric Martin intentionally swimming with a juvenile great white shark off Manhattan Beach Pier. Credit: Dani Baker

You Jump Too, Big Shark Come By (Thanksgiving 1993)

In 1993 just a few days before our flight to Hawaii the News on the TV showed four or five huge sharks in the surf area at Waikiki beach. I’ll admit that seeing that on TV made me a little nervous, but I was so stoked that I was going to Hawaii that I thought the sharks would surely be gone before I got there. The whole family was going to Hawaii for Thanksgiving, except for my older sister and my older brother. Actually there wasn’t much of my real family there, it was more like an adopted family and I adopted them. We planned to stay eight days and would leave on the eighth night.

The first night was horrible. We got the crappiest hotel I have ever stayed at. The elevator didn't even stop on our floor, because our room was on the thirteenth Floor, yes it’s true. We had to take the elevator to the fourteenth floor then walk down a set of stairs to get to our floor. I took a quick shower that seemed to get more of the bathroom floor wet than me and then tried to sleep. I watch some TV for a while and couldn’t over look the fact that the TV remote was glued to the small table next to the couch. It seemed like a rough start to the tropical vacation that I had imagined. We didn’t bother unpacking and checked out in the morning. I’m not exactly sure how we ended up at our next hotel, but it was amazing and right on the beach. The Dude got us some deal were we ending up getting the roof top corner suite, above the penthouses, with a huge balcony for only $40 dollars more a night than where we had stayed the night before.

Eric Cedeno November 1993
Waikiki from my Hotel room

That day we cruised into town and I rented a longboard for the week. It was a heavily ridden nine footer, but it was definitely better than the rentals on the beach. I was stoked to finally get a chance to ride a longboard for a while. Before this point I had never had one for enough time to really get the hang of it. This was the real start to my adventures in longboarding (that still continues even to this day).

I didn’t understand why parents are real lazy when it comes to any sort of vacation. They just wanted to sit outside and read books. I figured people could do that almost anywhere. At least I was in Hawaii and couldn’t wait to go surf. 
Even though it was November I was already tan from spending all my time at the beach in California. I put on my orange Hawaiian trunks and headed for the lobby were my longboard was kept for me. My hair was long enough to pull back in a small ponytail, but I wore it down. I looked as Hawaiian as they come. I grabbed up my board and stepped out of they lobby into the sand and looked at the clearest water I have seen. I live in Southern California and once in a while the water will clear up, but it never compared to Hawaii. I had heard that the ocean water in Hawaii was warm and I wanted to find out if that rumor was true. The water that afternoon was about eighty degrees.  It felt like a huge bathtub with good surf. 
It was a long paddle out, even longer than O’fre (San Onofre) in San Clemente and that’s a long paddle.

Eric Cedeno November 1993
Waikiki from my Hotel room

Every morning when I woke up, I'd walk over to the balcony and check out the surf. Looks good, only a few people out. Put on my trunks, go down to the lobby and get my board and go surfing. I'd come in after a few hours to snack on some food and maybe sleep for a while. Then I'd go back out surfing again for a few more hours. Then I'd come in, take a shower, get dressed and go out to dinner with the family. I did this for a week straight, every day. 
My surfing improved rapidly. For the first time in my life, I was walking the nose, doing some switch stance and getting some epiclly long rides. With Diamond Head off to the left the view out in the surf was unbelievable. Rainbows in Hawaii have an added purple stripe on them. 
The local Hawaiians out surfing call all the sea turtles 'George' and the mainlanders 'Barneys'.

One day while waiting for then next set to roll up, a school of fish going by started jumping out of the water. One of the biggest Hawaiian dudes I’d ever seen said to his friend, " What kind of fish are those?" 


His friend answered akalini's or something and someone else said, "Those fish don't jump."

Then the big Hawaiian dude said, "You jump too, big shark come by." I knew there weren't any sharks out that day. Well al least that’s what I kept telling myself while trying not to look like it bothered me.  The Barneys out surfing did know any better though and it was funny to watch them looking around nervously. A few of them even started paddling in, which meant more waves for me. 


The next day I managed to talk my mom into giving surfing a try. I was really surprised when she put her book down and said yes. We rented a longboard from the hotel beach rental guy and then I gave her the run down on how to surf: When you see a wave, turn your board towards shore, paddle hard, bring your knees up to your chest, stand up and cover your head when you eat it. My mom was nervous to say the least, but she was a good sport about it and even brought our disposable water camera with her. I told her to hold on to my least and I’d tow her out to the inside area where the waves were smallest. She sat on the inside and watched me catch a few first.

Eric Cedeno November 1993
Surfing Waikiki with Mom

She eventually tried to catch a wave, but she just could quite get the hang of it. She later told me that I made it look easy and that surfing is actually a lot harder than she thought it would be. I was really happy she gave it a try and eventually I gave her a tow back to the beach. I think that was the last time, the only time that my mom ever sat on a surfboard and surfed with me. That was one of my favorite trips, mostly because I got to learn how to ride a longboard in Hawaii, but also because my mom tried surfing with me.

Eric Cedeno November 1993
Surfing Waikiki with Mom