The GoPro Selfie-Stick as Unwanted Shark Bait

Many divers use a GoPro extending stick to get their little camera closer to wildlife while keeping their heads well clear. At the same time, reef sharks in the Bahamas and at some other destinations have become accustomed to being offered fish on the end of a short spear, which keeps the feeder's hands well away from the jaws of the shark.

John Miller, a shark instructor and CEO of Lubbock's Texas Dive Center, tells us that sharks are following divers with sticks, thinking the GoPro is food on the end of a spear. We have heard of several divers losing their little cameras when a shark took a nibble on the plastic housing. In our October 2021 review of the Belize Aggressor IV, our author watched one of the divers on her trip lose her GoPro to a shark.