Is there a link between Shark Attacks and Fishing for Sharks for the "Safety" of Humans?

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Rusty Roo

Contributor
Messages
238
Reaction score
20
Location
hawaii
# of dives
200 - 499
I believe that spearfishing increases the chance of a shark attack.

I believe repetitive shark attacks cause politicians and other policy makers to make knee jerk reactions.

I believe their default response is to remove sharks.

I believe the commonly used method to drum line for sharks.

I believe this results in the death of many sharks.

I believe sharks shouldn't be hunted.

I've used the phrase "i believe" to avoid any confusion, i am not a marine biologist. However i do read many articles regarding sharks, see what charities say and what my friends say who work in the dive industry.

this is my opinion. I hope this isn't removed for being "off topic" guess i've become used to the rules over at r/scuba on reddit where conversation is allowed to evolve.
 
If you believe this very strongly - nothing will change your mind. So... Why the post? To validate your belief?
 


A ScubaBoard Staff Message...

I believe that I am going to move this from Basic to the Shark Forum
 
I believe that spearfishing increases the chance of a shark attack.

If you're saying spearfishing increases the chance of a shark attack to beach swimmers I'd disagree. I believe spear fishing increases the interaction between scuba divers and sharks or free divers and sharks, increased interaction increases the odds of an incident. Sharks that have been exposed to spearfishing eventually learn to recognize the sound of a spear gun firing underwater and come to investigate it, however they also quickly determine whether the diver in the water has any speared fish or not and quickly leave a non-spear fishing diver. If you're the spear fisher the sharks may proceed to give you attention. But other than that I don't see any connection between spear fishing and any other shark /people interaction.
 
It likely that spearfishing can habituate sharks to associating people with food (that they can steal from the diver's fish line.) Thus the sound or sight of divers might attract sharks.
This probably does not affect other ocean users (surfers, swimmers) but might put it might put spearfishermen at greater risk. Sharks rarely attack people, but the more interaction between the two, the greater the risk.
Not that this is any reason for us to stop spearfishing..... But it is a topic worth discussing.
It is my strong belief that the low incidence of shark attack (shark conservationists cite less than 100 attacks a year) is linked to the large number of shark that are killed (shark conservationists cite 73-100 million a year.)
This connection is not often made; IMO it seems to be purposely avoided by most shark conservationists.
The answer might come from California, where the great white population is rebounding due to protections. IMO we will a noticeable rise in attack on divers (and others) in California in the next 10-20 years.
Is there a steady increase of divers in California? That would be a countervailing factor, leading to the argument that increased ocean use is the cause of more attacks. "More ocean users" is the primary explanation to explain increasing shark attack in Hawaii, where I live. I am interested in hearing opinions.... Mark
 

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