Shark attack, Egypt, Brothers islands

[Christian]

Long post. Very very sad incident. The shark seems a bit agitated, but the divers actions/reactions definetely stir things up and plays a significant part in the outcome too. I have dived the Red Sea regularly for more than 20 years and done many dives at this specific spot with OW:s as well, sometimes with more than five sharks at once. Most of the time they will calmly eye you, sometimes test you with a bump. It’s their natural behaviour. As said, food scraps in the water will agitate them. That is also their natural behaviour, it’s not altered.
There were a few incidents in sharm el sheikh 7-8 years ago as well as a French woman in St Johns in 2008 or 2007. Deadly outcome. Most likely some kind of baiting had been going on in a couple of those cases. A few of them were tourist snorkellers/swimmers with zero experience and knowledge about sharks, resulting in behaviour that made things worse.
Never try to hit the shark. Don’t do erratic, sudden moves. Always face it. Stay vertical. Never swim towards it. A stick or a camera can be useful, but just hold it up in between you and the shark if it comes too close for comfort. Do not attempt to strike or hit it.
All this might be easier said than done, off course. But, it is not a dive to be made if you do not know what you’re doing or being guided by someone with some degree of experience.
It’s not ”safe”. They are wild, apex predators in their own territory. If they want to hurt you, they will. Period.
Is it ”dangerous”? No. There’s an elevated risk. But the fact that thousands and thousands of encounters with oceanic wt:s happens yearly at sites like Brothers and Elphinstone with happy endings is evidence enough.

 

[fbrissette]

...sometimes test you with a bump. It’s their natural behaviour....
Never try to hit the shark. Don’t do erratic, sudden moves. Always face it. Stay vertical. Never swim towards it. A stick or a camera can be useful, just hold it up in vetween you and the shark if it comes too close for comfort. Do not attempt to strike or hit.

As a diver who has never been 'bumped' by a shark, and going diving the red sea next summer, you are saying that you should let the shark bump you and do nothing ???? How do I know it is coming for a friendly bump vs an investigative bite ? Have only been around reef and nurse sharks.

 

[Christian]

As a diver who has never been 'bumped' by a shark, and going diving the red sea next summer, you are saying that you should let the shark bump you and do nothing ???? How do I know it is coming for a friendly bump vs an investigative bite ? Have only been around reef and nurse sharks.

Face the shark and ”stay your ground”. Hitting it or such behaviour will most likely make things worse. If you have to, a gentle push. If it gets to a fight, the shark will win.

Edit PS

This is the general advice as there are no certainity as to how an indidual shark will behave.

 

[DanMont]

Isn’t it a bit of a stretch to say that we can change their behaviour ?

I understand that feeding them can make them aggressive but some people imply here that this can lead them to change medium term their behaviour with humans.

Is there any research on this or is this just wild speculation ?

There is some scientific research done on this topic but mostly it focuses on changes in residency and movements of sharks. There is less research looking at specific changes in behaviour of individual sharks, see one paper below which did investigate this and noted an increase in aggression over time of individuals in a population where provisioning occurred.

Behavioural response of sicklefin lemon sharks Negaprion acutidens to underwater feeding for ecotourism purposes

 

[Neilwood]

As a diver who has never been 'bumped' by a shark, and going diving the red sea next summer, you are saying that you should let the shark bump you and do nothing ???? How do I know it is coming for a friendly bump vs an investigative bite ? Have only been around reef and nurse sharks.

In general you can tell by the demeanour of the shark. Normally they will swim slowly and without sudden movements with their pectoral fins in a high position. If you see them lower their fins, start moving a lot quicker and darting about (as the shark did in the video) then you know it has moved from casual interest into hunting/defence mode.

I have to say the guides in the Red Sea are normally pretty good and will give you a pretty good briefing on the sharks if you are going to be in an area where they are likely (the southern sites such as Brothers and Daedalus - the northern wrecks and reefs are not so much of a hotspot for them).

