Florida shark attacks

JustAddWater · Jul 16, 2001

I heard on the news that there was another shark attack on a Florida beach. Do any of you know if this again was a bull shark? Do Florida divers often come into contact with them? How aggressive are they to divers? I've also read that shark feeding for shark dives is quite controversial in Florida. Have the recent attacks been fuel to the fire? I know the attacks were not on divers, but was just curious if they have sparked comment in Florida's dive community.
Thanks,
JAW

Starfish · Jul 16, 2001

<snipped> But in fact such attacks are rare. The International Shark Attack File at the University of Florida confirmed 79 unprovoked shark attacks on humans worldwide in 2000, with a third of them in Florida waters. Ten of the attacks were fatal, including one in Florida.

Those figures compare with the millions who flock into the water. In Florida alone, some 16 million residents and 74 million tourists frequented 1,200 miles of beach last year, yet the state had only 34 reported shark attacks.

Rick Murchison · Jul 16, 2001

Yes, it was a bull shark.
No, we do not often come in contact with them. But that said, four of the five bull sharks I have seen while diving the gulf over the last three decades were less than 20 miles and less than 48 hours after the latest attack.
They are usually not aggressive to divers.
Yes, it has added fuel to the fire, although to my knolwedge no one is feeding bull sharks in shark feeds, and no one is feeding sharks at all in the Pensacola area, where this attack occured.
Rick

100days-a-year · Jul 16, 2001

Feeding a bull shark would be tantampount to suicide.There are only 3 species that will get a spearfisherman out of the Fla waters ,these 3 are lsted in the order of potential danger and aggressiveness.Bull,Great White,Tiger.These are all considered dangerous sharks.Imagine a 10 ft long puppy with a bad attitude.Those liitle teeth can hurt,but there is little real malice or entent to devour.It's just thier nature.2 of my freinds have been accosted by bulls to the extent of one bitten and one bumped.That being said it is as Rick mentioned rare to encounter dangerous sharks in Fla unless you encourage them in some way to consider you a source of food.And feeding the bears in Jellystone is considered a pastime of the stupid.

DivingGal · Jul 16, 2001

Originally posted by 100days-a-year
Feeding a bull shark would be tantampount to suicide.... unless you encourage them in some way to consider you a source of food.And feeding the bears in Jellystone is considered a pastime of the stupid.

Though not around sharks around here, I think you've hit it right on the nose. Sure more of us are getting in the water, but I think it's the ones that really shouldn't be in the gene pool who are the ones making the news. This is not to take away from the unfortunate ones who are in the wrong place at the wrong time -- it just seems to me that when some of the stories come out, the one that got injured was doing something pretty stupid.

just my 0.02

Rick Murchison · Jul 16, 2001

Originally posted by DivingGal
but I think it's the ones that really shouldn't be in the gene pool who are the ones making the news. This is not to take away from the unfortunate ones who are in the wrong place at the wrong time -- it just seems to me that when some of the stories come out, the one that got injured was doing something pretty stupid.

just my 0.02 [/B]

Sorry, but this is totally off the mark. Nearly all shark attacks are on swimmers who are guilty of nothing more than being in the water. The little boy attacked by the bull shark in Pensacola 10 days ago was totally innocent of any carelessness, stupidity of wrongdoing, as is the case in most attacks. The last attack near this one was last summer - another bull probably but we don't know as that shark escaped - took a swimmer's hand off above the wrist. That swimmer was swimming strongly, practicing for a marathon; the little boy who lost his arm 10 days ago was frolicking in the surf with a few thousand others.
Rick

TwoBitTxn · Jul 16, 2001

A bull shark in shallow water is NOT a sight feeder. It is well documented that many shark attacks are simply the shark placing its teeth around an object to see if it is edible. Unfortunately humans find this objectionable when that object is attached.

Great White in the Gulf... come on....I would think short fin Mako or a big hammer faster than a Great white. The most common shark I have caught surf fishing was a black tip.

Yall becareful,

Tom

Scubasteve78_old · Jul 17, 2001

Boy i'm sure i'm glad i read this thread 8 days before i head to fort lauderdale for spiny lobster mini season...actually i had my first shark encounters this past weekend while diving oil rigs off of the texas gulf coast i was nervous and excited all at once.....only time i really got nervous was when i saw them while having fish on my stringer ...but even then they never got to close to the rigs ...anyways hope all goes well in florida and no damn bull sharks get too close

Kane(adian) · Jul 17, 2001

Now, tell me if I am wrong here but in the movie JAWS, the "shark expert" said that sharks take splashing in the water to mean that it is something injured, and therefore easy eating. Is this true, or is it just a falsehood of Hollywood? If this is true, then would it not be reasonable to assume that divers would be safer than swimmers, as divers tend to be UNDER water, and not splashing? Just curious about the splashing as sometimes movies are correct in their info, and sometimes they are completely making it up.

Rick Murchison · Jul 17, 2001

Originally posted by Tom Vyles
A bull shark in shallow water is NOT a sight feeder. It is well documented that many shark attacks are simply the shark placing its teeth around an object to see if it is edible. Unfortunately humans find this objectionable when that object is attached.

Great White in the Gulf... come on....I would think short fin Mako or a big hammer faster than a Great white. The most common shark I have caught surf fishing was a black tip.

Yall becareful,

Tom

Just had another attack along the FL panhandle this past Saturday. Unlike the two previously mentioned, this one fit the "classic" attack Tom describes above - a surfer; the shark bit and spit out his foot. He'll recover fully.
Great whites are seen occasionally in the Gulf during the colder months. I've never seen one. I never want to see one. ... lemme put that another way .. I never want to be in the water anywhere near one, but if I am, then I *do* want to see it.
Rick

Florida shark attacks

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