Shark bites off snorkeler's arm, Bahamas

[HalcyonDaze]

Bill
Suggest that you obtain and read the book

Sharks and Survival by Perry W Gilbert , HC, D.C.& company, Boston,n 1963, LCCC # 63-22519

You just might change your mind about sharks and Underwater Attacks-- You are the very first person who dives in California I have ever heard of seeing a GWS up close and personal and survived to tell the tale.

SDM

With all due respect to Bill, he's not exactly in exclusive company there:

From Catalina Island, 2014 -
As of 2009, this guy had been solo urchin diving the Farallones since 1978; as far as I know if anything took him out of action it was the hep C he discusses in the film -
We've had a few passing white shark encounters where I am in South Florida lately as well:
Frankly, I think the best precaution against getting hit by a shark is to keep your eyes on it. In the case we've been discussing, the first hint the woman had that there was a shark around was being bumped. At that point there's not much you can do. Sharks didn't get where they were by being stupid; a ~6-ft prey item that sees one coming might decide it's not going down without a fight.

 

[Trace Malinowski]

Henri Bource's 1964 attack caught on video. He went on to keep diving and making movies.

 

[HalcyonDaze]

My first reaction to that clip was to call BS (although I did remember Henri Bource from reading about shark attacks when I was a kid), but then I looked into it. At least part of that clip is supposedly real, although I imagine some of the scenes in the clip were from the filmed reenactment mentioned here: http://sharkattackfile.net/spreadsheets/pdf_directory/1964.11.29-Bource.pdf

To review, he was freediving near a seal rookery, and was actually at the surface when hit. He and his companions had some advance warning when they saw the seals hit the deck, but they didn't see the shark until it struck Bource.

 

[ajduplessis]

I remember reading about a South African spearo who was bitten by a great white. He fashioned a tourniquet out of the power cords and line from his speargun, swam to shore, and calmly walked over to a lifeguard tower and said, "I think I need some help."

Definitely sounds like a South African ...... LOL

 

[dmaziuk]

What I would want to know is why he was diving with power cords.

 

[Bubblesong]

Gawd. My kid signed us up for the Snappa Shark cage dive off RI. Then I see this thread. I know Snappa is only, maybe, expecting blue sharks, but that victim-lady wasn't expecting ANY sharks.

 

[Dizzi Lizzi]

I relieved and happy to say I survived a day stand up paddleboarding. It was my first time and I was stoked, till I remembered I will look like food at the surface. I did fall once and was back up with the littlest amount of splashing possible. It was a weird and irrational fear as I doubt there have been any shark sighting at baby beach/Dana Harbor. I feel much safer submerged.

edit: googled that ... Sigh too much information available these days.

 

[reefrat]

In more than 30 years of scuba diving I have seen my share of sharks and only really been harassed once by an agitated bronze whaler in the North of Western Australia. The only times I feel exposed or vulnerable to toothy critters are when I am snorkelling- I don't like snorkelling much for that very reason, although I still do it occasionally!
One thing that annoys me though is the statistical myths that I keep hearing perpetrated (no offense intended to people to quote them) regarding shark attacks.
A prime example is the "more likely to get hit by a falling coconut than bitten by a shark". I have absolutely no doubt that 150 people do indeed get killed by falling coconuts each year- why? Because hundreds of millions of people in the tropics live and walk all day every day along paths in other places where there is literally a coconut palm every 10 feet! The degree of exposure is huge and coconut palms (particularly throughout Asia) regularly drop large coconuts from great heights. It is amazing really that a great deal more people are not killed by falling coconuts!!
Now, in contrast the exposure of people to potential shark attack is miniscule. Each day a tiny tiny percentage of the world's population goes for a dip in the ocean, most of them waist deep and no more. A few braver souls swim out into deeper water and some even go diving or surfing, but it is such an incredibly small fraction of any total population that really the degree of statistical exposure is not just small, it is microscopically small, and yet shark attacks happen often enough to be topical.
As far as I am concerned, sharks DO pose a potential threat to my health because I am one of those few persons who choose to regularly delve into their realm. The threat is not great- but it is there and I accept it.

 

[Chavodel8en]

One thing that annoys me though is the statistical myths that I keep hearing perpetrated (no offense intended to people to quote them) regarding shark attacks.
A prime example is the "more likely to get hit by a falling coconut than bitten by a shark". I have absolutely no doubt that 150 people do indeed get killed by falling coconuts each year- why? Because hundreds of millions of people in the tropics live and walk all day every day along paths in other places where there is literally a coconut palm every 10 feet! The degree of exposure is huge and coconut palms (particularly throughout Asia) regularly drop large coconuts from great heights. It is amazing really that a great deal more people are not killed by falling coconuts!!
Now, in contrast the exposure of people to potential shark attack is miniscule. Each day a tiny tiny percentage of the world's population goes for a dip in the ocean, most of them waist deep and no more. A few braver souls swim out into deeper water and some even go diving or surfing, but it is such an incredibly small fraction of any total population that really the degree of statistical exposure is not just small, it is microscopically small, and yet shark attacks happen often enough to be topical.
As far as I am concerned, sharks DO pose a potential threat to my health because I am one of those few persons who choose to regularly delve into their realm. The threat is not great- but it is there and I accept it.

So building on the perspective and logic of some folks that you describe above:

If I am in the ocean, there is greater risk from shark attacks, which only results in a handful of deaths each year.

However, in the ocean, there is much less risk from falling coconuts, which kills 150 per year!

So everyone should head out to the ocean, where they will be protected from falling coconuts!!!


*******

I do understand that if you are in the ocean, there is a greater risk of sharks. Its a small risk, but its not zero risk. Like you, I will keep diving.

 

[reefrat]

"So building on the perspective and logic of some folks that you describe above:

If I am in the ocean, there is greater risk from shark attacks, which only results in a handful of deaths each year.

However, in the ocean, there is much less risk from falling coconuts, which kills 150 per year!

So everyone should head out to the ocean, where they will be protected from falling coconuts!!!"

Nope! Went about 37,000 feet over your head I am afraid! If we all (the same number of people that live around coconut palms all day every day- maybe 1 to 2 billion) go way out in the ocean for a swim or scuba dive each day then the statistics for shark attacks will most certainly very different. The original myth cited is an apples to Oranges comparison!