Diver fights off 12-foot shark

[dumpsterDiver]

Greetings fellow SB'ers. I am a little taken back and saddened at the same time!
I am honestly seeking some members who spear fish to comment on this topic.
I can not imagine the over all opinion from those who are a part of our sphere "divers"
having such a attitude toward sharks. I know that the incident in question they have said they tried to avoid it, but there are some really big discrepancies that are in need of clarification! Just my opinion, I was not there.
I just look at this as a tragic reaction on so many levels. Once again sharks are on the loosing end of yet another media boom.
Once again divers are being slandered by the story! I feel that way, sorry!
Ocean conservation is set back by the actions of a few, the video is to much!
If caught in a moment of survival a shark IS attaching then if the moment requires it I understand. Still saddened but it would be acceptable, I would do everything in my power to survive. But I am betting spear fisherman encounter sharks far more than regular divers. And their voice is needed on this topic.
It might shed some light on the issue, but now it is up to the diving community to patch up the conservation movement and attempt to change the attitude that has once again reared its ugly head! JAWS WAS JUST A MOVIE!
I implore all spear fisherman out there do not feel the next time a shark shows up you need the jaws and tail on your wall! Sad but true............
CamG Keep diving....keep training....keep learning!:depressed:

I can offer my spearfishing perspective. I dive about every weekend and almost always have a gun. I snorkel and scuba and shoot fish for food, for sport and for money as a commercial spearfisherman in Florida. I've taken many thousands of fish and none are ever wasted or shot simply for target practice or "sport". I've had probably 500 encounters with sharks, with bullsharks being the most common.

I've had a few instances where I should have shot a shark, but missed the opportunity and had to literally punch the shark in the face with my hands. I've had another time wher I should have shot a shark to protect my buddy, but failed to and he was very nearly bitten (he just managed to jab the shark in the mouth with his gun) as the shark came to his waist with his mouth open wide.
There is nothing quite like looking down into the white throat of a shark who has his mouth completely open as he rockets past your fish and heads straight for your body parts

Spearfishing (when scuba it is often solo) is vastly different than 2 or 8 recreational scuba divers going down the reef. Bringing struggling fish, blood and visiual stimulus to sharks changes everything. Freediving in open water with bloody, struggling fish on a thin line is also VERY different than your typical non-spearing recreational dive.

I HAVE NEVER SHOT A SHARK in 35 yrs of spearing, but I am mentally prepared to do so on every dive. I HATE sharks, they make spearfishing dangerous, scary and destroy my fun when they are around. When more than one is around, I will usually just stop spearing and leave, other people will continue to dive with them, particularly if there is only one shark and they have someone to watch their back.

Most spearfiserman will never spear a shark. It is pretty much frowned upon in spearfishing world in most areas, but this is not universal. It is illegal in Florida to land a speared shark.

Shark behavoir can vary greatly depending on the conditions, the stimulus, the number of sharks (they can act like a pack of aggressive and competatitive dogs), whether the diver is alone, whether he is carrying fish, the species and size of the shark and also if they have become accustomed to divers. It is very bad form to surrender fish to a shark because they learn to associate divers with food and will become more aggressive and dangerous. THE BEHAVOIR OF SHARKS VARIES SIGNIFICANTLY IN DIFFERENT GEOGRAPHICAL AREAS. People that make general comments about what a "shark" will and won't do in all situations, have not had enough unusual situations to enlighten them.

Sometimes they get to your speared fish before you do and it is unavoidable (I've lost dozens of fish to sharks over the years and also to goliath groupers (who are probably a bigger problem in that regard in Florida). Spearfisherman do pretty much everything in their power to avoid loosing a fish to a shark. For me, if it is a choice of shooting a shark or loosing my prized catch, the shark will always go home with a meal and I go home with another fish story. If I feel threatened by a shark I will try to charge the shark and be aggressive toward it. I will make every effort to jab the shark with the tip of my speargun (don't worry they usually never allow this and you would do more damage to a 100 yr old tree than to a shark with a poke (unless you got the eyes or gills)). Sharks are not friendly sea creatures, they demand respect and vigillance from spearfisherman.

Spearfisherman are not a threat to shark populations. Line fishing probably kills 10,000times as many sharks as divers do. Spearfishing is THE most responsible and ecologically sound method to harvest fish because we only take the fish that are legal and ones that we choose. There is no lost nets, hook, lines, lead, bait or discarded by-catch which can die (or be eaten by predators) after release when hook and line fishing. The mortality of undersized fish that are released after hook and line fishing is probably 10-25% and much higher in deeper water. Spearfisherman practice "release-and-catch" fishing meaning we "release" our small or unwanted fish simply by NOT pulling the trigger.

