How many fatal shark attacks to stop you diving

[shoredivr]

It's fascinating that the OP uses emotional name calling ("Greenies") to deride those who disagree with him. Yet spouts off about being rational.

 

[PeterNBiddle]

I had two very good instructors for my OW and AOW courses. Like most places, you get good divers and some that are not so good. We've been over this before Bob. Suffice to say that to the best of my knowledge I don't know of anyone who has died diving the swim throughs/caves in the areas I dive. We've had two divers recently die in fatal shark attacks. Which do you think presents the highest risk? The reactions I've seen to the two risks on this forum, ie. the perceived risk, is opposite to the actual level of risk indicated by the fatalities. Always remember. The best way to minimise risk is to eliminate the risk. That applies equally to cave diving as it does to man-eating sharks.

You are equating correlation to causality. This is a rookie mistake.

I know four people who have died ice skating. That doesn't make ice skating riskier than sky diving. To suggest that would be a specious argument.

 

[Foxfish]

To give the discussion a bit more perspective, the following is a summary of the total number of fatal shark attacks in Western Australia taken from the Shark Attack Files SAS.

Shark Attack File SAS World Wide international global Shark Attack File

Year..........Number......Fatalities...Shark
................Attacks
1800-1809.... 1............ NR......... NR
1810-1819.... NR.......... NR..........NR
1820-1829.... NR.......... NR..........NR
1830-1839.... NR.......... NR..........NR
1840-1849.... NR.......... NR..........NR
1850-1859.... NR.......... NR..........NR
1860-1869.... NR.......... NR..........NR
1870-1879.... 2............ 1............ NR
1880-1889.... 1............ NR.......... NR
1890-1899.... 3............ 2............ NR,NR
1900-1909.... 3............ 1............ NR
1910-1919.... 5............ 1............ NR
1920-1929.... 8............ 4............ NR,NR,NR,T
1930-1939.... 3.............NR.......... NR
1940-1949.... 7............ 2............ T,T
1950-1959.... 9............ 1............ T
1960-1969.... 26.......... 1............ W
1970-1979.... 5............ NR.......... NR
1980-1989.... 9............ NR.......... NR
1990-1999.... 11.......... 2............. T,W
2000-2009.... 30.......... 4............. W,W,W,W
2010-2014.... 24.......... 8............. NR,NR, W,W,W,W,W,W

Codes:

NR - None recorded
T - Tiger shark
W - White pointer
Number of attacks includes fatalities.

Note that there has been a dramatic increase in the number of fatal shark attacks since 1997 when the white pointer was first protected in this state and most of these attacks were by white pointers. Also note that we're not yet halfway through the latest 2010-2019 interval. Should the number of fatal attacks continue at the current rate we can expect at least another eight fatal attacks by the end of 2019 bringing the total to 16 for this interval.

My quick scan of the Shark File data suggests the rate of fatal attacks in our area (within 300 km of Perth as defined in the OP) is among the highest anywhere in the world. We had five fatal attacks in the space of twelve months in the past few years. It is likely this disturbing trend will continue without intervention.

The question posed in the OP was, suppose this occurred in the region where you dive and the number of fatalities continued to escalate at this rate. At what point would you stop diving? How much risk would you tolerate? This is a question being asked by many divers in my area. It is a question that should be considered by tourists who travel to locations such as ours and dive.

 

[ferris213]

T
The question posed in the OP was, suppose this occurred in the region where you dive and the number of fatalities continued to escalate at this rate. At what point would you stop diving? How much risk would you tolerate? This is a question being asked by many divers in my area. It is a question that should be considered by tourists who travel to locations such as ours and dive.

It is a question that has been answered by many dozens of divers here on the board, continuing to ask it won't change anything.

I think it has been made abundantly clear that the threat of shark attack to SCUBA DIVERS is so minuscule that it doesn't register on the risk assessments of the people on this forum.

You're asking people to make a judgment call on a set of circumstances that is never going to happen. (Again I'm talking about shark attacks on scuba divers only)

 

[boulderjohn]

Here is a video of some white shark action:

Swimming With Great White Sharks - YouTube

 

[MMM]

How many of these fatalities were recreational scuba divers?

To give the discussion a bit more perspective, the following is a summary of the total number of fatal shark attacks in Western Australia taken from the Shark Attack Files SAS.

