Shark Firm Makes Splash In Bimini

Fri, Mar 1st 2013, 01:28 AM

A well-known shark diving company has established a one-of-a-kind foothold on Bimini and hopes to expand the concept to other resorts in The Bahamas. Shark Diver, with more than 10 years of experience in the industry, has invested $40,000 into a shark cage facility at the Big Game Club. According to its owner, the attraction is a world's first, whereby tourists can arrive at the resort, walk down the dock and drop into the water with no prior training. For 30 minutes, at $120 a pop, tourists are confronted with deadly sharks in their natural habitat.

The company also has a strong presence shooting commercials, documentaries and movie spots, having appeared on major networks such as Discovery Channel, CNN, Animal Planet and Spike TV. Patrick Douglas, the founder of Shark Divers, said the global shark diving industry is worth $800 million each year. Closer to home, the Bahamas Diving Association estimates it to be worth $80 million annually. But Douglas admitted that the industry is changing. "All of the major networks have slashed budgets," he said.

"In the past, it took five days to shoot a commercial. You head to a boat, go offshore and people just don't have the budget for that anymore. What we offer is an easy solution." Bimini Bull Run is the company's first foray into wildly convenient encounters with sharks. And between tourists and production companies, stakeholders are hoping to attract big numbers to Bimini. "The demand for these one-day, micro shark sites has been verbalized. This is just the first of a few," he added. "The idea is we can create these shark hubs and make them accessible to everyone.

About 35,000 people came to the island last year. We think we can increase that by five percent each year, every year, going forward. We just need to hand this to someone on the island who is synergistic with us." Douglas said that the company is now training Bahamians to take over the cage, and over time he hopes locals will embrace the concept as a new industry.

He confirmed that Shark Diver is in talks with other Bahamian resorts to establish similar cages for tourists and production companies. Martin Graf, the managing director, has spent the past week in Bimini training Bahamians to take over the attraction. He told Guardian Business that the company benefits from a large existing pool of clients. In his mind, Bimini Bull Run will be helpful in building the tiny island economy, in the sense there are currently a limited number of offerings for tourists.

The Bahamas benefits from an established "Shark Lab" in Bimini dedicated to researching the animals. Sharks are also protected in The Bahamas by long-standing environmental laws. Graf said that these creatures have been here for ages. The only difference now is tourists and Bahamians will have access to them like never before. "We're taking advantage of what's here," he said. "We want to show these animals to as many people as we can, while keeping it as natural and safe as possible. There is nowhere else in the world, that I'm aware of, where you can do this."

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