Some people may feel that shooting fish is inhumane, but to be honest, most spearfisherman will use a knife to quickly kill a fish after capture whenever possible. I hate to hear a fish flopping around in a cooler while it suffocates for 10-15 minutes as some hook and line people commonly do.

 

[mjh]

" I HATE sharks, they make spearfishing dangerous, scary and destroy my fun when they are around. When more than one is around, I will usually just stop spearing and leave, other people who dive with them, particularly if there is only one shark and they have someone to watch their back."

dumpsterdiver
Interesting outlook. You are entering their domain, they are doing exactly what millions of yrs of evolution has taught them to do. But at least you withdraw rather than shoot them because they "destroy your good time". When I go into the mountains I don't get angry at the mountain because the avalanche probability is too high. I just turn around and say I'll try another day.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

I used to works as a shark biologist. They are stinky and scary and very cool animals. I just don't want them to be involved in my recreational activities. is that bad?

Spearfisherman have many, many opportunites to shoot sharks. it just does not happen often.

 

[mjh]

Your “recreational activitiy” happens in their home. You complaining about them showing up is like me going into your backyard to hunt squirrels, chipmunks, whatever, and getting pissed off when you come out to scare me off with a baseball bat. You don’t like it stay out of their yard.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

I'm not complaining; sharks are a fact of nature and as an apex predator are essential for the ecological health of the area.

If you try to hunt chipmunks in my backyard with a gun, you can be sure I won't try to scare you off with a baseball bat.

 

[TMHeimer]

dumpsterDiver: As a non-spearo (I do carry a small poker for bottom flounders--and have been criticized for it), I totally agree with everything you said. The fishing trawlers. The long lines. Hook and Linemen. These are haystacks and you guys the needles in them. Same thing with me as a shell collector-that's an old post. Divers feed sharks for photos. That could be construed as disturbing their natural habits. I do mourn the tremendous loss of sharks and of all big game fish. And those guys in the video were probably doing it for money, or some other ulterior motive. But spearfishers do take way too much heat from other divers. As far as invading the shark's neighborhood- Well, if we figured out a way to go there, I guess it's our neighborhood also, at least to some small degree. I wish all the needless killings of sharks could just be reversed and our oceans as healthy as 100 years ago. But, I hope to never see one diving.

 

[MauiScubaSteve]

THE BEHAVOIR OF SHARKS VARIES SIGNIFICANTLY IN DIFFERENT GEOGRAPHICAL AREAS. People that make general comments about what a "shark" will and won't do in all situations, have not had enough unusual situations to enlighten them.

Spearfishing is THE most responsible and ecologically sound method to harvest fish because we only take the fish that are legal and ones that we choose.

People that make general comments about what a "spearfisher" will and won't do in all situations, have not had enough moronic situations to enlighten them.

First you admonish generalizations, then you make sweeping generalizations! Not every spearfisher is as perfect as you; the dude with the knife in the shark at the beginning of this thread is only one example!

There are lots of morons with spears who probably thought this was a cool 2 hr video. And just because a perfect spearfisher can be responsible and ecological does not mean they always are.

There are only less than a handful of shark species that show interest in spearfishing, yet you state categorically that you hate sharks and seem to say they are all dangerous. I guess being perfect might require blinders.

You say you should have speared sharks a number of times, yet neither you or your buddy have ever been bitten. Sounds to me like you have never really had to shoot a shark; thanks for doing just that!

 

[ScubaSarus]

Its also what they do after the fact that brings about suspicions of their motives. News, trophy, posing, photographs that all lead me to believe there was ulterior motives besides survival.


"Spearfishing is THE most responsible and ecologically sound method to harvest fish because we only take the fish that are legal and ones that we choose."

I have seen plenty of dead undersized tautog in RI with holes in them. Oooops I gotta throw it back. Depends on the vis too. Here in RI there are plenty of spearing were the diver hasn't a good visual on the fish or whats beyong the fish if the spear missses.

 

[HateCheese]

I really have no intention of posting a lot in this thread because of my involvement in "the other" thread which started to get out of control. I do however have a couple common sense points.

If you have your hard earned catch attached to you and you see a shark swimming by looking to take that fish......WHY kill the shark rather than drop the fish or kill the shark so your buddy does not have to drop the catch? This makes no sense to me as a non-spearo. If I went golfing and my ball landed 6" from an alligator, do you think I am going to attack the alligator with a 9-iron so I do not have to count a stroke? No, common sense should kick in and tell me to take a drop and keep playing safely.

