If 10's of thousands of people were going into the water in that time frame, and most of the attacks weren't on scuba divers, yes, I'd probably keep diving, even if it were 26. I don't have a set number threshold; I don't think most people do.
Shark-related fatalities don't come anywhere near a rational threshold compared to other dangers in the real world in the overwhelming majority of cases, so most of us don't have much real world experience trying to establish a threshold and are left with some pretty wild guessing.
Richard.
In fact of the five who were recently killed, two were scuba divers which puts them into the high risk category over here given their percent of the total people who enter the water, at least in recent years. One was an attack as a diver descended down the anchor line in a bay area I've dived a number of times and would never have expected to see a white pointer let alone get attacked by one.
Kurmann was attacked off Stratham Beach - about 230km south of Perth near Busselton - while diving with his older brother Gian, who tried to fight off the shark with his diving knife.
"He had a go at the shark with his knife," friend Peter MacDonald said. "They were both descending down the anchor rope to the dive site and Peter was in front of Gian and apparently it came out of nowhere and grabbed him."
Mr MacDonald - who owns a boating and dive business in Busselton - said in the months before his death Mr Kurmann had discussed the effectiveness of shark shields, which he sells to divers who frequent the waters surrounding Geographe Bay.
"He was asking me about . . . whether they attracted a shark first before they deterred it. We had a bit of a giggle in regards to that. He said: 'What's your chances of getting attacked by a white pointer in the bay?' There's never been a diver taken in Geographe Bay and now we're eating our words."
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Tragic story.