Shark kills Diver

[redrover]

Dive operators and instructors are--and should be--held to a higher standard of accountability.

What do you think the dive operation told the divers?
--Hell, yes, you could be attacked; that's what makes the dive exciting!
--Of course you're safe; we've done this numerous times and no one has ever been attacked.
--We're creating a situation that knowingly makes sharks aggressive; if you're stupid enough to jump in the water without protection, that's your problem, not ours.

In none of those situations would the operation have acted in a reasonable and prudent manner.
...

The very fact that a dive operation offered this type of dive implies that it is safe for divers who act reasonably under water.
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Dive operations, however, are expected to adequately ensure the safety of the divers they bring out.
...

Passengers have a reasonable expectation that an operation (diving or airline) has their well-being in mind.

In the end, though, I hope this tragedy at least helps divers better understand how foolish it is to use operations that chum the water (whether sharks are present or not); they're more interested in taking your money than keeping you safe or offering you an authentic dive experience.

I had a real interesting conversation with an attorney once on a chair lift. The ski resort was open, conditions god awful and I was impressed it was, they weren’t making money running empty lifts. And thinking I was out of my mind. To be out in this (now) rain/wind/sleet/frozen rain weather, to ski what had to be a horrendous mix of ice base and cat scat nicely frosted with a foot and a half of cement near to slurry consistency. We may have been the only 2 people on the chair, that day.

This guy began complaining first at poor customer service – just plain everywhere. First he had a hard time just getting to the base, the plow hadn’t come by recently enough he was able to keep his feet in street shoes dry. Next he got a lift ticket with considerable discussion along the line of, “ are you sure you want to buy one today?”
Still determined, had to talk the rental people into accepting his money. The ski shop was hesitant to sell him the hat the rental guy was pushing him to get, “you really want to have a hat today.”
Making his way to the lift several minutes before me; then, the lift operator was doing his best to get him to reconsider. Seeing me slide up, he bolted in beside nearly knocking me out and scrabbled to climb up in as the chair left the ground.

His story was how he’d looked forward to skiing in Alaska. He had taken lessons 2 winters ago (somewhere else) and not skied since. He was a good strong snowplower and damm proud of it. I suggested the conditions were for advanced skiers today, he might want to ride the lift back down and I’d bet he could get his money back (tell Georgia Lisa asked as a favor.) Oh no! None of that by golly, I came here to ski and ski I will. Despite all these rude and unfriendly people; are you all like that?

I did my best to gently and politely explain how his competence level was just not up to snuff (you idiot) for what he would be facing. “If it’s good enough for you, why not me?” Well, to be honest, I said; I think I’m crazy. This is miserable weather, I’ve no expectation of enjoying myself and 1 pure survival run is all I expect I can take. Just as one run is labeled suitable for beginners, others are marked as advanced. One would be wise to follow the advice given. In short; this mountain today, is no place for a beginner.

He thought about that a while as we now got into the open with the full brunt of the storm making us drug up hill against the wind. Not having seen what the bowl looked like, I was trying to figure out if was worth risking the chance it would be even worse that what I could see.
And planning a little stop at the Patrol to let them know there was a touron on the hill. They might want to have their own extreme experience with a sled following him, at a discrete distance of course.

His story changed. Now as we neared the summit it built slowly into outrage that the resort would allow him to endanger himself in this careless, disregard for safety manner. This resort has no business being open. It is clearly unsafe for me to be here. They should have never let me buy a ticket, get gear, let alone on the lift. If I get hurt, I’m suing them for every penny they have. I’m an attorney by god and I know my rights!

 

[Scubagolf]

Here's a portion of the info on Jim Abernethy's web page regarding the cage-less shark diving:

"To insure the best results we will be “chumming” the water with fish and fish parts. Consequently, there will be food in the water at the same time as the divers. Please be aware that these are not “cage” dives, they are open water experiences. We will have crew members in the water at all times to insure diver safety."

Right.

 

[wlb03]

You know guys.... to each his own. I am not a seasoned diver and I have not had any experience with shark diving. For me, my common sense seems to kick in. If it doesn't feel right, it probably ain't.
I know that many of you have had great experiences on these type of dives... great! It's just not for me, at least not this type of diving.
Now if I was to run across one of these creatures, in its' natural enviroment with no feeding, then I'd think that would be pretty cool. But not to create a situation that would greaten my already risk.
You are already knowingly taking a risk when you enter into the water. Not only from the wildlife, but from diving itself. Everyone takes precautions when they dive, they certaintly don't create anything that would jeaperdise theirselfs on a normal dive, at least I'd hope not.
I know it's not worth much but just my 2 cents.

