Freediving
for Marine Preservation
March 6 - 17, 2008, Malpelo Island, Colombia
William Winram is part of the shark-tagging program
which is currently taking place in the waters of Malpelo
Island.
A 36-hour boat ride aboard the Maria Patricia connects
the port of Buenaventura to the remote Island of Malpelo.
William and his fellow freediver Fred Buyle were hired
to tag sharks in order to track and therefore protect
these top predators from being extinct because of aggressive
overfishing practices.
Experienced freedivers who are very comfortable at
depth in the company of dense pelagic fauna are necessary
to carry out the tagging process, since sharks are frightened
by the air bubbles released from scuba tanks.
All together, the tagging process will involve 47 scalloped
hammerhead sharks (Sphyrna lewini) and 7 ragged-tooth
sharks (Odontaspis ferox).
This expedition is supported by UNESCO. For more information
about it, check out the following links:
Malpelo
Foundation
Sandra
Bessudo, founder and director
Short segment from a Thalassa tv show (France, F3 channel), aired on February 23, 2007
The expedition has returned to the mainland of Colombia
on March 17. Here's a sample of William's impressions
of the waters of Malpelo:
" In trying to describe my experience while diving
at the island of Malpelo, I have been at a loss for
words... I wish that I could have video to share with
you, later there will be photos and for now allow me
to describe a dive... I exhaled and dropped silently
towards a large school of hammerhead sharks, not moving
so as not to startle them... I slip deeper into the
midst of these beautiful creatures and as I feel the
depth closing around me I wonder that I might decend
past them so I look below and to my amazement for 20-30
meters there is nothing but ocean and sharks... as I
roll to my left I am greeted by a large 2.6-meter female,
two feet from me... I roll onto my back and I observe
that above me for 20 meters again there are hammerheads...
I am completely immersed in a school of 100's of these
amazing creatures..."
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