Follow up on Emerald Shark Attack

[tekkydiver]

From Today's Palm Beach Post.

Man gets bit by ‘sea creature’ and a multi-million-dollar industry goes silent

 

[Wookie]

I think that like any wild animal encounter, you pays your money and you takes your chances. Kinda like throwing your kid into the gorilla cage at the zoo.

 

[ronscuba]

I think that like any wild animal encounter, you pays your money and you takes your chances. Kinda like throwing your kid into the gorilla cage at the zoo.

Zoo does not allow customers to enter the gorilla cage. Customer did it on their own.

Customers assume the operator will have rules and implement appropriate safety procedures. Sometimes it takes an accident for operators to alter their procedure.

Great white cage diving in Guadalupe. Cage has large openings so photographers can take unobstructed pictures. Shark got into the cage. Operator was dragging bait towards the cage.

 

[scubadada]

So....no useful information about what happened on May 28, how surprising

 

[drrich2]

Nothing surprising about Randy keeping low profile on it; bad for business. The article veers off into the shark feeding controversy. The more this gets publicized, the more it fuels those opposed to the practice with a sensationalist opportunity.

Thing is, this was a bite on a shark feeder, who's done who knows how many of these dives over the years, not on a customer. Unless you're considering a job as a shark feeder, it doesn't say much about risk to others.

Notice articles on this incident also tend to do a flashback to Abernathy getting bitten years ago?

Imagine if most scuba-related articles included flashbacks to drownings, severe DCS cases, disappearances, etc...? Or if every time we saw an article about a scuba-related injury or death, there was a reference to a prior one, and soap box time for someone who thinks diving is too dangerous, or interferes with sea life...

News media thrive on sensationalism (hence the old cliche 'if it bleeds, it leads').

There's no benefit for anyone in the industry turning an anecdotal tragic event into newspaper filler.

Richard.

 

[Wookie]

I know a lot of shark feeders. I don't know any who haven't been bitten more or less severely.

 

[HalcyonDaze]

That article was the usual crackerjack journalism from the folks who couldn't even figure out which hospital he'd been taken to at first. Fun how they called up John Russell of "FADI" for a quote and referred back to Dr. Petty's disappearance three years ago, in the latter case repeating the debunked "night dive" version of the story. We discussed that incident extensively at the time on this board.

While personally I'd like to know more than I do about what happened to Randy down there, I doubt the land sharks would be nearly as polite with blood in the water. I can't say I blame him or anyone who does know the details for not talking to the press.

 

[tekkydiver]

Most notably the article mentioned the "reattachment" of his hand. What are the chances of his regaining full use? Arguably pretty slim.

 

[scubadada]

Most notably the article mentioned the "reattachment" of his hand. What are the chances of his regaining full use? Arguably pretty slim.

A few people know the true story, most of us don't, and never will. I would imagine that Mr Jordan in not back at work.

 

[drrich2]

The article mentioned "While Toohey didn’t know details, she said Jordan had to undergo “reattachment surgery.”" I suspect that means reattachment of some tendon damage. Think about it; if his hand were bitten off, or very nearly so, it would've been heavily contaminated with sea water. Then there's the time delay to get to treatment providers. We don't know enough to guess how much function he might get back; we don't know which tendons were damaged & how badly.

Richard.