Marine Life Diver's head bitten by great white - Australia

[DandyDon]

Diver bitten on head by great white shark has teeth removed from her skull

A DIVER that was brutally bitten on the head by a shark had to have teeth removed from her skull after suffering horror facial injuries. Bridgette O’Shannessy, 32, was attacked by a great whi…

www.thesun.co.uk

A DIVER that was brutally bitten on the head by a shark had to have teeth removed from her skull after suffering horror facial injuries.

She was left with missing teeth and serious nerve damage from the mauling at Port Noarlunga, Adelaide, on Friday, November 10.

O'Shannessy was rushed to Flinders Medical Centre to have two surgeries to remove the teeth from her skull.

The woman was reportedly fighting for her life after the bite on the head caused "extremely serious head injuries", and left a trail of blood on the beach.

Despite the horrific injuries, O'Shannessy is now in a stable condition and should make a full recovery.

The attack happened after a day of free diving with her partner Brian Gordon Roberts.

According to Seven News, Roberts pushed the shark away to stop it from getting any worse.

Her concerned partner wrote on social media: "Unfortunately Bridgette was hit by a white pointer at Port Noarlunga reef yesterday.

"She’s out of theatre now in ICU and in a stable condition.

 

[NW Dive Dawg]

It may be interesting to know if the "free diving" involved spear fishing or if it was just free diving. Hope she makes a full recovery...

 

[Johnoly]

It may be interesting to know if the "free diving" involved spear fishing

We have friends down there. That whole area is a protected reserve and heavily enforced with stiff penalties. No spearing there, GW's are frequent though during their seasonal traverse passing thru.

 

[DandyDon]

Hope she makes a full recovery.

Me too, but it doesn't sound promising even tho the article said that she would.
> "She was left with missing teeth and serious nerve damage"
> "The woman was reportedly fighting for her life after the bite on the head caused "extremely serious head injuries", and left a trail of blood on the beach."

 

[diver257a]

We have friends down there. That whole area is a protected reserve and heavily enforced with stiff penalties. No spearing there, GW's are frequent though during their seasonal traverse passing thru.

Hi, I live in South Australia and have the following comments.

The site of the attack is in a marine protected area (MPA) established in 1968 under the name of the Port Noarlunga Aquatic Reserve. The aquatic reserve was added to a larger MPA called the Encounter Marine Park in about 2009, and is now known as the Port Noarlunga Sanctuary Zone. Information re the Encounter Marine Park and the prohibition of spearfishing within the Port Noarlunga Sanctuary Zone can be found in the following links -
Fishing closures
Encounter Marine Park

Further to comments above via Johnology, Great White Sharks are quite common in Gulf St Vincent. In addition to seasonal movement of schools of fish species (i.e. food), it is likely that there are birthing sites within the Gulf because small specimens have been seen and/or caught. There have been (at least) two fatal attacks on scuba divers in the Gulf, i.e. 1986 (I think) and 1991.

 

[MB NZ]

I may be wrong, but I get the impression that the global SCUBA diving community is reluctant to believe that unprovoked shark attacks occur or come about as the result of "mistaken identity". Great whites are not uncommon in this part of the world, especially in Western Australia and South Australia and they do attack and sometimes eat humans. You don't have to be spearfishing to become a victim and SCUBA divers aren't necessarily safe. Do I believe they are actively out to hunt us swimming monkeys? No I don't, but it's not unreasonable to be cautious.

 

[NW Dive Dawg]

I may be wrong, but I get the impression that the global SCUBA diving community is reluctant to believe that unprovoked shark attacks occur or come about as the result of "mistaken identity". Great whites are not uncommon in this part of the world, especially in Western Australia and South Australia and they do attack and sometimes eat humans. You don't have to be spearfishing to become a victim and SCUBA divers aren't necessarily safe. Do I believe they are actively out to hunt us swimming monkeys? No I don't, but it's not unreasonable to be cautious.

To the contrary, I believe that the majority of the global diving community most definitely believes that unprovoked attacks can occur as a result of mistaken identity. These are large carnivorous predator's with huge appetites and small brains.

The only reason I asked about the spearfishing aspect is that there was no mention of that component in the original story.........and I think just about everyone in the diving community agrees that adding blood to the water most definitely increases the likelihood of a shark attack.

 

[MB NZ]

To the contrary, I believe that the majority of the global diving community most definitely believes that unprovoked attacks can occur as a result of mistaken identity. These are large predator's with big appetites and small brains.

I agree with you, that's what the the global diving community, or at least a large part of it thinks. No doubt the mistaken identity concept does explain many shark attacks worldwide, but that doesn't make it universal or explain why some victims are consumed. A large predator with a small brain looks for an easy source of calories, sometimes we humans tick that box.

 

[pauldw]

I get the impression that the global SCUBA diving community is reluctant to believe that unprovoked shark attacks occur or come about as the result of "mistaken identity".

I know I don't believe that sharks won't attack someone if they know it's a human. Sharks attack people because they are predators and we are prey.

 

[pauldw]

This is a terrible thing that happened to this person. Keeping that foremost in mind, and speaking here only generally and without changing at all the observation that what happened to this person is terrible, I add this excerpt from "Humble Is the Prey" by David Quammen: