Shark Diver NZ CEO Peter Scott unveiled the world's newest white shark aggregation site to the world this week. "After a few years of careful planning and work with resident researchers we are ready to open this site to interested divers, photographers, and the general public," said Scott.
"In a co-operative conservation venture with New Zealand's White Shark Conservation Trust we will move forward to promote and support research with these magnificent animals helping New Zealanders understand the critical role they play in the environment of the South Island."
A limited number of divers will be introduced to the site called 'Oceania' in 2010, in order to maintain the location's pristine, untamed nature, as well as for the benefit of the resident white sharks.
"We will also be working with two production companies this season to highlight New Zealand’s white sharks and the ground breaking research surrounding them, we have just begun to realize these animals are on terrific migrations to and from Oceania. Tourism supported research will help us understand these seasonal population fluctuations better," says Scott.
Modeled after the successful marriage of white shark research support at Isla Guadalupe, Mexico with commercial shark diving operators and CICIMAR, Scott hopes to build a New Zealand version of eco tourism with sharks that meets and exceeds the highest standards of the global $300 million dollar industry, “we call it 'Safe and Sane Shark Tourism' and we want to make this a completely New Zealand phenomenon.”
"The knock on effects of shark tourism, done right, are great for local economies and help dispel myths about ferocious man eaters."
