How many fatal shark attacks to stop you diving

[TMHeimer]

Next, he'll be spouting off about your snow bound Canadian Fortress.

:fortress:​

Good one. But this pic. may also be a S. Floridian's view of the "tundra" (panhandle).

 

[boulderjohn]

Here is a very brief marine biology lesson that might be helpful here.

A balanced ecosystem is very important. It begins with the primary producers that turn inorganic matter into organic matter that animals eat, and those animals area in turn eaten by other animals.



Predators play a very important role in maintaining that balance. Read here how the near extinction of the sea otter from the California and Oregon coasts has disrupted the ecology and brought great harm to the area. We killed the sea otter to near extinction so that we could make otter skin coats.

A key predator throughout the world is the shark. Some of the articles below explain why. In the past decades, we have devastated the world's shark population so that people can have shark fin soup. What Foxfish is proposing is that divers call for killing even more of them and creating even further harm to the ecosystem because a handful of scuba divers (no more than that) have been killed or injured by sharks since Cousteau started using scuba in the 1940s.

Why are sharks important?
Why We Need Sharks
Shark Savers :: Sharks' Role in the Ocean
The Wonders of the Seas: Sharks
Threats to Sharks Destabilize Entire Ecosystems - Scientific American

 

[00wabbit]

But sharks are scary and I'm a self-entitled terrestrial primate that wants to go where they are.

 

[scubastingray]

But sharks are scary and I'm a self-entitled terrestrial primate that wants to go where they are.

I don't think it's even a matter of being a self-entitled primate; it's not a green/environmental issue.

It's the issue of someone not recognizing a childish paranoia as such.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

BINGO! WE have a winnah!


Hope foxfish don't move to Alaska! Mr Bear won't be smiling then.

 

[KevWind]

BINGO! WE have a winnah!

View attachment 178971
Hope foxfish don't move to Alaska! Mr Bear won't be smiling then.

Yes indeed Tacos made even tastier when seasoned with cayenne pepper !!!

And on Kodiak they like to throw in a bit of fisherman flavor just for a change.

 

[Foxfish]

Another area where there has been numerous shark attacks in recent years is Reunion Islands off the coast of South Africa. The risk of a shark attack is considered excessively high for those entering the water. In one tragic case, a 15 year old girl was chopped in half while swimming a few metres off shore.

This article provides a description of the various attacks. It describes how the local people and local authorities decided the risk of shark attack was so high they needed to take steps to mitigate the risk. The number of shark attacks were the indicators of the level of risk driving the decisions being made - the same kind used on the poll in this thread.

Article published July 17, 2013 3:57PM

A TEENAGE girl from France was killed in a shark attack while swimming off the Indian Ocean island of Reunion, the fifth person to be killed by sharks on the island since 2011.
Local officials said the 15-year-old was attacked in the mid-afternoon while swimming just five metres from shore in the shallows of Saint-Paul bay on the western side of the island.

The teenager's body was sliced in two at the torso, and then "‘a part of her body was taken away by the shark", said Gina Hoarau, the head of public safety on the island.
...
Authorities confirmed that the beach was not monitored and swimming was prohibited but that a warning sign was often vandalised.
...
Numerous sharks had been sighted in the area in recent weeks.

There have been 11 shark attacks recorded in Reunion since 2011, all involving surfers.
...
In August 2012, Alexander Rassiga, 21, was killed by sharks at Trois-Bassins located on the west coast of Reunion Island.

Rassiga was surfing when he was bitten below the knee. He survived that but a second bite severed an artery, killing him.

After the attack, Guy Gazzo, a diver and member of the Regional Fisheries Committee, said there was a “clear overpopulation of sharks” on the west coast.

“With each dive, sharks are seen in groups of two or three,” said Mr. Gazzo, advocating the removal of the sharks.
...
Last year over 300 locals picketed outside the mayor's office, causing Mayor Thierry Robert to initially OK an order to cull sharks in the area, before pressure from France quickly made him retract the order.

Shark bites 15-year-old French girl in half metres from shore on Reunion Island | News.com.au

An account from a slightly different perspective. The risk of attack by the bull sharks in the area was cause for concern to divers who entered the water to recover the body in spite of wearing Sharkshields. Apparently they hadn't heard of Netdoc method of using bubbles to deter the sharks. Then again maybe they knew better.

By the time he made it back to shore, the nautical crew from the fire department was already on the beach, equipped with scuba tanks, preparing to take on the recovery of the body. According to Rzepecki and other lifeguards, the divers ran into trouble immediately. Despite employing Shark Shields (devices that emit electronic pulses to repel sharks), they were forced to retreat into caves beneath the spit of rocks that delineates the north end of Boucan Rights, while the sharks, in a highly agitated state, frisked in and out of view in the impact zone. Mathieu Schiller's body was never found.
...
The locals here are staying high and dry, staging a kind of informal strike. According to native wisdom, the risk of a shark attack has become intolerable. Since the death of 21-year-old Alexandre Rassiga in July, the third fatality in just over a year, there have been protest marches, a lot of shouting, and a bit of violence, with surfers demanding that the government kill the offending animals. I've arrived in the midst of a turf war between man and shark.

Shark Attacks in a Surfers' Paradise

Another article that provides a detailed description of the measures used to mitigate the risk of shark attack. The locals evidently believed that the risk of shark attack was excessively high.

Faced with the increase in the sea predators and following the deadly attacks, the prefect of the island announced a slew of measures in July, including banning swimming, surfing and body boarding off more than half of the coast.

He also said 90 sharks would be culled - 45 bull sharks and 45 tiger sharks - on top of the 20 already killed as part of scientific research into ciguatera, the illness caused by eating fish flesh contaminated with ciguatoxins.


But he acknowledged the cull was not only scientific but also aimed at "reducing the shark population''.


Thierry Robert, a prominent politician on the island, has called for more "preventative culls''.
...

Authorities in the Reunion island are also looking at other ways to protect swimmers, such as using aerial balloons equipped with surveillance cameras and alert systems when they detect movement in the water.


The island's Saint-Paul district has opted for drum lines, devices fixed with hooks that are meant to capture sharks.

Big Read: Reunion Island beset by shark controversy | News.com.au

Th article goes on to highlight the opposition from Greeny groups to the risk mitigation measures, and the response of the locals.

Meanwhile, surfers and body boarders say they refuse to be sacrificed in the name of marine conservation.

"We have to stop this worldwide lobbying that advocates the protection of sharks,'' says Jean-Francois Nativel, head of the Ocean Prevention Reunion association, which works on reducing the risks of shark attacks.

"We're in the era of Flipper the shark. We have to break the taboos... We have to bring back fishing, and put the shark back in the plates of Reunion people,'' he said.

 

[scubastingray]

I'm not sure why I keep coming back and expecting something different.

 

[drbill]

You just don't get it, Foxfish. You keep posting about non-divers getting attacked in a site for SCUBA divers. I agree that there are places where I wouldn't not surface swim, surf, kayak or paddleboard but would dive. And there are a few places (but relatively few) where I might not SCUBA Dive either.

The reaction of the surfer (Nativel) in the last Reunion quote is appalling. If one ventures into the water to pursue an activity, one should acknowledge the risks. What are we supposed to do? Remove every apex predator (and probably poisonous critters) from every ecosystem in the world? What an ecological mess that would leave.

 

[The Chairman]

The demise of sharks from the oceans might very be the beginning of our own demise, spiritually, culturally and physically.