Why not more fear of Tiger Sharks?

[Arubandi07]

Oh yeah, and as for the clip, wouldn't wanna be diving in that area, just imagine those fellas coming around, seeing a diver("yummm, Tuna for dinner!!"), and figuring out that you got nothing but a wet suit and a camera... Shark feeding in coastal areas, NO, Thank you!!!

 

[tyesai]

I've got a second the Sharkman video. You can buy it on I-Tunes for a couple of bucks. It is pretty sick what the guy does, I've heard some people compare him to Timothy Treadwell, but I don't see it. That Treadwell cat was a nut.

 

[Arubandi07]

One of the things I really liked about this presentation, is that Rutzen's commentary is so relaxed and matter of fact, unlike some of the other guys "Now, WATCH THIS!!!" attitude, ranting and screaming half the time.
Thanks for posting the access info.

 

[tyesai]

The only time he seemed a little rattled was when he was in the water with like 6 or 7 Great Whites at the same time. What a sissy boy.

 

[MauiScubaSteve]

....

Now, consider the Tiger Shark. A generalist carnivore with a rep. for eating a wide range of things, fast, gets quite large (not quite as large as the GWS, but close enough), also responsible for human fatalities (I'm 41; when I was a kid the GWS was billed as the #1 man eater, but the Tiger Shark was #2) & occurs in the Caribbean, a region where many of us dive. Yet some dive op.s take people on shark dives hoping to see Tiger Sharks, and they are not cage dives!

....


I'm not encouraging fear-mongering against sharks. I'd just like to know why Tiger Sharks don't seem to command anywhere near the fear and caution of Great Whites, yet are more likely to share ocean with many of us on dive trips.

Tiger Shark dives just don't seem nearly as high on the 'bucket list' for many divers as cage diving with Great Whites.

Starting at the bottom of the OP quote above;

How many "cage dive" operators are there?

Even if you wear scuba gear, if the cage floats at the surface can you really call it a dive?

Other than scuba hunters, how many scuba divers have even been bit by a tiger shark, much less killed?

 

[MauiScubaSteve]

Here in Hawaii, nobody worries about whites because nobody ever sees them, but they will close beaches for tigers. They have even set out hunting tiger sharks in the past in an effort to reduce their population in response to attacks.

The most famous Hawaii GW encounter was Jimmy Hall's video of petting an 18 footer outside his cage off Haleiwa.

Blesi (one of the B's in B&B Scuba Maui) sells a photo of a GW taken at Reef's End of Molokini (I believe).

Back in the early 2000's Waimea Bay lifeguards reported a "breaching" shark predation of a spinner dolphin baby near the rocks SW of the Bay. The "experts" say only one kind of shark "breaches."

Back in the '90's there were a bunch of surfers fathers who went all "Jaws" on tigers off Oahu. Killed a bunch of tiger sharks but none of them ever had any human body parts in their digestive systems. Huge opposition from Native Hawaiians and ecologists ended the tiger shark hunts and that kind of mindset is now held in the lowest regard with respect to knowledge of the marine environment.

There are two good reasons why we don't have tiger shark dives here in Hawaii. For one, there isn't anywhere that they show up with any regularity as they do at Tiger Beach and other locations. Also, when tigers do show up here, I think they can be a little more bitey.

I would be interested in the "data" for the underlined statement above? The research I have done indicates that except for hunters with catch, no scuba diver has ever even been bumped by a tiger.

AFAIK, only three non hunting divers have ever been bit by sharks in Hawaii since it became a State in '59; two photographers bit by white tip reef sharks and one photographer bit by hammerhead, all minor forearm nibbles as shark got out of a cornered situation.

 

[DavidPT40]

I've seen documentaries of tiger sharks and oceanic whitetips acting very aggressively and causing the divers to get out of the water. The tiger shark is especially aggressive when pregnant. In one documentary, the tiger shark chased the divers out of the water, after it devoured a 6-foot black tip reef shark tail first (which was shown on camera, quite a site to see).

It'd be pretty cool if I could find that dvd again (it only cost $1 at walmart!).