Sharks/Fish with teeth: Are they actually a threat?

[dumpsterDiver]

Every time you are in the presence of a fellow human you are at risk, to some degree, of them killing and eating you. Your chances of being KILLED AND EATEN BY A FELLOW HUMAN are significantly higher - near as I can tell something like ten times higher at a minimum - than being killed by a shark based on comparable time periods (2000-2010).

Being afraid of being attacked or killed by sharks while scuba diving may FEEL reasonable but it's an unfounded emotional response.

In contrast being afraid of humans starts to sound downright practical. The longer you stay in the water in the presence of sharks, who will pretty much never actually eat you, and not around humans, who inarguably do, the safer you are.

I know at least 5 divers who have been bitten by sharks, I myself have had to fight one off by punching it in the face repeatedly. I did not have to reach out to punch this shark, it was in my face and I was not even able to fully extend my arms with the punches (while holding my breath and ascending from an aggressive feeedive).

I have had one incident where I looked down and 2-3 sharks were rocketing upward toward me with their mouthes wide open and they were less than 2 feet from my thigh. I've been in many situations were sharks had to be hit with objects (sometime repeatedly) to discourage them from coming within a few feet of a diver. Once, I felt it necessary to use my speargun to shoot a spear into a shark's head that was shooting upward toward me and my fish at what felt like an attack velocity while on scuba.

I've seen a surfer get bitten by a shark and even captured some video of bullsharks that I thought were going to bite me my while I was at 140 feet ascending from a deep, solo dive (when I had no fish with me and had not been spearfishing for several minutes).

I've seen a large shark follow an ascending freediver and push aside a hard speargun poke to the face and continue to approach to within 3 feet of the divers face, with the mouth wide open, before it was turned with a very hard jab into the open mouth of the shark.

I've seen the operating room photos of a 22 yr old girl's forearm that had most of the muscle removed from a sand tiger shark which bit her after she stood up in waist deep water after body surfing in on a wave in Vero Beach Florida. I also got to me meet her on a few occasions.

I don't think people should be inordinately fearful of sharks, but the fact remains that the dangers vary astronomically depending on the particular conditions a person may find themselves in. Surfers are much more likely to be bitten, it is incredible how many bites occur on the Florida east coast.

Of course this is all anecdotal information, but I do not know anyone who has been consumed by human cannibals. I would like to hear the statistics of cannibalsim upon people who enter the water versus those that suffer from a shark bite.

 

[flots am]

I know at least 5 divers who have been bitten by sharks, I myself have had to fight one off by punching it in the face repeatedly. I did not have to reach out to punch this shark, it was in my face and I was not even able to fully extend my arms with the punches (while holding my breath and ascending from an aggressive feeedive).

Am I correct, that you and the other divers were engaged in the production of tasty shark-snacks (spearfishing)?

You can't really blame them for going after someone who has wounded fish-on-a-stick

flots.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

Am I correct, that you and the other divers were engaged in the production of tasty shark-snacks (spearfishing)?

You can't really blame them for going after someone who has wounded fish-on-a-stick

flots.

Yes, all but one were engaged in spearing or other risky behavoir.

I'm not sure that I have attempted to allocate "blame" in any of my personal shark encounters?

 

[Doppler]

Something that occurred to me not too long ago, was the idea of those, rather large, fish with lots of teeth, otherwise known as sharks, barracuda, as well as bluefish! I realise if a Goldfish was so inclined, it could probably injure you, but in reality what is the danger of said fish? I am referring to the Northern Atlantic specifically, home to everything from Great Whites to barracuda, to the infamous "marine piranha"...

I realise that my concerns are probably simply the result of Hollywood and scare-stories, but my idea of fun is not becoming something's dinner...

Cheers

I am just wrapping up a 10-day trip teaching a rebreather program with two students in Grand Bahama. The highlight of our trip were several shark sightings including hanging out with Cristina Zenato at UNEXSO and watching her play with Caribbean Reef Sharks the way you might play with your pet cat. Not all species are so docile, but Hollywood and the media have done a great disservice to sharks. They are cool creatures. My students (one of whom had logged close to 700 dives before seeing a shark on this trip) spent two hours at depth on Saturday literally surrounded by sharks (All marine life seems fascinated by rebreathers) and they had a blast.

