How many fatal shark attacks to stop you diving

[Skittl1321]

Now, this is actually listed as a "shark attack" but nothing could be further from the truth.

Well, at least they can't say this one is unprovoked.

 

[JohnN]

When man tries to kiss a shark!



Now, this is actually listed as a "shark attack" but nothing could be further from the truth. This happened by the City of Washington here in Key Largo. File this under the "I bet he don't do this again!" department. Talk about a hickey!

Looks like a future candidate for the Darwin awards. You just can't fix stupid

 

[Diver0001]

When man tries to kiss a shark!



Now, this is actually listed as a "shark attack" but nothing could be further from the truth. This happened by the City of Washington here in Key Largo. File this under the "I bet he don't do this again!" department. Talk about a hickey!

Yeah. That dude had it coming to him.

You know, I've been thinking. Maybe there is something about "city folk" to be said in this thread.

I grew up in the bush-bush in the middle of bloody nowhere in the Rockey mountains in Canada. In about 1980, our town got *a* traffic light because someone at the city council thought it would put us on the map but as far as I know it has flashed yellow 24/7 for the last 34 years.

I grew up around animals. By the time I was 18 I knew the bush within 100 miles of my home like the back of my hand. I was out there every weekend. Sometimes with a mate, sometimes alone. I had many encounters with all sorts of animals from the small to the the large and potentially dangerous and on a regular basis. I'll admit, some of those encounters were not entirely "cool".

I once had to throw myself into a river and swim down stream to escape a bear that (and I'm a good judge of this) had me pegged for lunch. That was not cool.

On another occasion I had a large male black bear (they get bigger the closer they are) storm into a meadow where I was making love to my girlfriend on the moss.... That was not cool, especially since I chased him out of that meadow buck naked with an air horn, a ridiculous looking woody considering the context, and a pepper spray the size of a small fire extinguisher made about 10 times stronger than normal mace (at the time you could still buy that).

I've had to push an agitated buck deer away by grabbing their antlers and twisting to the left as I stepped to the right. (more deer live in my home town than people)

I've stared down a cow moose on a deer trail for several minutes because there was only one way for us to get past each other and neither one of us was sure which way the calf had gone. (extremely dangerous... worse than a hungry bear)

I've been attacked by an elephant and spent an hour under a truck hiding

and a baboon who "smiled" at me and then blew a cork and went insane

slept in a meadow full of wolves because they decided to hang out where I put my camp....

and yes....

I've had the living bejezus startled out of me by a shark. It was a monster (about 3m Oceanic Whitetip) and I was absolutely sure it was going to plow right through me and my buddy the way it swam up to us. But when, after 30 seconds, we were still alive and it had started to circle instead of kill us, I was reaching out to try and touch it.

And THAT could be the difference between people who grew up in the city and people who grew up around animals.

You know... I TOTALLY connect to FoxFish's anxiety. In my case (because of my background) I have exactly the opposite to what he has. In the water with a 3m long shark that I thought was about to eat me, I'm all like "get closer". And despite how many times in my life I've been around large game and wild carnivores, sometimes in close quarters, I'm fascinated by animals and feel connected to them.

Drop me in the middle of the forest, 500km from the nearest town and I'm totally relaxed.

But put me in a crowd and >>>> STRESSSSSSS

I hate being in crowds of people. I hate parties, I hate receptions, I hate concerts, sporting events, hate Christmas shopping.

I don't hate people but it stresses me out to be around a beehive of uncontrolled energy. Make some of that energy aggressive, like in a soccer game and I'm going insane with ONE thought....

GET ME THE FK OUT OF HERE!!!!

So yeah, although I have no fear of sharks, I do connect with the feeling of anxiety itself.

and I challenge all of you, because I don't believe that ANYONE is completely fearless, to be as honest as he has been (in his own way) about what freaks you out.

A lot of you have crawled over him acting all macho and like you think he's an idiot. I agree that his fear is irrational, but fears do not need to be rational. Every year I survive Christmas shopping... somehow....

