All this talk about sharks!

[DavBuc]

No. You are not an immediate food source. Unless you make yourself appear like prey or provoke the shark.

Yes, a human in the water is in fact an immediate and easy food source to an average shark.

The shark may not know it, and we want to keep it that way but we're easy prey with no natural defenses.

 

[The Chairman]

Sharks hate bubbles. Swim at them with your 2nd free-flowing towards them and they will scatter. It has for me so far.

 

[BIGJACK]

And if the shark is OOA you are in position to assist.

Sharks hate bubbles. Swim at them with your 2nd free-flowing towards them and they will scatter. It has for me so far.[/QUO

 

[EireDiver606]

Yes, a human in the water is in fact an immediate and easy food source to an average shark.

The shark may not know it, and we want to keep it that way but we're easy prey with no natural defenses.

You’re saying what I said with your own pinch of salt...... whatever.

Sharks hate bubbles. Swim at them with your 2nd free-flowing towards them and they will scatter. It has for me so far.

True Chairman, sharks can be more afraid of you, than you are of them.

 

[Hank49]

Sharks hate bubbles. Swim at them with your 2nd free-flowing towards them and they will scatter. It has for me so far.

Which goes along with the idea of yelling at them under water. Noise and bubbles.

 

[Hank49]

Yes, a human in the water is in fact an immediate and easy food source to an average shark.

The shark may not know it, and we want to keep it that way but we're easy prey with no natural defenses.

Is a speargun “natural”?

 

[Wingy]

I disagree that sharks will not attack "unprovoked" based on empirical evidence from fatal and non fatal incidents over the last few years here. Incredibly rare and unfortunate but I do not believe provocation played any role in the two most recent diver fatalities. I'm also not sure how the last surfer provoked the shark that bit her other than perhaps sharks have imposed a no humans at Kelp Beds while water temp is between x and y and a with holding period after the salmon run has taken place. I also love diving with sharks and that evidence is not going to stop me or make a dent in my diving habits.

Too many variables.

 

[EireDiver606]

I disagree that sharks will not attack "unprovoked" based on empirical evidence from fatal and non fatal incidents over the last few years here. Incredibly rare and unfortunate but I do not believe provocation played any role in the two most recent diver fatalities. I'm also not sure how the last surfer provoked the shark that bit her other than perhaps sharks have imposed a no humans at Kelp Beds while water temp is between x and y and a with holding period after the salmon run has taken place. I also love diving with sharks and that evidence is not going to stop me or make a dent in my diving habits.

Too many variables.

When I said provoked I also forgot to say that ther can be other factors like food in the water, etc. In this case, a surfers board could look like a vague outline on a seal from the bottom up....

Many people bitten have been attached for this reason alone.

 

[Wingy]

My post was really directed at Scuba divers. A woman on her safety stop with a buddy a few metres off a city beach is IMO opinion an unprovoked attack.

Re: Kelp Beds and surfers (and I agree on the looking like a seal theory to some extent) I'm no expert but this was posted today on FB by Dave Riggs who is doing some awesome research -

Dave Riggs -

Rather than dwelling on our personal relationship with the ocean I reckon its time to consider what perhaps is the bigger picture here. Esperance has had a drama with small white shark/human interactions at Kelp Beds every year for some time now. Those sharks are quite light in colour .. like they are coastal creatures. The ones that are here right now are pretty much black .. like they have followed the dead sperm whales we have on the beach down here at the moment from the deep waters off the shelf. We should be looking to tow these dead sperm whales back out to sea when they beach rather than spend 300k to send them to a rubbish tip .. there's no way you're getting a D9, excavator and low loader beyond Alexander Bay where the other whale is beached

 

[WinfieldNC]

Sharks hate bubbles. Swim at them with your 2nd free-flowing towards them and they will scatter. It has for me so far.

This guy swam directly overhead. He/she didn't care for my bubbles.