That's not what I'm referring to. Your contract with fed sharks was at the shark feeding site, you were sitting with your back to the wall there and the sharks are being fed from boxes, the sharks being fed like that have been conditioned to understand the food comes from a box and their attention is on the box not the divers. They also associate that site with being fed so the sharks have a strong attraction to that sight they also have developed the open and closed for business mentality with that feeding they know when it's feeding time and they know when its over, you'll notice that once the food is gone so are the sharks starting to disappear. That's a much different situation then facing sharks in open water who have been fed by a dive boats that chum them or is shooting fish and feeding them which is even worse than just chumming.
Death in Cocos from shark attack
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That's not what I'm referring to. Your contract with fed sharks was at the shark feeding site, you were sitting with your back to the wall there and the sharks are being fed from boxes, the sharks being fed like that have been conditioned to understand the food comes from a box and their attention is on the box not the divers. They also associate that site with being fed so the sharks have a strong attraction to that sight they also have developed the open and closed for business mentality with that feeding they know when it's feeding time and they know when its over, you'll notice that once the food is gone so are the sharks starting to disappear. That's a much different situation then facing sharks in open water who have been fed by a dive boats that chum them or is shooting fish and feeding them which is even worse than just chumming.
HalcyonDaze
Contributor
All I can say is I hope that was on video ...
I assume this was at Tiger Beach? The one time I went and we had tigers, the feeder was freediving but left his tank and BC rigged up on the bottom. I counted at least three occasions when a big 14-15 footer tried to grab his gear and run with it, once while he was using it. They're rascals for stealing cameras as well.
Saboteur
Contributor
I don't dive with tiger sharks often, but when I do I ride them.....The world's most interesting diver.
drrich2
Contributor
While I don't know the details of kelemvor's shark feed diving, I can tell you from mine I've witnessed hand-feeding in open water, both on and off the bottom, during ascent toward the surface, with varied species (e.g.: tiger, bull, lemon; on one dive 2 silkies showed up), and the animals were not high speed, aggressive, etc...
We keep venturing off into the shark feed controversy (limited applicability since from what I understand they don't do that around Cocos Island). @Bogtrotter in Post #68 linked an interesting article. From that article by Kevin McMurray on TrackingSharks.com:
"There have been a total of 90* shark attack bites in 2017, 6 of which were fatal*; 45 were reported in the US, with 31 occurring in Florida** and two in Hawaii. Fourteen have been reported in Australia, one of which was fatal. Five unconfirmed worldwide and not included in the total count.
All locations have been marked on the 2017 Shark Attack Bites Tracking Map.
*Two may be scavenge. **One report may have been outside of Florida waters."
While 2017 isn't quite over, consider that number of attacks (let alone fatalities) worldwide against the vast legions of people entering the seas, and the #s of sharks that likely swim past some of them from time to time. Any is too many, but I remain grateful for how few there are, relatively speaking.
Richard.
P.S.: From what I understand from someone's earlier post or link, there aren't a whole lot of tigers around Cocos; there was mention of 5 counted at one point? So they may well know or deduce which one this is. If they don't go kill it, I wonder what a good approach would be going forward? Do nothing differently and hope for the best? Have a group of seasoned dive staff with bang sticks drop at sites it's known to frequent till it's seen a few times, and if it behaves in a troublesome way, nail it? I don't think a tiger shark that's killed is quite the same as a bear or alligator, logistically, so what should be done?
HalcyonDaze
Contributor
From talking to a former colleague who studies sharks out in the Cocos, tigers were pretty rare until about 10-15 years ago and then began making a comeback. They're now quite common in the islands and in his experience, very curious.
Regarding trying to find the offending shark, researchers at University of Hawaii-Manoa looked into that several decades ago following a spike in attacks in the Hawaiian Islands. As I recall, their conclusion was that at least in that area the sharks cover such wide ranges that the odds were slim to none you'd be able to catch the exact shark. It's best to regard it as an accident.
Another question regarding this incident that a friend raised - were the divers wearing full wetsuits, shorties, or just swimsuits?
Johnoly
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Love Coco's, when we went you are doing 4-5 dives per day and can get chilled because you are frequently holding position motionless underwater trying to not spook the sharks so they get closer for camera shots. Everyone in our group wore 3-5mm full suits but mileage may vary,,(don't forget the lovely urchin spines). Also lets be honest because the divers on the trip are most likely reading this here >>It's Coco's,,everyone has a camera U/W. Someone has parts of this recorded. Send it to a moderator if you want it posted.
Still haven't heard confirmation if it was a twilight/night dive or not. I'm a Jupiter spearo with enough tiger experience. (diving/hunt tomorrow, woohoo!) I was definitely scared doing the Coco's Manulieto night dive with the white tips when you are 5 feet off the bottom and in the middle of the action.
2 separate bites during the daytime would be hard to understand. Night dive, no prob, easily. We'll see from the future new dive reports if the park has closed down the night dives again like they did before. That should be a solid indication.
You two statements are contradictory. With roulettee your odds on black are the same on every roll. If that logic applied to the shark whether or not the shark was hungry does not affect your odds.
Note that since the diver did make it to the boat, and the shark was a big one, the shark was probably not fed.
Wingy
Contributor
No longer correct sorry. Former govt here in WA ordered the moronic shark cull after a spate of fatalities a couple of years ago. Only one surfer has died this year in the same bay another fatality took place a year prior. 2 divers taken also during that spate lead to the then premier instigating this illegal cull.
Cull was ruled illegal as our sharks are mostly protected species.
Our new Premier has actually done some great work with Shark conservation and subsidising shark shields for those who want to buy them and sinking money into research.
I find it interesting people saying they would or would not get in the water with X Y species. You don't get that control over the ocean. I've seen two GWS diving here and a lot of tigers - I've seen those, there's a lot I haven't seen. Something that bumped my leg on a night dive here saw me..l didn't see it. Tiger sharks are always hanging around the area, I chose not to hang around to see if I could get a better look. Hanging at 5m here sometimes gives me a "dangling bait" sensation I'm not fond of.
My father and his mates in the 60s were part of a dive club that came home one less - a tiger took the bottom half of one guy spearfishing. Hence I probably keep my eye on Tigers more than any other shark.
Interesting re sharks biting tanks. Have spoken to three other people this has happened to - curiosity?
Sympathies to the divers family and friends.
HalcyonDaze
Contributor
Not sure if it was a night dive, but given reports that the victim received multiple severe wounds to the legs and the DM who went to help her was wounded once, I can see a scenario where the shark attacked the woman and the DM took an open-mouthed swipe to the leg while trying to assist.
As far as shark species - honestly, the closest I've ever come to getting nailed was by two juvenile Caribbean reef sharks that expertly relieved me of my lionfish. If I hadn't been holding the pole spear and the fish away from my body I could have been collateral damage. Those little scamps made me more jittery than a half-ton tiger shark, no question.
I would be quite surprised if anything is done, it will be chalked up to the "how rare shark attacks are" and be forgotten about. Cocos are a cash cow, those benefiting don't want another incident but I'd guess they also don't want anything changing or limiting them. I'll be surprised if there is ever a lot of details about this incident made public.
Hawaii seems to be one of the locations where there are regular sightings of tiger sharks, but there seems to be a lot more respect for them there, more of an altitude of if a tiger shark shows up, it's time to go, not like other places where encounters are less frequent and its "yay!, it's a tiger lets hang out with it".
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