 

[Papa_Bear]

Here's a portion of the info on Jim Abernethy's web page regarding the cage-less shark diving:

"To insure the best results we will be “chumming” the water with fish and fish parts. Consequently, there will be food in the water at the same time as the divers. Please be aware that these are not “cage” dives, they are open water experiences. We will have crew members in the water at all times to insure diver safety."

Right.

Insurance is not a guarantee! If you can read it's pretty clear what will be happening! I have car insurance and my car has been hit! So should I blame my Insurance company?

 

[LIVES4SHARKS]

I am an avid diver and protector of sharks. I have not done any dives with baiting of any sort at this point. I have participated in dive expeditions with the SRI . However, I do understand that I am in THEIR environment, and usually where there are sharks there are THEIR natural food source. Before I entered the water for my first shark dive, I thoroughly educated myself in their underwater behavior. Sharks do have some limited field of vision and some bump into things to know if it's worth getting a bite of. Being aware is the most critical element of this type of dive. It's no different if you were on a safari watching lions in their natural habitat. Knowing what to look for in behavior changes...changes in dorsal fin and gaping of the mouth are clues that things are bound to happen and either you need to get ready to put up a fight, or try to disappear to the reef. These are just a few behaviors that one needs to learn before entering the water with sharks.

When it comes to baiting, well you pay thousands of dollars for this type of liveaboard. Baiting ensures that people will see the sharks that they paid top dollar to see. But as a diver, you are not ignorant to what you are diving into. You take the risk, you understand when you sign that paper and when you enter the water anything can happen. Every time you enter the water, you have a chance of having some type of life threatening incident (this is true until we grow gills). With this type of dive, you have added risk, but for some people, the rewards of the experience outweigh those said risks.

It is sad that we have lost another bretheren of the diving community. Would it have made headlines if he had died from a box jellyfish sting? Would it have made headlines if he had had a 1st stage malfunction and died from an OOA? In this case it has become another sensational, biased news story against a magnificent creature that is predicted to be less than 50 years from possible extinction at the rate we are killing them now!

I will continue to dive with and protect sharks. I will dive with Jim Abernathy's group more than likely next year. A few of the divers that I have dived with from the SRI have done the tiger shark liveaboard trip and have had nothing but great things to say about their entire experience. Let's not turn this into a witch hunt, for there are more positives from these types of trips vs negatives. The fact that more people are out there on these encounters learning the truth vs fiction about sharks just might be the key to their continued survival.

My prayers are with his family!

Happy diving and Protecting my Sharks!
Carolyn:sharks:

 

[aquatiker]

"BTW, the man who died from the shark attack was a lawyer; I hope the dive operation gets sued into bankruptcy. (And yes, it is 100% their fault; new divers trust that the dive operations and dive instructors have their safety in mind, and both operators and instructors realize they are liable when they breach that safety.)"
_________________________________________________________________

I totally disagree with this statement. The sue happy attitude often expressed the minute things go wrong is one serious problem with the U.S. today and that attitude often negatively effects good scuba professionals. I agree that chumming offers a long list of serious risks although there is one thing to always remembers anytime a person takes part in an extreme sport: Personal Choice.

Jim Abernathy (the owner of Scuba Adventures) didn't force this Austrian lawyer onto his boat and into the water w/ feeding sharks. He traveled all the way to Florida from Austria for the expierence. While it is a terrible misfortune that a man was killed in the pursuit of pleasure he did make the choice to take the trip and make the dive. It doesn't take a lawyer or expert in any field to realize that diving with feeding sharks outside of a cage is very, very risky.

Furthermore Jim Abernathy who owns and operates Scuba Adventures is not some fly by night operation who knows nothing about sharks. Rob Stewart who made "Sharkwater" recently took a tour of the Bahamas and did some shark diving with Abernathy to film special features for the upcoming Sharkwater DVD. In addition to that National Geographic has written articles about and worked with Jim Abernathy and Michelle and Howard Hall have worked with him as well. Even the Discovery Channel has done work with Scuba Adventures and Abernathy is known as an ardent shark conservationist and naturalist.

While I don't totally agree or disagree with shark feeding/diving I feel the greatest tragedy that will come of this incident is that once again sharks will be in the public eye viewed as "man-eaters" and our sport will get tons of negative press as well.

Dear Scubaboard members:

I would like to ask your permission to quote your statements on our Marine Bio, Diving and Environment News Service.
Last year as Tony G knows i worked side by side with Dr. S. Gruber in FL waters on the Lemon Shark Project. Everyday we dove with several species of Sharks, including Bull-Sharks and needless to say that non of the crew members were bitten or attacked during our dives for bait, tag & Release procedures and other exploratory techiques to atrack the species we wanted to bite our hook and line. Only in some occasions there were some harrasment situations but when the precipitating sources where put a side, the Sharks returned to their own regular behaviour. Surelly, bait and speared fish are nice attractive items for Sharks, but it the diver behaviour is a non-pushy attitude, respecting the animals and in some cases territorial behaviour hardly it will ever be a case of an "atack".

