How many fatal shark attacks to stop you diving

[Tigerman]

This is a completely pointless attempt at fear mongering towards sharks. Your situation exists NO WHERE on this entire planet. Why did you even bother making this?

Havent you heard? Were wrong, in his area there is shark attacks on scuba divers ALL TTHE TIME!....

 

[shoredivr]

I'll agree that you aren't alone in your irrational fear and assessment of risk. I know people who are too scared to let their kids dip their toes in at the beach.

One thing we are good at culling here in WA is ridiculous hypothetical threads started by someone seeking to validate their position on shark attack risk to SCUBA divers. This one lasted 4 posts...

Western Australian Divers ? View topic - A study in risk

I see, even Western Australian divers, those diving in the area in question, disagree with him.

 

[tc]

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A ScubaBoard Staff Message...

Please keep it on topic.

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[Foxfish]

I can't help it but keep coming back to this topic. It's like a bad soapie where you know it's crap but still watch to see what's happening. But I feel that lurking is not enough anymore. Foxfish, you know the risks you are willing to take and I'm sure you will (or already have) stop your diving in these "MAN-EATING-SHARK INFESTED WATERS".

What will knowing what the rest of us think serve your purpose. You seem to want to ignore every argument made against you on this forum so gauging the opinions of other divers would have been a fruitless exercise to begin with.

Guess you answered your own question. You keep coming back to view the discussion because it is something that interests you.

These people are not inherently suicidal and have said so. The fact is getting fatally wounded by a shark is not a scenario many think of when diving in their regular hang outs. If the risk of this becomes greater, they will eventually have to reevaluate.

I've gone over this a number of times. Refer to post #79 and #266 for further explanation.

The point is, even with your stats of increased attacks in your area, people here still consider your current level of risk for a fatal attack on a diver acceptable enough to continue diving.
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You think the risk of GWS attack in your area is too high, and the methods you propose to "minimise" the risks aren't working. DON'T DIVE. But please leave us alone for wanting to dive anyway.

The poll is not asking if you are comfortable with the current level of risk where you dive or anywhere else for that matter. It is asking you to assess at what point that level of risk would become so uncomfortable that you would stop diving.

 

[drrich2]

It is asking you to assess at what point that level of risk would become so uncomfortable that you would stop diving.

We understand that. I think the reason we have an issue with it is that it's like asking us if sharks could fly, would we go to the beach or stay home and hide.

Richard.

 

[Basking Ridge Diver]

Ok - my risk level is I would have to be attacked - other than that I would keep diving. Or is this a contradiction? Love Monty Python...

 

[Foxfish]

This is a completely pointless attempt at fear mongering towards sharks. Your situation exists NO WHERE on this entire planet. Why did you even bother making this?

Actually there are places around the world where the risk of a fatal shark attack is so high people are warned not to enter the water. How is that determined? My experience suggests that in some cases it is based on the frequency of the attacks and especially fatal attacks.

The intent of the poll is to gauge where individual divers place that upper limit. At what point would you decide the risk was too high.

I've previously noted that globally in recent years the maximum number of fatal attacks is five in a 12 month period for the area defined in the OP. This was determined from a quick scan of the statistics from the Shark Attack Files SAS. From what I can determine, there is no where in the US including Florida, that comes close to that number.

 

[Centrals]

I clicked the 2nd last but would love to include the last one as well if allowed!

 

[drrich2]

Actually there are places around the world where the risk of a fatal shark attack is so high people are warned not to enter the water. How is that determined? My experience suggests that in some cases it is based on the frequency of the attacks and especially fatal attacks.

Name the specific place(s). I suspect in some cases, like my ridiculous example of body boarding off Seal Island near South Africa where the great whites hunt seals and breach attacking decoys, it's common sense applied to a very localized area, rather than waiting for the fatality rate to hit a specific number per sea-using population ratio for a given area.

And relatively small, isolated areas can be pretty easily avoided once known. That scenario is not to be generalized to very large regions of coastline.

Richard.

 

[Foxfish]

Name the specific place(s). I suspect in some cases, like my ridiculous example of body boarding off Seal Island near South Africa where the great whites hunt seals and breach attacking decoys, it's common sense applied to a very localized area, rather than waiting for the fatality rate to hit a specific number per sea-using population ratio for a given area.

And relatively small, isolated areas can be pretty easily avoided once known. That scenario is not to be generalized to very large regions of coastline.

Richard.

I'll answer your questions, but firstly a few of my own:

Apparently you live in Kentucky. My guess would be that shark attack is not a major concern for the authorities in that state given that it is entirely landlocked. I found this on the net.

Diving Overview for Kentucky
Kentucky is one of the United State's smaller states located in the East Central region.

Kentucky is a landlocked state so all diving activities are focussed around the many freshwater lakes and quarries.

Scuba Diving in Kentucky, USA, North America - Dive Sites & Locations

Where do you normally dive?
How many people were killed by fatal shark attack in the last three years in the region you dive? I asked this question in the OP and have had few responses.