Fourth Shark Attack in Sharm El Sheikh

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Again to answer the posts above...

With reference to the "invasion of habitat" theme - we co-exist with many different dangerous species - bears, wolves, tigers, sharks - whatever. Generally speaking, they do their own thing and we do ours. Yes, we are the invaders and they are the natural inhabitants of their environment but I re-iterate - when I say the behaviour is "wrong" - it is perhaps a misunderstanding of my expression. I might say a person has "gone wrong" when they decide to walk into a school and shoot children - I am not talking about morals, I am talking about a deviation from the norm. Shark attacks are rare, and the consistent, repeated, aggressive behaviour of the shark in question is not typical of the species, and we have dived here for decades without too many problems. Yes, attacks have occurred before, but not in this fashion. I am not judging morals of either humans or sharks. We are probably to blame, but who can see into the mind of any other creature?

What I write here is information given to me by people directly involved in the investigation. They have seen the injuries inflicted, they have spoken to people who are witnesses to the initial attack.

Somebody asked why the Danish snorkellers would lie about the attack - they probably didn't, but there was no shark involved in the incident. There are several large mackerel type fish that frequent the area - Tuna, Trevallies, Spanish Mackerel and especially milkfish which look very shark-like and can grow to a big size.

I am doing my best to relate the facts as best I know.

Somebody suggested that there might have been a sudden increase of dangerous fish here - not true, sharks are not suddenly coming to sharm - in fact, their population has been severely depleted over the years. Shark Reef and Shark Observatory were named because back in the late 70s and early 80s, you could go there and see 20 sharks per dive. I have never seen a shark at either of these sites.

Sharm has been overfished, yes. The tourist population has gone from 90% divers to 10% divers, over 600,000 people get in the water here every year. Sheep are dumped overboard - cows also, in the past, and sorry to say, a lot of the Egyptian staff here are not well educated and think they are doing the world a favour by catching them - and also it brings them money that they would not get otherwise - same as it does in the caribbean or asia pacific region.

We try our best to educate, and it fails because the almighty dollar/yen/euro/yuan wins every time. The amount of edible waste thrown into the water by cheap tourists and boat crews who have to pay money to have their own trash removed is incredible. This is a product of 20 years of greed and ignorance. If somebody offered you a month's wages for a single day in your comfortable office would you turn it down? I do not blame the egyptian staff, but the people higher up in the food chain, as it were, should bear some responsibility.

I am part of that food chain - sharm is my job and my life and I love it here. I would ask people to stop passing judgment on issues they know very little about without seeking the facts. The facts are not in the media - the media exists only to sell papers and influence opinion. The authorities here really are trying their best but this is a new thing, nobody really knows what to do. Already tour operators are cancelling or re-routing their holidays - this will affect the livelihoods of thousands of european staff as well as thousands of egyptians. The sensationlist media has the power to ruin the lives of a lot of people, as well as the already depleted shark population.

Most of us are doing the best we can. Yesterday a group of my friends and colleagues volunteered to put themselves in harms way to track and locate the rogue shark - and it appears they may have succeeded. My job took me away from the area but I would have volunteered anyway. So far it's only attacked swimmers at the surface - that does not guarantee the safety of divers.

Dive operators are not dumping sheep into the ocean to deliberately attract big sharks - this is STUPID thinking. Yes, in the past, people have indeed deliberately attempted to bait the sharks and the liveaboards at Elphinstone last year that are directly responsible for the death of a French lady are not working and are being prosecuted.

A shark has decided, for whatever reason, to attack humans in its own territory. It is uncharacteristic behaviour for the species, and in this area, for the sake of the livelihoods of many people in the area, it must go. That's very sad indeed, but sensationalizing this stuff in the media helps nobody except the media.

I'm going to try and get a personal interview with one of the investigators and if he allows this, I will post everything I can here. I am not doing this solely on behalf of the sharks - if this random hysteria continues, I will have to leave because without the business I cannot afford to stay here.

It's a very unhappy time all around and we are working our backsides off to accomodate every aspect of the industry that is affected.

Peace out,

C.
 
Does anyone know the profile of the snorkeling victims? Did they have any experience with sharks? Were they even divers or just regular beach tourists?

