Divers embrace anti-shark device???

[RonFrank]

Just curious, but can you provide more info on this? A quick internet search shows that the 'Zambezi' shark is the same bull shark seen in other fresh-water rivers around the world, and I couldn't find anything to suggest that they 'eat' humans any more than other sharks. Since they do hunt in murkey waters, there is a higher likelyhood of a human being attacked by accident, but I'm not convinced we are on their menu. There are dive shops that do shark dives with the 'Zambezi.' They can't be too much of a maneater, can they?

Thanks,

Apparently while divers are not generally attacked by sharks in general, the Zambezi sharks have done a LOT of damage to the tourist trade on the beaches of South Africa killing if memory serves something like 7 people (swimmers/surfers) in just one season.

The problem is so serious for the industry that during the months the sharks are in the area (they apparently migrate, but no one knows where to) they put up nets running for miles in the water to keep the sharks out of the areas where people swim and surf.

The nets require constant maintenance, and they seem like a rather desperate attempt to prevent something that is very difficult to control. The special was very interesting, but I did not save it on DVR, so can not watch it again to provide a lot of details. The nets create a LOT of problems for other fish as well that get caught and die in them. They are also constantly getting ripped up, hence all the maintenance.

The show was titled something like "Killer Sharks", and focused on the Zambezi shark which based on what I saw, yes, is a man eater, and considered more dangerous than the great white to people. These are also not just freshwater sharks, and generally live at sea, but I believe go up river to breed (can not remember if that is right either). But they indicated that no other shark alive has the ablity to live both in fresh and salt water.