Research the real story.

 

[Tigerman]

Ive encountered HUUUGE schools of barracuda, a few sharks and a lot of other fish with big teeth.
The only sealife that has decided to attack me (other than the fierce little nemo clownfish) was a triggerfish, but fortunately it was a small cute one and not the infamous titan triggerfish. Triggerfish can as mentioned attack when nesting as theire VERY territorial.

The real THREAT from sealife is nothing Id worry about compared to all the other things that can go sidewise while diving..

When it come to piranhas btw, guess what, they tend to stay away from the big fish - and to them youre a pretty damn big fish..

 

[PeterNBiddle]

I don't think people should be inordinately fearful of sharks, but the fact remains that the dangers vary astronomically depending on the particular conditions a person may find themselves in. Surfers are much more likely to be bitten, it is incredible how many bites occur on the Florida east coast.

Of course this is all anecdotal information, but I do not know anyone who has been consumed by human cannibals. I would like to hear the statistics of cannibalsim upon people who enter the water versus those that suffer from a shark bite.

I personally know 4 people who died ice skating. That makes ice skating sound extraordinarily dangerous. When we consider that they were ice skating on a frozen lake it changes things.

I know one person who was shot while hiking. That makes hiking sound dangerous until you consider he was hiking during deer season in NH and rather than wear orange was wearing a natural-looking leather vest...

I know one person who died in a tree fort... That makes tree forts sound dangerous until I tell you it was a suicide.

You've selected, via your choice in friends and activities, the two most dangerous water-based activities wrt sharks - surf sports and spear fishing.

Wrt cannibalism - find the stats on gen pop to go in oceans ever (no idea what that is) and then look up shark attacks and cannibalism on Wikipedia. It would be a start.

 

[caity]

Check this out http://www.shark.ch/Information/Accidents/index.html

My favorite stat, world wide you are more likely to die from a falling coconut then being bit by a shark.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[flots am]

I'm not sure that I have attempted to allocate "blame" in any of my personal shark encounters?

Not really blame, just trying to clear up the risk of a shark attack for new divers. (this is the "new diver" forum).

I just don't want them to think there's a really significant risk of a shark attack, assuming they're not acting like or carrying "shark food".

flots

 

[dumpsterDiver]

I personally know 4 people who died ice skating. That makes ice skating sound extraordinarily dangerous. When we consider that they were ice skating on a frozen lake it changes things.

I know one person who was shot while hiking. That makes hiking sound dangerous until you consider he was hiking during deer season in NH and rather than wear orange was wearing a natural-looking leather vest...

I know one person who died in a tree fort... That makes tree forts sound dangerous until I tell you it was a suicide.

You've selected, via your choice in friends and activities, the two most dangerous water-based activities wrt sharks - surf sports and spear fishing.

Wrt cannibalism - find the stats on gen pop to go in oceans ever (no idea what that is) and then look up shark attacks and cannibalism on Wikipedia. It would be a start.

You were the person who started discussion about the prevelance of human cannibalism vesus shark attacks/bites. I was curious if your comments were based on any factual information.

---------- Post added April 29th, 2012 at 06:38 PM ----------

Not really blame, just trying to clear up the risk of a shark attack for new divers. (this is the "new diver" forum).

I just don't want them to think there's a really significant risk of a shark attack, assuming they're not acting like or carrying "shark food".

flots

This is another good source of information. I indicated that the risk from sharks might be comparable to being bitten by your neighbor's dog. I also have tried to repeatedly state that the risks are extremely situational dependent... without calling anyone Hitler (or bringing up human cannibalism)..

FLMNH Ichthyology Department: International Shark Attack File

 

[Chugwhump]

I find the best shark deterrent to be a camera.

Chug
Likes sharks.