And every year he survives diving in "shark invested" waters... somehow....

But to me, he's the only one in this thread who I understand. The only one posting who is "being human".

IJS.

R..

 

[Foxfish]

This is not what it suggests. There is a difference between the number of sharks in the water while diving, and the number of historical shark attacks in an area.

I wouldn't dive if 30 great white sharks were circling the boat, but if 30 great white shark attacks occurred in an area where I'm diving over the past 100 years, it wouldn't sway me. The fundamental flaw with your poll is that it is not realistic....there is nowhere in the world that sees weekly fatal shark attacks.

The choices are set in a poll that asks how many fatal shark attacks in your local area in the past year would deter you from diving. The option that starts 'I don't care', clearly means that a person would be willing to dive in an area no matter how high the risk of a fatal shark attack. There are some areas in the world where it would be suicidal to enter the water because of the risk of an attack, but that would evidently be of no concern to these divers. The option was added by Netdoc in response to people who clearly wanted that option.

I think the responses and poll demonstrate the difficulties that many divers have in properly assessing the risk of shark attack. Ironically, many divers on this board will jump at the first hint of anyone suggesting that it is okay to enter a cavern or cave without the necessary training. And yet when it comes to shark attack, a suicidal level of risk is accepted and promoted by the board.

It is interesting to think about the reasons why that is the case.

 

[chillyinCanada]

Fishfox, why do you dive?

 

[Tigerman]

...
I've stared down a cow moose on a deer trail for several minutes because there was only one way for us to get past each other and neither one of us was sure which way the calf had gone. (extremely dangerous... worse than a hungry bear)
...

Now that's one thing I've never liked. They are incredibly unpredictable when they have calves and those hooves is seriously dangerous.
I've been chased by them more than once as they also have no sense of staying away from the bloody apple trees...

 

[tridacna]

There are some areas in the world where it would be suicidal to enter the water because of the risk of an attack, but that would evidently be of no concern to these divers.

Balderdash. I've dived in False Bay, Gansbaai and in the sardine run in South Africa without a cage and I'm hardly suicidal. Sharks don't concern me nearly as much as humans who wish to slaughter them. Does it concern me that people are occasionally mistaken for food? No more than people being bitten by Moray Eels or being stung by rays. I don't propose that we eliminate them to make the sea a safer place for divers or snorkelers.

 

[Skittl1321]

There are some areas in the world where it would be suicidal to enter the water because of the risk of an attack,

Can you name what areas those are?

Many, many people dive in areas where sharks frequent. Almost all of these people return alive. Many, many people actually go on dives that CHUM for sharks specifically to see them. Almost all of these people return alive too. Shark "attacks" on divers are just not that common.
Most divers treat seeing a shark as a treat, and for many species of sharks, it is a rare treat.

I think the responses and poll demonstrate the difficulties that many divers have in properly assessing the risk of shark attack. Ironically, many divers on this board will jump at the first hint of anyone suggesting that it is okay to enter a cavern or cave without the necessary training. And yet when it comes to shark attack, a suicidal level of risk is accepted and promoted by the board.

In the year I've been on this board, MANY accident/incident threads have been started where a diver died in a cave. I can't think of one where a diver died by shark, though I may have missed one. I think statistically, a cave is MUCH riskier for a diver than being in an ocean with sharks.

 

[Tigerman]

Well, I don't think I would want to go diving right in the middle of a busy seal colony in the middle of great white shark season, but thats just about it too...

 

[TMHeimer]

Since we've gotten into the fear or no fear of sharks, I liken it to this: We all know the risks of an attack are miniscual--unless that ONE happens to be injured, very old and unable to get it's normal prey, mistakes you for it's normal food because of this or that. The risk of a plane your on going down/hijacked is also miniscual, and I have no "fear" of flying to speak of at all. But I wouldn't get on a plane if I had nowhere to go and didn't need to. That's why I don't seek out sharks.