Avila Beach Victim

[the sharkman]

Kristey, that is so true. I am so amazed that it doesn't happen in our waters more than it does. You KNOW the sharks know we are there, and think of how many times we didn't even know that they knew. These things are predators at the top of the food chain. They survive because they are very fast, and they know where their food is, even in zero vis. Especially if it is slower swimming food. Obviously they normally don't consider us part of the food chain because of how few attacks there are. Even the few attacks that have occurred are usually not more than one bite, before they realize it's not what they thought it was.

:guitar:
by the way, I in no way consider myself a shark expert.

 

[PhotoTJ]

If you're so terrified of sharks that you want to drive them from their habitat, here's a thought.

Stay in a pool.

I don't want to get eaten, but I accept the rishk every time I choose to dive in the ocean.

I'm meat, they're carnivores.

Welcome to the jungle.

 

[kingdiver]

Time to call Brody, Quint, & Hooper. =-) :boom:

 

[PhotoTJ]

Brody and Hooper, anyway.

 

[SCUBACrazy]

To me the very escence fo SCUBA diving is entering an alien environment and observing that environment in it's NATURAL state. The concept of using technology to affect a change in the behavior of certain species that we may find less attractive would, in my opinion, invalidate the experience of diving.

Diving by it's very nature has inherent risks. If we cannot accept and prepare for that then we should not go there.

 

[Jeffman]

Why not just use technology to keep sharks 500-100 yards away from shore? There is no need to push them miles off shore, but just that short distance? Just a ring of beacons that keep sharks away from popular swimming areas? It could allow more tourists, and save lives. The ocean is a huge place, I'm sure they would not mind giving us a microscopic fraction of there home for scared swimmers to enjoy.

 

[PhotoTJ]

Would you be willing to give up your living room for a few sharks to play in it?

 

[Jeffman]

You cannot compare it too my living room. I would compare it more to my toilet bowl, rather then my living room. A beach is an extremely small area for a shark to give up.

Can a few beaches, the most popular ones, be really that important to a shark’s way of life? If its main source of food is there, then of course driving them away would be unjustified. But if it’s a beach that is not near their food, would it not be justified? To save peoples lives?

 

[PhotoTJ]

That's the problem with the exception of a few peligics, their main source of food is there.

 

[CuriousMe]

PhotoTJ once bubbled...
Would you be willing to give up your living room for a few sharks to play in it?

The fact that you have a living room says that you've already pushed some creature (or creatures) out of an area they lived in.

Every animal out there marks out their own space (territory), humans are no different in that.

The only difference is that we also have the responsibility to make sure we're not choking out a species ability to live.

Again, I don't know enough about the technologies involved or truthfully a shark's eating patterns (perhaps one of our more knowledgeable folks will speak up about this?).....I have no doubt that sharks sometimes feed near beaches, but is that a mainstay or a sometimes thing....what effect would there be on both the ecosystem involved and on the animal's you're looking to repel?

It would also depend on whether you're talking about a personal device or a beacon type system like Jeffman says.

I could see the advantages of a beacon type system around sandy beaches. I’m not talking about dive sites...but places where folks are swimming and surfing would have advantages I think. But whether those advantages were worth it in my mind would depend on the answers to some of the questions above.

My .02

Peace,
Cathie