It can off course be an aggressive individual roaming around the coast, like a drunk dude trying to pick a fight in a bar, but it could also be a larger number of sharks that are driven to these 'tourist infested' waters for some reason, natural or unnatural. I can easily see accidents happen if you mix OWT:s with snorkeling tourists that are unfamiliar with marine life in general and sharks in particular. A normal reaction, swimming away in panic, is unfortunately the wrong reaction that will trigger the shark.
 
Crowley, thank you for your intelligent and sensitive remarks and updates. It is a tragic situation and all of us who love Sharem hopes it will come to an end soon.

Keep up the good work,

Howard Rosenstein
Red Sea Divers and Fantasea Cruises
Sharem 1971-1997
 
Christian - please go and read all the previous posts.

C.
 
I have been asked not to identify the victims. I can say that the first two were russian women, the third was a ukranian man, and the fourth and fatal attack was an elderly german lady. As far as I am aware, they were beach holiday makers, swimming and snorkelling with little knowledge of what happens below the surface.

If I get permission I will make a full report once this tragedy has ended.

Be safe

C.
 
I have been asked not to identify the victims. I can say that the first two were russian women, the third was a ukranian man, and the fourth and fatal attack was an elderly german lady. As far as I am aware, they were beach holiday makers, swimming and snorkelling with little knowledge of what happens below the surface.

If I get permission I will make a full report once this tragedy has ended.

Be safe

C.

I understand. I'm not particularly interested in identities, but rather if the victims are/were average beach goers unfamiliar with marine life. I can see that if you put an average tourist in snorkel gear in the water with a Longimanus, it can end badly ...

Thanks for your updates Cowley. They are appreciated.
 
Thanks for your post crowley.
I want to start with the danes again. They where snorkeling at Ras Mohammed with an Egytian guide and a belgian lady. Several people saw a shark and it was so close that one had to kick it away. Could it be a tuna or horsemackerel...i think not. Do they need to be bitten to be beleived ? And the norwegians in october even filmed their meeting with the oceanic whitetip. A pretty big one too..
Neither of these incidents was attacks, but random meetings showing that the species is more common in these close waters then previously known in public.

And this is clearly an aspect of danger. Not so much for the divers that are prepared for sutch meetings and is down in the waters. But for the general holiday tourist that never expect to meet a shark this is a shock, and their reaction will be likewise. They can not be blamed for acting in a wrongful manner.

You write that yesterday some of your friends and colleagues went to locate the shark and may have sucseeded. What do you mean, did they find a shark ?
 
Thanks for your post crowley.
I want to start with the danes again. They where snorkeling at Ras Mohammed with an Egytian guide and a belgian lady. Several people saw a shark and it was so close that one had to kick it away. Could it be a tuna or horsemackerel...i think not. Do they need to be bitten to be beleived ? And the norwegians in october even filmed their meeting with the oceanic whitetip. A pretty big one too..
Neither of these incidents was attacks, but random meetings showing that the species is more common in these close waters then previously known in public.

And this is clearly an aspect of danger. Not so much for the divers that are prepared for sutch meetings and is down in the waters. But for the general holiday tourist that never expect to meet a shark this is a shock, and their reaction will be likewise. They can not be blamed for acting in a wrongful manner.

You write that yesterday some of your friends and colleagues went to locate the shark and may have sucseeded. What do you mean, did they find a shark ?



The coast line at Ras Mohamed drops almost vertically to 800 metres. It's the abyss next to shore. So anything that swims in the sea can show up there. This is true for much of the Sinai Peninsula as well as the Egyptian main land.

If you swim away in panic when an oceanic white tip approaches you (which they often do) you will trigger it to follow. I wouldn't categorize it as an attack or even an incident, it's just a close encounter.

The sad truth about sharks is that they're not very common. And they're getting less common due to fishing, the Red Sea is one of the few places where they still can be encountered, but normally at more remote places like Brother Islands or farther down south.

The last weeks incidents shows something very unusual. Oceanic White tips have been sighted around Sinai before, but not very often. So not only the accidents but also the increase in sightings are clearly out of norm. Exactly what's behind it all remains to be found out.
 
Crowley,
Let me also add my thanks. I did lots of Red Sea time in the 80s and 90s. Although my recent assignments have taken me elsewhere, it still has a strong place in my heart. My sympathies are with the long time dive operators like Rolf and Petra, and Hisham, as well as with the victims. Thanks for the level headed, inside information. I'll be following your posts here.
 
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