How many fatal shark attacks to stop you diving

[MMM]

I was diving yesterday. Saw what might have been a black tip but it didn't come close enough to positively ID. But it was one of the day's highlights. Seeing the sleeping nurse shark later was kind of a let-down relatively speaking. DM said they came very close to a hammerhead a few days before that. My point is, just because we say we live in Canada doesn't mean there aren't sharks where we dive.

 

[Hawkwood]

Marg, one could always come across a nasty big pike in a northern lake.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

Or a Muskie! They don't call em freshwater barracudas for nothing.

 

[Foxfish]

Give a good reason.... users seem to be interested in the topic. When the interest wanes the thread will die a natural death.

How about some responses to my last round of questions to you then.

---------- Post added March 1st, 2014 at 10:16 AM ----------

I was diving yesterday. Saw what might have been a black tip but it didn't come close enough to positively ID. But it was one of the day's highlights. Seeing the sleeping nurse shark later was kind of a let-down relatively speaking. DM said they came very close to a hammerhead a few days before that. My point is, just because we say we live in Canada doesn't mean there aren't sharks where we dive.

And that has what to do with the OP?

 

[KevWind]

Why? Because you can't come up with a valid argument against the many of us who have actually dived with sharks (including great whits in my case)?

Although I might be reluctant to no cage dive with GW's
I feel extremely fortunate to have had this encounter on my first ocean dive trip
And wish I'd had a pair of 4 ft handle, pliers to try to get the hook out of her mouth.

but when we enter the ocean we are immersing ourselves in an environment where we must acknowledge there are risks... just as there are living our lives on land.

And feel very fortunate indeed to have found this little girl in my garage one morning

 

[scubastingray]

Or a Muskie! They don't call em freshwater barracudas for nothing.

I feel like sturgeons have been overlooked entirely!

 

[Foxfish]

Why? Because you can't come up with a valid argument against the many of us who have actually dived with sharks (including great whits in my case)?

I doubt anyone is happy when a shark mistakes a human for food (even if they find the human tastes terrible and spits them out), but when we enter the ocean we are immersing ourselves in an environment where we must acknowledge there are risks... just as there are living our lives on land.

And how many fatal attacks in your area in recent years Bill? And what is the population of California?

 

[KevWind]

And how many fatal attacks in your area in recent years Bill? And what is the population of California?

Can't speak for Bill but according to the poll it's doesn't matter, I realize you can't or won't seem to understand this but it's because neither the people in Cali. or the people in WA are dragged into the water against their will

 

[drbill]

And how many fatal attacks in your area in recent years Bill? And what is the population of California?

Actually, I'm not aware of any fatal attacks on divers in the last 50 years... and the population of southern California (and its divers) is pretty large. Yes, there have been attacks on swimmers, paddleboarders, surfers and other water recreators... but I don't partake in those activities. They create a situation where a great white might easily confuse the human for a seal or sea lion.

Great whites are seen with some frequency in our waters by divers. The last sighting may have been just this past week... and in our very own dive park.

Do you even dive?

UPDATE: Actually I did some research and found there was one diver fatality in Southern California in the last 50 years. James Robinson died while urchin diving off San Miguel Island in 1994. Having dived San Miguel, I know they are seen there with some frequency due to the pinniped population. However, the waters off San Miguel tend to be pretty murky and emergency response to that remote island may take hours. As far as I can tell the only other diver death from a great white since the 1950s was on a free diver (Robert Pamperin) off La Jolla in 1959. Since free divers must, by necessity, spend a fair bit of time at the surface, this could easily be a case of mistaken identity. Not sure about back in the 1950s, but currently there are a fair number of pinnipeds in the LaJolla area as well. This may not have been the case back then though.

 

[ianr33]

And what is the population of California?

38 million.

That's about 15 million more than the entire population of Australia.