Are sharks more likely to attack surfers, scuba divers, or snorkelers?

[Chavodel8en]

This video has the southern point of the red triangle starting at Big Sur (so it would include Carmel/Monterey). I always thought it started much further north at Ano Nuevo, with the big seal hatchery there - (edit, whoops - seal rookery, I guess seals don't lay eggs, but how cool would that be). Oh well, I suppose there's no official boundary of the "red triangle." In any case, GWS sightings in Carmel/Monterey are exceedingly rare -- maybe the edges are more of a pastel pink triangle?.

The video also contradicts the theorem about surfer/seal silhouette made above, stating that GWS have great eyesight and attack not based on mistaken identity, but out of curiosity/exploration. Its really a gray area between the two, and I guess unless we could get a GWS on the psychologists' couch we wont ever really know which is more correct.

 

[TMHeimer]

"Quite brutal"??? ........is there another kind of "death by shark"??
Skip a safety stop?? are you comparing possibly getting the bends to death by shark?? Yeah, I mean, I don't know about the rest of the world, but I think I'll take the bends over a shark attack.
I am also not sure I understand folks that are willing to dive in a known dangerous shark area with no way to even try and defend themselves. I have read on here that you should "look behind and around you" and otherwise be aware of the presence of a shark. What for, if you have no means of doing anything about it???? Now, if you have a bang stick or a shark dart then yeah, you might want to start thinking about having a look around. Otherwise, lacking the means to do anything about why give a damn??
This brings to mind a scene from "The Karate Kid"...to quote Mr. Miyagi....."best block is to no be there"

Agree completely, though I must say I always "look around". Especially in low viz waters. There are other things I'd prefer not to encounter as well, such as those huge N. Atlantic jellies with 15' long tentacles. Or even those ugly-a$$ Sea Ravens.

 

[Bogtrotter]

Agree completely, though I must say I always "look around". Especially in low viz waters.

What are the more common sharks off Nova Scotia? Just curious to know. I know farther out to sea there are porbeagle, mako, blue- I saw a documentary on that. I also saw something about greenland sharks taking seals near sable island. I think whites have been spotted in the Bay of Fundy..?

 

[Bob DBF]

...but nobody really dives the red triangle anyways (except for shark cage diving) because its not good diving - nothing to see.

I've been diving red triangle for over forty years, never been near a shark cage, and found enough to see that I look foward to the next dive for that entire time. Most of my dives have been off the Sonoma and Mendocino coastline, with dives along the length of the red triangle coastline.

I love divers with your attitude, it keeps the crowds away.


Bob

 

[EFX]

The video also contradicts the theorem about surfer/seal silhouette made above, stating that GWS have great eyesight and attack not based on mistaken identity, but out of curiosity/exploration. .......

Sharks have a great sense of smell. This is why you don't want to dive down current from a fishing area. The smell brings them in. They also have a line of electric field sensors running laterally on both sides of their body that can detect very faint electrical signals. Once they get close they use their eyesight to zero in on their prey. You never want to swim in dim light. The shark may come even closer to make an ID. Several years ago a swimmer was attacked at dawn while vacationing in Maui. Sharks are very curious and sometimes they satisfy their curiosity by tasting unknown prey. They taste with their gums. Unfortunately, the teeth get in the way. Victims make their injuries worse by pulling away which tends to rip the flesh.

 

[Nick Steele]

I am also not sure I understand folks that are willing to dive in a known dangerous shark area with no way to even try and defend themselves. I have read on here that you should "look behind and around you" and otherwise be aware of the presence of a shark. What for, if you have no means of doing anything about it???? Now, if you have a bang stick or a shark dart then yeah, you might want to start thinking about having a look around. Otherwise, lacking the means to do anything about why give a damn??

I don’t know about you but if I see the shark before it attacks I would take certain measures to defend myself. Such as swimming away from its mouth. There was a video from Australia where a spero fended off a rather large tiger shark by swimming backwards and having his fins in the sharks face and not any part of his body. Also not sure it could work with GWS but you can also go on the offensive as a last effort. Most predators won’t attack prey that is offensive and can prove to be to much work for the amount of energy they gain. I would willing go offensive to any shark if I felt I was in grave danger.


As a diver I’ve only encountered nurse sharks so far. But as a freediver over the past 5+ years I’ve seen nurse, bulls, blacktips, spinner, lemon and sandbar sharks. Only two showed any interest one was a pair of 4’ blacktips that circled me two or three times in a total relaxed manner and then went on their way. Another was a nurse shark that ate some lobsters in my catch bag floating 20’ behind me.

I’ve only called one trip out due to a gut feeling of not being right. It was flat calm but I couldn’t see 1-2’ in front of me and something just didn’t feel right on the swim out to the first reef so I stopped before I made it past the buoys. It was a site I was familiar with and have been there on no vis days before.

I welcome any shark sightens in my future. It’s the ones I don’t see I worry about.

 

[diver257a]

heres a video of the location the great white killed a scuba diver at the bottom....

HI Lucifer911,

Assuming this event is the one that occurred in March 2008, the South Australian coroner's report on this death states that the attack occurred near the surface while the deceased and his buddy were doing a safety stop.

Please refer sections 2.4 to 2.8 in http://www.courts.sa.gov.au/Coroner...ngs/Attachments/378/STEHBENS Jarrod David.pdf

 

[Lucifer911]

HI Lucifer911,

Assuming this event is the one that occurred in March 2008, the South Australian coroner's report on this death states that the attack occurred near the surface while the deceased and his buddy were doing a safety stop.

Please refer sections 2.4 to 2.8 in http://www.courts.sa.gov.au/CoronersFindings/Lists/Coroners Findings/Attachments/378/STEHBENS Jarrod David.pdf

I am surprised they listed his name and home address and have this as information on public record. So if you are killed by a shark you aren't entitled to confidentiality? if someone is killed in a car accident for example police do not disclose victim name to the public. Not in my state of Australia anyway...

 

[CamC]

They also have a line of electric field sensors running laterally on both sides of their body that can detect very faint electrical signals.

My first dives post-qualification were in Sharm just after the 2010 Oceanic Whitetip attacks and there were a few nervous people on the boat. (Was I one of them? You bet I was!) Reassuring us, the DM said that such sharks were very unlikely to attack scuba divers because they could "sense" the large and unappetising metal objects on their backs. Whether there is any evidence for this or, indeed, whether she actually believed it herself, is perhaps a different question.

 

[CuzzA]

My first dives post-qualification were in Sharm just after the 2010 Oceanic Whitetip attacks and there were a few nervous people on the boat. (Was I one of them? You bet I was!) Reassuring us, the DM said that such sharks were very unlikely to attack scuba divers because they could "sense" the large and unappetising metal objects on their backs. Whether there is any evidence for this or, indeed, whether she actually believed it herself, is perhaps a different question.

That's a good one. Except when you read Gilliam's first hand account of his buddy being eaten in front of him by a pair of OWT. See link in post 41.