 

[Christian]

As a reference to the article, there is often confusion re exploiting sharks natural behaviour and altering it. Baiting is exploiting. To alter it using food requires feeding on a regular basis that in some way puts the animal in a situation that causes it to adapt or change. Needless to say, it needs to be the same individual exposed over time, which can be difficult with wild animals. Think about how you alter a dogs behavior aka training it. Not the same, but some similarities.

 

[HalcyonDaze]

There is some scientific research done on this topic but mostly it focuses on changes in residency and movements of sharks. There is less research looking at specific changes in behaviour of individual sharks, see one paper below which did investigate this and noted an increase in aggression over time of individuals in a population where provisioning occurred.

Behavioural response of sicklefin lemon sharks Negaprion acutidens to underwater feeding for ecotourism purposes

It's also somewhat dependent on the species. One of the notes that paper made was that Negaprion acutidens don't normally congregate together, whereas in the Atlantic and Caribbean Negaprion brevirostris are known to gather in large aggregations and the ones in Jupiter or Tiger Beach have no sense of personal space (the DM on the last trip I did briefed us that it's "like a strip club - they can touch you, but you can't touch them"). We do occasionally see evidence of conspecific aggression, but I can only recall seeing one severe bite that the recipient just shrugged off.

OWs are open-ocean predators, which means they're hunting in a desert. They don't miss meals when they come by, so I can see them getting keyed up by the presence of food in the water and possibly being quicker to associate dive boats and food. However, they chum for them off Cat Island and I haven't heard of incidents there.

 

[Joneill]

Is it ”dangerous”? No. There’s an elevated risk. But the fact that thousands and thousands of encounters with oceanic wt:s happens yearly at sites like Brothers and Elphinstone with happy endings is evidence enough.

Actually, by defintion, it is dangerous, as is diving in general to a degree (from Merriam Webster):

Definition of dangerous

1: involving possible injury, pain, harm, or loss : characterized by danger // a dangerous job

2: able or likely to inflict injury or harm //a dangerous man

I think the question is more about the probability of a specific shark actually attacking on any given dive.

There are certainly many factors that can contribute to an attack and there do appear to be some things that one can do to minimize the risk - but diving with Oceanic WhiteTips is an inherently dangerous diving activity (at least in my opinion)!

 

[Neilwood]

It's also somewhat dependent on the species. One of the notes that paper made was that Negaprion acutidens don't normally congregate together, whereas in the Atlantic and Caribbean Negaprion brevirostris are known to gather in large aggregations and the ones in Jupiter or Tiger Beach have no sense of personal space (the DM on the last trip I did briefed us that it's "like a strip club - they can touch you, but you can't touch them"). We do occasionally see evidence of conspecific aggression, but I can only recall seeing one severe bite that the recipient just shrugged off.

OWs are open-ocean predators, which means they're hunting in a desert. They don't miss meals when they come by, so I can see them getting keyed up by the presence of food in the water and possibly being quicker to associate dive boats and food. However, they chum for them off Cat Island and I haven't heard of incidents there.

Loved the video.

Even despite the chumming, none of the sharks exhibited anything more than passing curiosity about any of the divers with no hints of any aggression (no darting about alteration of fin positions etc). Even the bump on the camera wasn't done with any intent.

Similar to my experience with them :

 

[Christian]

Actually, by defintion, it is dangerous, as is diving in general to a degree (from Merriam Webster):

Definition of dangerous

1: involving possible injury, pain, harm, or loss : characterized by danger // a dangerous job

2: able or likely to inflict injury or harm //a dangerous man

I think the question is more about the probability of a specific shark actually attacking on any given dive.

There are certainly many factors that can contribute to an attack and there do appear to be some things that one can do to minimize the risk - but diving with Oceanic WhiteTips is an inherently dangerous diving activity (at least in my opinion)!

Sure. Riding a bicycle is dangerous too.