Shark bites liveaboard guest

[Rule62]

any idea how many divers die in a given year due to diver error that are not related to marine wildlife?

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99.999999%

 

[cdncrab]

I'd have to find the Video, but while diving in Cuba, I was given a video of a divemaster who was feeding a bull shark. Well the sucker bit him in the forearm. It is an amazing video for the fact the after talking to the divemaster and watching the video, you realise the shark had no intention of biting him or even finishing the job. There were at least a dozen bull sharks and there was no feeding frenzy when all this blood starts coming out of his arm. His version was he didn't pay attention. As the shark was coming in to take the food out of his hand he moved sideways and the shark got his arm instead of the fish. What was amazing about the video was the shark let go instantly as if it knew it made a mistake. HE CAMLY held his arm and ascended slowly to the surface. The video continued to show the surgery and the size of the gash, luckily for him he just has a big scar with no permenant damage.
depth was aroud 80 feet. I dove the same area but no sharks at that time.

 

[seaurchin]

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99.999999%

Darwin!...and training.... keeping a cool head is not something you can teach.

 

[deco_martini]

There is a huge difference between cage dives with divemasters out in chain mail suits, "hand feeding" the sharks.....and chumsickle style dives where there is a large simulated "natural feeding event" taking place..ie., sharks have been showing up to eat dead whales, dead fish, injured anything for millions of years, and this form of feeding is normal for them....when Aberbnethy drops a crate of dead fish or fish parts in the water, and it sits there overnight, this is NOT similar to hand feeding sharks--I do not believe you have shark intelligence attempting to correlate the crate of fish parts with any of the fish or other marine life which shows up over this time period, and begins to attempt feeding on scraps--or correlate with humans that show up with the other incidental visitors.

I have to respectfully disagree with you. The issue to me isn't Pavlov responses or hand-feed vs chum feed. The issue is that Tiger and Bull sharks are highly unpredictable. Even if they don't intend to harm you, they can cause you great harm. Again, I think there is a good analogy in bears at US parks.

And Jimmy does not grab unsuspecting divers, and throw them bodily into the water..the divers know what is in the water, and they are paying huge money to get in to this.

I think there is a powerful arguement that Jim's web site doesn't properly convey the danger of diving with these sharks and that people may be lulled into a false sense of safety.

It appears to me that Neal Watson et al, are using this tragic event to push their agenda and gain back market share from Abernethy

I think there is a much more pragmatic reason for outfits like Watson's to be calling the press and labeling Abernathy as a loose cannon in the world of shark diving. That is, tragedies make laws. Basically, one outfit known to not be using proper safety precautions can ruin it for everyone. I am sure that there are more people in the industry having a stiff drink today. "Bahamas" "Palm Beach" "Diver Fatality" aren't good to see in the headlines for the dive business in those regions.

You know, sometimes, when a person dies or gets hurt, we should not be trying to "blame" this on someone else. Sometimes, bad things just happen... This Austrian diver death is tragic, we all feel terrible for his family--but it is not a "fault" issue.

YouTube - Tiger shark AND MORE

Diving with Tigers and Bulls cageless is safe as you can see from that video.

 

[mitchsea]

Unfortunately, most people already know that Lions are dangerous, and you are in a Land Rover with its engine running for a reason, and why they also have a 458 magnum cocked and ready. And most people don't go out killing kittens and cats out of fear of lions.

We have a situation here where the majority of land lubbers think that little sharks will grow up to be killer Great Whites. It is hard enough to teach folks that 99% of the sharks in the ocean are not killers.... But all it takes is a news report that a diver is killed by a bull shark while feeding it will reverse 90% of the success of well meaning biologists to teach the community NOT to kill all sharks indiscriminately. We are essentially teaching folks to kill tabby cats for fear they'll grow into lions.

Your logics doesn't make sense to me.

My logic is that most species of sharks are opportunistic predators. While they may not be dangerous under "normal" conditions, when you exite them with chum and the competitiveness of concentrating their numbers it becomes an inherently dangerous situation which was bound to lead to something like this eventually. I don't think my analogy is out of line.
Of course this headline in the newspaper will do more to senationalize sharks as dangerous to the general public. That's a byproduct of society's 5 second attention span and general ignorance. You have guys like Dr. Gruber working endlessly to research shark behavior and educate the public, but the shark attack always grabs the headlines...very unfortunate.

 

[deco_martini]

As the shark was coming in to take the food out of his hand he moved sideways and the shark got his arm instead of the fish.

depth was aroud 80 feet

Hand feeding dangerous sharks at the 1 martini level of nitrogen narcosis is probably not a wise idea.

 

[DandyDon]

YouTube - Tiger shark AND MORE

Diving with Tigers and Bulls cageless is safe as you can see from that video.

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[Rule62]

Darwin!...and training.... keeping a cool head is not something you can teach.

Stop, Think, Act, can be and is taught!!!!

 

[DandyDon]

Stop, Think, Act, Apply tourniquet is not, however. Who wouldn't tend to freak if bleeding profusely with sharks looking for food nearby...?

 

[Rule62]

Stop, Think, Act, Apply tourniquet is not, however. Who wouldn't tend to freak if bleeding profusely with sharks looking for food nearby...?

Good point but hope I never have to see for myself!!!