The News service i mentioned is available by email subscription or feeds and the address is:
AQUAICBAS: "Logbook" & Divulgação

I added the news earlier with comments towards the Marine Bio community and Divers who read our posts and news, in order to pass the message that in fact most of the times
OUR behaviour determines their behaviour and most of the times the true animal is that one eye fish with a pair of fins that is invading their space and most of the times doesn´t take the respectful attitude as one should have as a guest on someones home.

Can i quote you all, in order to pass the message, mostly here in Portugal (where i´m currently) so people can in fact be aware of the facts and general opinion of divers who are used to be with Sharks in the water?
Please do reply, it´s of the upmost importance to give the clear view to our readers, and get the message on some thick skulled people who insist on calling sharks "man eating machines" without being aware of the facts.

 

[aquatiker]

This whole thing reminds me of the idiot in Alaska who felt it was proper for some unknown reason to put his leg over the railing and into the cage containing a polar bear. When you screw around with Mother Nature's critters, especially ones who are carnivores, what do you expect, benign behavior?

And now sue somebody because you chose to participate/engage in behavior that knowingly provokes an animal/creature to want to feed? Please...get a grip here!!! I don't get wound around the handle about much, but the liberal "sue them" attitude in this country (the USA) is going to be the death of us. (If you want to see the effect of this...ask scuba instructors how much they pay a year in insurance coverage, and believe me, it pales in comparison to medical malpractice insurance).

I do NOT agree with chumming to get sharks around. If you want to see them, dive enough in the right parts of the world and you will see them. To me when you chum sharks and then get in the water...you have just raised the percentage of a bite/accident WAY above the norm. You want to do that...fine...have at it...but don't jump on the "sue em" bandwagon when it goes wrong for you.

My condolences to the diver's family and friends...for they have suffered a loss. My condolences to the sharks as well...for now you will bear a higher banner of being a species that preys on humans without exception in the mind of a lot of people who simply don't know any better.

Dear:
Guba
sberanek
Meng_Tze
Hank49
8thElementDiver
mauigal

I would like to ask your permission to quote your posts on our service news, avaliable via email/feeds, related to Marine bio, Diving and Environment.
Here´s the Address: aquaicbas.blogspot.com

I´ve posted the news of the recent shark attack with some info of what i experienced during my hand-in-hand cooperation during the Lemon Shark Project in FL last year where we dove on a daily basis with several species of Sharks including the Bull Sharks.
People need to get the right message, so, please do give your permission to be quoted on our news service.

Best wishes,
Artur

 

[ScubaSarus]

This title is most slanderous. The sharks got set-up. On top of that, the shark quickly bit him and took off and had no intentions of killing him.

 

[MikeFerrara]

Insurance is not a guarantee! If you can read it's pretty clear what will be happening! I have car insurance and my car has been hit! So should I blame my Insurance company?

ensure >verb 1 make certain that (something) will occur or be so. 2 (ensure against) make sure that (a problem) does not occur.

insure >verb 1 arrange for compensation in the event of damage to or loss of (property, life, or a person), in exchange for regular payments to a company. 2 secure the payment of (a sum) in this way. 3 (insure against) protect (someone) against (a possible eventuality). 4 another term for ensure.
-DERIVATIVES insurable >adjective insurer >noun.

Your car insurance doesn't exist for the purpose of "insuring" that you won't have an accident. It insures that the bills will be paid when you do have an accident.

In the quote, the oporator seems to be suggesting that they can insure diver safety. Are they misleading people? If so, should they be held responsible for their own actions which mislead?

 

[MikeFerrara]

Here is another article about the incident...Shark-dive boat operator in a tight spot - 02/27/2008 - MiamiHerald.com


From the article

Bahamian Ministry of Tourism spokeswoman said authorities there are trying to determine whether Abernethy violated any of the country's charter-diving guidelines. ''We have rules for diving,'' said Nalini Bethel, the tourism department's senior director of communications. Abernethy had been warned by the Bahamas Diving Association not to lead cageless dives in chum-baited water with tiger sharks, hammerheads and other potentially aggressive kinds.

The Scuba Adventures website said the purpose of Groh's six-day trip on the 70-foot Shear Water was specifically to find tigers and hammerheads. Bethel said it was a tiger shark that killed Groh.

She also said Sunday's incident could lead Bahamian authorities to forbid Abernethy from leading shark-feeding dive excursions there. It's already illegal off Florida's coast. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission banned shark dives with chum baiting in 2001 -- sending operators like Abernethy toward the Bahamas.