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Great White attack on Diver
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Catito
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Sad. Terrible.
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It is. Great white shark attacks happen fairly frequently in WA, usually swimmers though. Thoughts to his people. Very sad.
I am assuming it's a free diver, as there is no mention of scuba equipment being found.
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The very bottom of one of those linked stories includes the claim "There have been 16 fatal shark attacks in WA since 2000." If true, that's an average of 0.8/year. If I understand the news story correctly, the sole witness was a woman on the boat, so it seems that he was surface swimming at the time. Another of the many news stories on the net about this incident includes a claim "The area is understood to be a popular abalone diving spot for locals," which I believe is only done by freediving. Yeah, scary, but I'd say an expected risk.
tarponchik
Contributor
To quote from the 2nd reference, "Esperance Shire President Ian Mickel said it was a sad day for the region. "I think of the thousands of people in Esperance this summer having a fantastic time swimming and snorkelling, to then have an event like this it is very disappointing," he said."
xmass-Eve
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Divectionist
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Wingy
Contributor
https://www.perthnow.com.au/news/sh...ark-attack-victim-gary-johnson-ng-b881426122z
Facts. Gary was not an Abalone diver - they were not snorkelllers, surfers or swimmers - he and his wife ran the Esperance dive club.
@tarponchik - The reference about swimmers and snorkelllers is because it's peak school holiday season and it's a popular holiday destination. The surfers have already started bleating about "bound to happen we need to do something" - of course it was bound to happen and will unfortunately happen again one day. Cull island isn't that far from Kelp Beds where two surfers have been fatalities in a three year period.
@xmass-Eve - that will not be happening. The stupid moron premier at the time who behaved like a hysterical scaredycat pussy by instigating an illegal cull was outted at the next election and will forever be known as Cullin Barnett. Current premier Mark McGowan has a totally different approach to shark mitigation strategies. Shark shields subsidies have been made affordable for those who want them - Gary probably wouldn't have had one because he was a shark lover. McGowan has put in netted shark areas at popular beaches for those who want that extra protection. Last week I took one of my LOB buddies visiting from the US down to a city beach where Ken Crewe was taken in chest deep water and saw the netted area for the first time. People were swimming outside of the netted area and inside - there are no stupid laws forcing you to swim there nor will there be any drum lines.
@DandyDon yes those stats are correct, we have great whites, a lot of them and big ones. It's the southern ocean, they're well studied, we know why they like hanging around there and it's for food source (seal colony) and migratory patterns of their preferred food source (i.e. The salmon run) and they enjoy the colder waters. There are two populations of them down there - a lighter morph who prefer staying close to the coastline and a darker deep way offshore population. There has been an injured whale off the coast in the last week which had been tangled in fishing nets and fisheries dept expected the whale to die after it got free and headed out to sea. Who knows if it did where it ended up and if that is even a relevant factor.
There were seals on the rocks yesterday. Gary's gear was black the time I met them so ... His smile and enthusiasm for the ocean will not be forgotten and he would not want any cull or action taken. I crossed paths and chatted and blew bubbles with them about 5 years ago while looking for sea dragons. A quick chat gave me a glimpse of the local knowledge they had of the area and passion for the ocean - apparently he dived for pleasure almost every day he could and knew and accepted the risks.
Really heartfelt sympathies to his wife and buddy, family, friends and the people of Esperance.
Facts. Gary was not an Abalone diver - they were not snorkelllers, surfers or swimmers - he and his wife ran the Esperance dive club.
@tarponchik - The reference about swimmers and snorkelllers is because it's peak school holiday season and it's a popular holiday destination. The surfers have already started bleating about "bound to happen we need to do something" - of course it was bound to happen and will unfortunately happen again one day. Cull island isn't that far from Kelp Beds where two surfers have been fatalities in a three year period.
@xmass-Eve - that will not be happening. The stupid moron premier at the time who behaved like a hysterical scaredycat pussy by instigating an illegal cull was outted at the next election and will forever be known as Cullin Barnett. Current premier Mark McGowan has a totally different approach to shark mitigation strategies. Shark shields subsidies have been made affordable for those who want them - Gary probably wouldn't have had one because he was a shark lover. McGowan has put in netted shark areas at popular beaches for those who want that extra protection. Last week I took one of my LOB buddies visiting from the US down to a city beach where Ken Crewe was taken in chest deep water and saw the netted area for the first time. People were swimming outside of the netted area and inside - there are no stupid laws forcing you to swim there nor will there be any drum lines.
@DandyDon yes those stats are correct, we have great whites, a lot of them and big ones. It's the southern ocean, they're well studied, we know why they like hanging around there and it's for food source (seal colony) and migratory patterns of their preferred food source (i.e. The salmon run) and they enjoy the colder waters. There are two populations of them down there - a lighter morph who prefer staying close to the coastline and a darker deep way offshore population. There has been an injured whale off the coast in the last week which had been tangled in fishing nets and fisheries dept expected the whale to die after it got free and headed out to sea. Who knows if it did where it ended up and if that is even a relevant factor.
There were seals on the rocks yesterday. Gary's gear was black the time I met them so ... His smile and enthusiasm for the ocean will not be forgotten and he would not want any cull or action taken. I crossed paths and chatted and blew bubbles with them about 5 years ago while looking for sea dragons. A quick chat gave me a glimpse of the local knowledge they had of the area and passion for the ocean - apparently he dived for pleasure almost every day he could and knew and accepted the risks.
Really heartfelt sympathies to his wife and buddy, family, friends and the people of Esperance.
Wingy
Contributor
I really don't want to take this thread off on any tangent but just wanted to clarify the misconception re abalone diving done by free divers. Not there. We have a world class abalone industry that's done with cages (usually - I believe after Greg Pickering was bitten all the ab divers use cages) and that town exists and relies on the ab industry. If he had have been abalone diving every news report would've said an Abalone diver as we all know they are statistically at a far higher risk and it is an industrial/workplace issue. Have a look at the sustainable seafood abalone diving in Esperance clip on YouTube and it's pretty clear that it was just a pleasure dive that ended so horribly wrong. There's no lessons to be learned here sadly.
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