Diving with the Bull sharks

[PARADISE HUNTER]

.....I know this is a very controversial subject. There is a lot of data on shark attacks (and shark feeding) but it is usually ignored in the discussions which tend to veer off into feeding bears and lions and other completely unrelated life forms. shark dives appear to be remarkably safe. .....!

It's difficult to undo a decade of Shark Week on the Discovery Channel.

 

[tight rope walker]

I think he had one of those new fangled masks with a built in ruler. Next to the built in camera, along side the fiber optic do dad. Anyway I have to believe him cause he said he worked for the Because WE SAY SO COMPANY.

 

[Mike]

first, the shark is much smaller and there is a great difference between the bite of a 7 ft shark versus a 15 ft shark. Both can kill you but mortality rates are much higher for a great white or a tiger attack. That's why bulls lead in number of attacks but not in number of deadly attacks. secondly, bull sharks don't really go much after prey in the size range of a human and in a diving situation there is basically no risk that a bull will mistake you for a prey item.

Wow, is all I will say. The human bodies found inside bull sharks stomachs might have a different take on how cuddly and friendly these bull sharks are... that is... if they were still alive. Good to know that your chances of survival are higher, you will only be dis-figured or permanetly disabled but not dead.

Puuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuleze.... what in the world? A bull shark is a dangerous, aggressive, unpredictable animal. Let's at least admit that instead of trying to walk the fine line of painting them less then they are with subtle differences between the likelihood of them tearing your arm off instead of your head and saying ... "See, nothing to worry about."

This is really starting to remind me of the people with a pit bull who bites a kids face off and the first thing out of their mouths is always the exact same statement "He never did that before." :shocked2:

 

[Mike]

Makse sense. But when that shark takes a SPECIAL interest in you or a member of your group. at that point how does the operator protect you? Or does he prevent that situation from happening in the first place? Once that animal wants to make you his new best friend, whats the procedure from preventing a accident? Or is it making sure that it never gets to that point?

It's called bend over and kiss your butt good bye. The dive master will be hugging the sand trying to mimic a stingray trying to bury itself along with the rest of your group who will all be thinking the same thing "W-T-F? This wasn't in the pre-dive briefing?"

You really shouldn't bring up things like this, cause there really is no room for logical thinking.

If a dive op offers the dive it must be safe. Always stick to that line of thinking and you'll sleep well at night, right up till you wake up dead one day and your family tries to sue a dive op in Mexico and attach their assests of 12 tanks, a 20 year old computer, two leaky boats, and the 2000 pesos in the bank.

 

[docmartin]

Wow, is all I will say. The human bodies found inside bull sharks stomachs might have a different take on how cuddly and friendly these bull sharks are... that is... if they were still alive. Good to know that your chances of survival are higher, you will only be dis-figured or permanetly disabled but not dead.

Puuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuleze.... what in the world? A bull shark is a dangerous, aggressive, unpredictable animal. Let's at least admit that instead of trying to walk the fine line of painting them less then they are with subtle differences between the likelihood of them tearing your arm off instead of your head and saying ... "See, nothing to worry about."

This is really starting to remind me of the people with a pit bull who bites a kids face off and the first thing out of their mouths is always the exact same statement "He never did that before." :shocked2:

oh boy, the hobby sci-fi journalist. i am sorry to intrude into your world of mayhem with some facts. i don't think i painted them cuddly but your idea of cuddly may be different from mine. i am not sure how many bull shark dives you have done. get in the water with one. stop watching shark week. most likely the encounter with the "dangerous, aggressive, unpredicatble" animal will calm your nerves and you won't worry so much about their stomach contents anymore.

 

[PARADISE HUNTER]

oh boy, the hobby sci-fi journalist. i am sorry to intrude into your world of mayhem with some facts. i don't think i painted them cuddly but your idea of cuddly may be different from mine. i am not sure how many bull shark dives you have done. get in the water with one. stop watching shark week. most likely the encounter with the "dangerous, aggressive, unpredicatble" animal will calm your nerves and you won't worry so much about their stomach contents anymore.

Good luck with that Doc. Mike is full of a lot of things and facts aren't one of them. He's littered this thread with fake reports, falshoods, myths and exaggerations.

Mike your part of the problem and not the solution when it comes to educating the public on sharks.

Flame away Mike.

 

[tight rope walker]

Porkers? Talking about porkers mr mike? Just tie me a sheepshank, gimme your hands, dogfish? You got a five thousand dollar net, you got two thousand dollars worth of fish in it, and along comes mr. Whitey and by the time he's finished with that net, it looks like kiddes scissor class has cut it up for a paper doll.
You got city hands mr mike you've been counting money all your life

 

[InTheDrink]

you may want to bring a 3 ft piece of PVC pipe or similar. if a shark comes close to bump you do not poke the shark with the pipe but rather you hold it VERTICALLY in front of you (horizontal and it will play fetch with the stick and possibly your arm). the shark will not be able to bite the vertical 3 ft stick or you for that matter. it will bump the stick and turn away. i have used the vertical stick many times with bumping tigers and it works like a charm (until it doesn't )

Now that's interesting!

I know it's a different location and different species but I was diving in southern Egypt with Oceanic White Tips sharks this year on a liveabord, 2 weeks after a diver was fatally bitten while swimming in the SI. (N.B. swimming when aggressive sharks are around seems much more dangerous than scuba diving).

Anyhow, I brought a 2 ft PVC stick, as the attack two weeks earlier had made me think a little. I didn't take it out until the last encounter, just after one of the oceanics had been repeatedly bumping my buddies fins. At which point I drew my pathetic sword, everyone lined up behind me, and we made our way to the boat.

However, I'm pretty sure I would have just pissed the shark off more with this stick as I didn't know how to use it and would have prodded it. When I go back on the boat the crew thought my stick hilarious and that it would have made things worse. So learning that keeping the stick vertical is interesting. I don't suppose you have a picture of your PVC stick? Mine was about 2ft long, and maybe 1/2 inch wide. In any event, it was too small for any activity apart from scratching my back on the boat when my wetsuit was on

Cheers for the info and insight doc - much appreciated.

Finally, diving with sharks is pretty safe, even aggressive ones. Every time you get in your car you're probably taking a significantly higher risk.

 

[InTheDrink]

The other thing of course, is that sharks usually are - and in the grand scheme of things definitely should be - more scared of us. We kill around 100,000,000 of them per year. They kill in and around ten people a year. Globally.

They've a LOT of catching up to do.

You should see the 'humans' thread on shark board. They're petrified of us. Those that remain at least.

J

 

[tight rope walker]

As I stated earlier I have a very small library consisting of only three books that have served me well over the years,
1) the King James Bible
2) the usn diving manual volume 1 air diving
and 3) the usn diving manual volume 2 mixed gas diving.
In volume 1, appendix 1, page 1-3 heading prevention, number 3,
" Often sharks can be " shoved" away with a large stick or "shark billy".

I think this would lend credence to the pvc, or atleast the usn thinks so.
But it probaly doesn't hurt to have a battleship topside either.