How many fatal shark attacks to stop you diving

Foxfish · Feb 18, 2014

How many fatal shark attacks within a radius of say 300 km of the ocean location you are about to dive would it take to deter you from diving? Pick the one that best describes your choice.

I'm interested to get some idea of the risks divers are typically prepared to take in this regard.

Assume the coastline is straight and sharks can move freely along the coast.

Assume you are diving without any special protection like a shark cage.

Assume that there is no human feeding of sharks in the area.

Assume that the attacks occur on people undertaking the normal spectrum of water sports in the ocean including diving.

I'd be also interested to hear in a post below how many fatal shark attacks there have been within this distance of the location you typically dive within the three years?

Wookie · Feb 18, 2014

I would like to visit the place where shark attacks are occurring. Fatal shark attacks would be an attractant to me, not a deterrent at all. I might want a cage, but then, I might want a tub of chum, too.

scubastingray · Feb 18, 2014

Just one, mine.

PSUSCUBA1313 · Feb 18, 2014

Divers rarely have problems with sharks. Most shark encounters happen with swimmers/surfers who are on the surface and look like prey from below. I don't think a fatal shark encounter would have any affect on where I dive.

tstormdiver · Feb 18, 2014

Why would it deter me? I know the risks when I submerge underwater,... plus 95% of my diving is in freshwater,.... so really not much of an issue.

DivemasterDennis · Feb 18, 2014

The circumstances of the attacks would be an important factor. If a scuba diver NOT feeding sharks was attached once a week at a dive site, I would probably not dive there. The problem is, if some people are feeding sharks, when I dive the site, sharks may expect food from me, and get pissed off if I had nothing for them. SO I oppose feeding sharks everywhere, by anyone. But bottom line, attacks on shark feeders, surfers, ocean swimmers, and kayakers would not deter me.
DivemasterDennis

nimoh · Feb 18, 2014

for me it would be more about the nature of the attacks and the types of sharks.

If divers being attacked are chumming the waters to attract the sharks, then it probably wouldn't deter me, although I wouldn't be diving near the chumming.

If it appears that sharks are actually hunting divers in an area, then that would stop me...although I have never heard of this happening, there is some gray area in between.

drbill · Feb 18, 2014

I swim in waters where great whites are seen with some frequency. Of course since they are in California waters they seem quiet mellow and non-aggressive. They usually just swim by us to check out our new gear and then swim off to munch on a higher fat content target like a sea lion. As far as I know, there has not been a fatal GWS attack in our waters over the last 50 years (which pretty well approximates the amount of time I've been diving here). However, I don't do open ocean swimming, paddleboarding or surfing. No attacks in our waters on them either though.

You seem to have quite an agenda here on SB... every post I've noticed has been about shark attacks. Of course living in Perth, I imagine they are on your mind more than most. But it also causes me to wonder.

Foxfish · Feb 18, 2014

drbill:
I swim in waters where great whites are seen with some frequency. Of course since they are in California waters they seem quiet mellow and non-aggressive. They usually just swim by us to check out our new gear and then swim off to munch on a higher fat content target like a sea lion. As far as I know, there has not been a fatal GWS attack in our waters over the last 50 years (which pretty well approximates the amount of time I've been diving here). However, I don't do open ocean swimming, paddleboarding or surfing. No attacks in our waters on them either though.

You seem to have quite an agenda here on SB... every post I've noticed has been about shark attacks. Of course living in Perth, I imagine they are on your mind more than most. But it also causes me to wonder.

Interesting to hear of the situation where you dive and yes it sounds quite different to our own. No agenda here. Just interested to hear the opinions of other divers in regard to the risks they consider acceptable. I'd like the discussion to focus on the questions raised in the OP.

Thanks to those who have participated in the poll so far.

vincent54 · Feb 18, 2014

Sharks are the least of my worries diving. Wish there were more. Cheers

How many fatal shark attacks to stop you diving

How many fatal attacks in an area to deter you from diving

1 per year

2 per year

6 per year. One every second month.

12 per year. One every month.

1 every week

I don't care and believe that shark finning or culling is morally wrong.

I find this poll disturbing and hopelessly flawed.

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Foxfish

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Wookie

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