I have made my opinions of this incident abundently clear and they have not changed, so an unbiased answer to this would be appreciated.

Its a good question - why kill a shark instead of dropping your catch.

First, a shark won't necessarily go after the dropped fish on a stringer. General rule around here is that noone spearing gives a shark the fish they shot, but I have seen this before when a shark folllowed my dive buddy and myself to the boat - stringer was dropped between dive buddy and person on the ladder. I looked down figuring I'd see a cool scene of a massive shark chomping the fish, nope. Instead the shark made a run at me and evidently veered at the last second when he was 1ft behind me (my fish were on the boat already, and I stupidly had figured the shark would leave me alone then, so I lost sight of him thinking i could relax......). So what was the shark going for? A tasty meal was dropping to the bottom and there were 2 divers in the water at the back of a boat. The sharks interest was not isolated to the easy meal of dead fish......

So, from firsthand experience I wouldn't necessarily feel 'safer' dropping my catch.

Second, it is considered a bad practise for 3 groups - sharks, spearos, divers. An apex predator shouldn't be handed a meal, this could develop into learned behavior and is certainly not natural behavior for a shark, so why feed them. Not good for those spearfishing because if you give sharks a fish whenever they come in to inspect, you can guarantee that they will come in to inspect again and could potentially expect to be fed. And I don't believe it is good for divers who are not spearing because of the potential risk of sharks associating divers with food.

Last spring, my first dive was on a well known public wreck 15 miles south of Pensacola. It was rough, and no other boats went out, so when we hopped in the water we were certainly the first that morning to dive this wreck. 5 minutes after hitting the bottom, a 7ft bull came in. We were NOT spearing. Its behavior was slighly excited, but not aggressive. It would come within 15ft, and occasionally circle, but never arched its back and dipped its pectoral fins, and it never came in closer than 15ft. This is a site where many people spear fish. Although it was nice to see a shark that close without any blood in the water, it was a bit curious that he came in that close. This is NOT an isolated incident, but something I have observed a few more times. Other divers, DMs, and charter captains have mentioned the same thing.

For all of those reasons, I wouldn't drop my catch. Most people who spear feel the same way.

 

[ScubaSteve]

While I may or may not entirely agree with everything contained here, I do appreciate your response. It has shown me a different perspective.

Its a good question - why kill a shark instead of dropping your catch.

First, a shark won't necessarily go after the dropped fish on a stringer. General rule around here is that noone spearing gives a shark the fish they shot, but I have seen this before when a shark folllowed my dive buddy and myself to the boat - stringer was dropped between dive buddy and person on the ladder. I looked down figuring I'd see a cool scene of a massive shark chomping the fish, nope. Instead the shark made a run at me and evidently veered at the last second when he was 1ft behind me (my fish were on the boat already, and I stupidly had figured the shark would leave me alone then, so I lost sight of him thinking i could relax......). So what was the shark going for? A tasty meal was dropping to the bottom and there were 2 divers in the water at the back of a boat. The sharks interest was not isolated to the easy meal of dead fish......

So, from firsthand experience I wouldn't necessarily feel 'safer' dropping my catch.

Second, it is considered a bad practise for 3 groups - sharks, spearos, divers. An apex predator shouldn't be handed a meal, this could develop into learned behavior and is certainly not natural behavior for a shark, so why feed them. Not good for those spearfishing because if you give sharks a fish whenever they come in to inspect, you can guarantee that they will come in to inspect again and could potentially expect to be fed. And I don't believe it is good for divers who are not spearing because of the potential risk of sharks associating divers with food.

Last spring, my first dive was on a well known public wreck 15 miles south of Pensacola. It was rough, and no other boats went out, so when we hopped in the water we were certainly the first that morning to dive this wreck. 5 minutes after hitting the bottom, a 7ft bull came in. We were NOT spearing. Its behavior was slighly excited, but not aggressive. It would come within 15ft, and occasionally circle, but never arched its back and dipped its pectoral fins, and it never came in closer than 15ft. This is a site where many people spear fish. Although it was nice to see a shark that close without any blood in the water, it was a bit curious that he came in that close. This is NOT an isolated incident, but something I have observed a few more times. Other divers, DMs, and charter captains have mentioned the same thing.

For all of those reasons, I wouldn't drop my catch. Most people who spear feel the same way.