Shark Attack File SAS World Wide international global Shark Attack File

Year..........Number......Fatalities...Shark
................Attacks
1800-1809.... 1............ NR......... NR
1810-1819.... NR.......... NR..........NR
1820-1829.... NR.......... NR..........NR
1830-1839.... NR.......... NR..........NR
1840-1849.... NR.......... NR..........NR
1850-1859.... NR.......... NR..........NR
1860-1869.... NR.......... NR..........NR
1870-1879.... 2............ 1............ NR
1880-1889.... 1............ NR.......... NR
1890-1899.... 3............ 2............ NR,NR
1900-1909.... 3............ 1............ NR
1910-1919.... 5............ 1............ NR
1920-1929.... 8............ 4............ NR,NR,NR,T
1930-1939.... 3.............NR.......... NR
1940-1949.... 7............ 2............ T,T
1950-1959.... 9............ 1............ T
1960-1969.... 26.......... 1............ W
1970-1979.... 5............ NR.......... NR
1980-1989.... 9............ NR.......... NR
1990-1999.... 11.......... 2............. T,W
2000-2009.... 30.......... 4............. W,W,W,W
2010-2014.... 24.......... 8............. NR,NR, W,W,W,W,W,W

Codes:

NR - None recorded
T - Tiger shark
W - White pointer
Number of attacks includes fatalities.

Note that there has been a dramatic increase in the number of fatal shark attacks since 1997 when the white pointer was first protected in this state and most of these attacks were by white pointers. Also note that we're not yet halfway through the latest 2010-2019 interval. Should the number of fatal attacks continue at the current rate we can expect at least another eight fatal attacks by the end of 2019 bringing the total to 16 for this interval.

My quick scan of the Shark File data suggests the rate of fatal attacks in our area (within 300 km of Perth as defined in the OP) is among the highest anywhere in the world. We had five fatal attacks in the space of twelve months in the past few years. It is likely this disturbing trend will continue without intervention.

The question posed in the OP was, suppose this occurred in the region where you dive and the number of fatalities continued to escalate at this rate. At what point would you stop diving? How much risk would you tolerate? This is a question being asked by many divers in my area. It is a question that should be considered by tourists who travel to locations such as ours and dive.

 

[CT-Rich]

Last post on this thread... I am tired of Foxfish, and really, we shouldn't feed the troll. First, NetDoc did you a favor as I point out, just f'd with your poll, as opposed banning it.

You dive the conditions you find. Plenty of people in my area vacation divers. They don't like cold murky water and fly south. Sometimes it is even fear based. They don't like diving in conditions because they are claustrophobic and are uncomfortable at the thought that sharks or other sea creatures are just beyond sight. No one seriously suggests that we should filter the ocean or cull the marine life to convert the Atlantic to a Disney park. Shipwrecks are collapsing death traps. We don't send engineers out to make sure the wrecks are safe. If you dive them, you take your chances.

Either choose to travel or take up a type of diving that you find an acceptable risk. I would love to do some cage diving and to see those incredible animals and I guess the reason you got banned from the WA board was that they thought your attitude was counter to the communal philosophy. SB is an open place and you got to be troll of the month for February... Feel free to post your centerfold.

 

[Hank49]

Here is a video of some white shark action:

Swimming With Great White Sharks - YouTube

And there you have it. I knew it !!. Long blade fins even protect you from Great Whites !!

 

[Foxfish]

And there you have it. I knew it !!. Long blade fins even protect you from Great Whites !!

Well kind of.

No Cookies | Perth Now

TODD Robinson says he didn't believe "all the hype" about sharks until he almost became the latest victim of an attack while diving for crayfish off Hillarys yesterday morning.

 

[Ste Wart]

Well kind of.




No Cookies | Perth Now

TODD Robinson says he didn't believe "all the hype" about sharks until he almost became the latest victim of an attack while diving for crayfish off Hillarys yesterday morning.

The attack comes just two weeks after Greg Pickering was bitten near Esperance while diving for abalone

Meanwhile, a diver in the South-West reported being "circled" by a shark at Meelup Beach, near Dunsborough. He reported the incident to Water Police just after 3.30pm.

Fisheries South-West manager Kevin Donohue said the man was spearfishing when he was approached by a white shark estimated to be between 3.5m and 4m long.

I can't quite put my finger on it, but I may sense a pattern