Shark Attack - Fact

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we are new divers we were certified one day and the next day we saw a 2.5m white tip, it had not interest in us whatsoever, if it wanted us it could have had us its movement through the water was rapid, they taught us when we did ow that if we were to come across a shark to relax, stay where you are till it passes then move to surface and out of the area, we then dived 2 dives later in SA and saw 20-25 sharks of all diff sizes they were curious and came right up close we just chilled and kept out of their way check our photos to see, we were and still are novices!
its a massive buzz they are so graceful but I wouldnt want one hanging off my leg!

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Hi If you look at the picture I have here you can see the sharks around us. (that is my wife and I) They were less interested in us than we were. I have the same concerns about sharks went I first started. By learning about sharks you will feel ok with them. It seems to me when underwater for the most part everything seems to me that all the fish just do there own thing. People can learn alot from fish. Sharks to me a very cool creatures and I wish more people would learn about them so they wont be as hatered by so many people.

Glad to see you took my comments on board. I will continue talking to the wall :)

Most sharks I've come across haven't been interested. Oceanics definitely buck that trend. They are very curious. Samaka (from SB and working in the southern Red Sea) has had made some excellent observations about these sharks.

I think accidents with OWTs are pretty regular this year. Here are the ones I have listed (some confirmed some not) in the last 3 weeks

French lady dies whilst snorkelling (St John) - confirmed
Russian lady has calf bitten after panicing whilst swimming (Brothers) - confirmed
Two French guys are bitten on hand and arm respectively (St John) - unconfirmed
Rumour of diver bitten around torso and dies a couple of days ago (St John). Probably boat talk - unconfirmed.

But broad point being, these incidents look relatively frequent in this area, certainly this year (and the guides did say to me that 'something is wrong in our waters, the shark are behaving differently'). My guide has been working in this area for 12 years. On our trip she had the first experience where she needed to get out of the water immediately. 3 OWTs were bumping her.

J
 
How to deal with marine life underwater should be taught in the OW course- though personally, i teach more about how to avoid damaing the underwater environment and be respectful of where you are diving, and about the local flora and fauna underwater, than what to do when you see a shark specifically.

That said, where you do your certification dives is the dependant factor when covering this section. when i worked in the bahamas where sharks were frequently seen, i covered the topic in more depth than, say, when i am teaching in the water off vancouver where (at least at our local teaching sites) sharks are rarely, if ever, seen. I think it also depends on the questions asked by students during the course; if a student were to specifically ask, then no matter the environment, i would answer the question in depth. but i think the OW course i more about learning how to dive safely- if a student wants to know more about sharks maybe he/she should enroll in a fish id or other speciality course.

I dont think its necessary to say that in every course an instructor must handle how to react when seeing a shark underwater specifically (though remember the padi manual teaches us to stay close to the bottom until dangerous animals swim away from the area, or to swim slowly away from the area along the bottom and ascend when its safe to do so). If we HAVE to cover sharks, why not lionfish, scorpion fish, etc? it would be a long lecture... and further we would need to cover many species- seeing a nurse shark is much different than a great white, so do we need to teach shark ID as well??

also, how a person should, or does, react when seeing a shark underwater varies upon the person, the shark, the environment etc. I personally love diving with sharks- i go to sites where they are more likely to be seen and like to see them up close. on one hand a new student might feel uneasy about the situation, or they might want to see a shark quite badly (i have had students with both preferances). when you go to a location where there are frequent shark sightings, how to react around the species seen there is generally covered in the dive briefing. also, some shops offer speciality courses about the subject of sharks (where i worked in the bahamas for example, we taught a distingtive shark awareness cert. we covered many topics ranging from anatomy, identification and even media msconceptions)
 
I gave an instructor certifier the following scenario:
"You say, it is really hard to see a shark alright? Now what would happen if you take open water students in their first course dive to the ocean and while giving them the lessons of mask removal and regs recovery, you experience 2 sharks passing through, now you've NEW DIVERS whom they have never ever dived before with bad buoyancy and bad control on themselves underwater, what should you do? Specially that no diving agency is teaching at least common strategies to avoid a shark attack"

Don't look like, act like or carry shark food and they won't try to taste you.

Also, please tell me you're not actually a DiveCon with "50-99" dives.

Terry
 
i have actually discovered the best way to never see a shark is to offer a mexican divemaster $50 cash to show you a shark, nobody has collected yet, if you really want to see sharkes, get a surfboard, those guys get bit way more often than divers.
if you are still concerned, follow this link:
how to handle :
Advice to Divers Encountering a Shark
for statistics:
Shark Attack Statistics. Shark Attack Statistics by Region, Shark Attack Maps, White Shark.

personally I am more worried about my toaster than sharks,
for more toaster related death info follow this:
Smooth Operator - Toaster Related Deaths at an All-Time High
 
OK my lack of knowledge showing here what is DiveCon?

mRNA's public profile lists him as "Instructor / Assistant Instructor / Dive Master / Dive Con" and his cert agency as SSI. AFAIK, there aren't any SSI DiveMasters yet and Instructor requires more than 100 dives, this leaves DiveCon (Dive Control Specialist).

50-99 dives is barely enough to meet the certification requirements. Additionally "Dangerous Animals" are are covered in Chapter 9 of the DiveCon manual, and should have been discussed in detail by his instructor.

It makes me sad that it's actually be possible to have a DiveCon card and "50-100" dives, since that's just starting to get into the "Can probably dive safely with a buddy" territory, but not nearly into the "Can be responsible for students and groups" territory.

I'd much prefer it if this were a troll.

Terry
 
Yes, getting chewed on by a shark would be an accident/incident, but we're not talking about that.


i'm just teasing, man

seems like a good thread no matter where it belongs
 
Thanks guys for the useful replies.

I'm positive this thread will educate many people on the globe about this animal and it's behavior.

To those who are so irritated from questions, if a DivCon or an Instructor ask questions or ask about something it doesn't mean they are stupid or they are so bad underwater. Whoever is irritated from answering questions or queries or giving people some education from his/her experience then he/she better sit at home and watch TV.

No matter what's your diving level is and no matter how many years you've dived are, education is something useful and valuable and everyone MUST benefit from others' experience in this life not only underwater.

Web Monkey, if you have logged about 400 dives and then you THINK that's enough to become an underwater hero, then I'm telling you, you should learn something out of this thread no matter what is your diving experience is. I hope this would help a bit.

The information written in this thread by many experts who had great experience with sharks will definitely help any diver regardless of his diving level. Read and understand what others have said on this thread and how they think about this animal and how they act and how they have concluded and summarize good stuff about this animal and it's behavior. I'm so sad that some people still so irritated from questions and rather than saying something would benefit others, they tend and pretend they knew everything.


Thanks a lot for those who gave some of their personal time to educate people from their own experience :)
 
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