SALMON SHARKS
2014
A BIG FISH EXPEDITIONS TRIP REPORT

This was our first trip to dive with salmon
sharks in Prince William Sound, Alaska. Although everyone
was aware that it was an experimental trip, I was extremely
concerned that we might get skunked. When we arrived and
immediately saw our first salmon shark circling in front of
the dock of Ravencroft Lodge, I was vastly reassured!

On our first day in the water, we found
scores of salmon sharks swimming in circles on the surface
at a spot we nicknamed Shark Alley. This is a behavior that
I have never witnessed before in other shark species. Its a
very good thing that salmon sharks make themselves known
this way because they do not respond to chumming so they
would be impossible to spot if they didn't swim at the
surface.

Initially we tried quietly swimming up to the
sharks as they circled. It was very difficult to get close
to them this way but we did get a few shots and some video.
Next we tried throwing herring near the
sharks from the bow of our boat. If we threw the fish too
close they would bolt but if we aimed on the opposite side
of their circle the sharks would either ignore the fish or
catch it on their next pass.
Once we had a shark interested, we started
tying fish to fishing lines with no hooks and leading the
sharks to the boat before letting them grab the herring.
That worked really well and we managed to get some great
images!

We tried diving at Shark Alley to see if we
could spot salmon sharks underwater but we didn't see any
while on scuba. Although they look menacing, they are
extremely timid animals that are probably frightened by the
noise of the bubbles.

Between salmon shark hunts, we explored many
new dive spots around Prince William Sound. It was very
exciting to slip underwater in spots that few if any people
have dove in before. Most of the sites consisted of kelp
covered slopes that gave way to vertical rock walls that
dropped far beyond our diving limits. On the slopes we found
the usual suspects you would expect to find on any other
dive site in the Pacific Northwest including nudibranchs
large and small, crabs, rockfish and some of the friendliest
Giant Pacific Octopuses that I've come across.

Many of the deeper reefs were completely
covered in northern feather stars and where the slopes gave
way to walls there were clouds of redstripe rockfish and
many more rockfish species lurking under overhangs and in
rocky crevices.

We also tried swimming into some of the river
mouths to photograph spawning pink and chum salmon. It was a
small salmon run this year so it was a bit tricky to get
close to the few salmon that were swimming around. We
developed a strategy of swimming in a line upriver to corral
the fish into a smaller area and that way we managed to get
some images of these beautiful fishes.
 
As for topside wildlife, there were bald
eagles roosting in the trres by the shore and a few bears
that generally ducked for cover if we got too close - I had
no idea how shy they are. Sea otters were all over the
place; some on their own and some forming family rafts.


The most unusual encounter of the trip was
when we stumbled upon an enormous bloom of moon jellies
perhaps 100,000 strong. Of course we jumped in for a closer
look. It was like swimming through Palau's jellyfish lake
but with drysuits on :)

We ran two back to back trips for the salmon
sharks but on second week the sharks mysteriously
disappeared other than a few fleeting glimpses on the
surface. The diving was actually better on week two but it
drove home how lucky we were to get the pics that we did on
week one. Its likely that the slow salmon run played a part
in their early disappearance this year. Hopefully next year
they'll be back!
Here is a great video with some of the best
action from our trip:
All in all, it was a great trip so we're
going back again next year. Join us in Prince William Sound,
Alaska for the
2015
Salmon Shark Expedition
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