Marine Life Great White takes scallop diver - Mexico

[DandyDon]

Young man killed by shark while diving for scallops off Pacific coast of Mexico

Shark attacks are relatively rare in Mexico but the incident marks at least the third deadly attack in the waters off Mexico in about a month.

www.cbsnews.com

A young fisherman diving for scallops was killed by a shark off the Pacific coast of Mexico, authorities announced.

The man, identified by media reports as 22-year-old Víctor Alejandro Soto García, was reportedly attacked by a great white shark on Dec. 29 off Yavaros in the Mexican state of Sonora.

"The body of the young man was taken by his fishermen colleagues to the pier in Yavaros," the Sonora Civil Protection agency CEPC said on social media.

Authorities said the victim was not wearing an anti-shark repellent bracelet, which uses electrical pulses or magnets to deter the predator.

After the fatal attack, the Sonora Civil Protection agency urged fishermen to "have the necessary preventive measures to carry out their activities."

Shark attacks are relatively rare in Mexico but the incident marks at least the third deadly attack in the waters off Mexico in about a month. In mid-December, officials said a man was killed and a woman was injured in an attack by either a shark or a crocodile at Mexico's Pacific coast resort of Zihuatanejo.

In early December, a Mexican woman died after she was severely bitten in the leg by a shark just off the beach town of Melaque, west of the seaport of Manzanillo. The 26-year-old woman was trying to boost her child aboard the floating platform when the shark bit her, officials said at the time.

At least two other people across the globe were also killed by sharks in December. A 39-year-old surfer died after a shark encounter in Maui on Dec. 30. A few weeks before that, a woman from Boston died after she was attacked by a shark while paddle boarding with a family member in the Bahamas.

Wildlife experts say that most shark attacks are actually a case of mistaken identity.

Sharks are actually not dangerous to humans, the NOAA says, noting that only about a dozen of more than 300 species of sharks have been involved in human-related attacks.

In general, unprovoked shark bites have decreased over the past decade. In 2022, there were 57 unprovoked bites worldwide, which is significantly lower than the 10-year average of 74 unprovoked bites annually, according to the University of Florida's data.

 

[smashweights]

"Authorities said the victim was not wearing an anti-shark repellent bracelet, which uses electrical pulses or magnets to deter the predator."

IIRC, Sharkbanz explicitly states it won't repel an attacking great white shark due to their rapid ambush attacking style.

 

[johndiver999]

Sharks are actually not dangerous to humans, the NOAA says,

LOL, Our government is pretty funny sometimes.

 

[Biotech Diver]

Sharks are actually not dangerous to humans, the NOAA says,

LOL, Our government is pretty funny sometimes.

Every time you go into the ocean you are basically signing a waiver. It's the shark's home so if you go into his kitchen you may end up being the dinner.

 

[Trilobite]

"Authorities said the victim was not wearing an anti-shark repellent bracelet, which uses electrical pulses or magnets to deter the predator."

IIRC, Sharkbanz explicitly states it won't repel an attacking great white shark due to their rapid ambush attacking style.

I've also read that the bracelets aren't really effective because they don't create the right kind of field (shape or size?). The larger, more expensive devices that create such fields seem to be effective in some circumstances. So I find it bizarre that bracelets would be mentioned at all.

 

[Trilobite]

Sharks are actually not dangerous to humans, the NOAA says,

LOL, Our government is pretty funny sometimes.

Not the government, just bad journalism. The linked article from NOAA actually says "Most sharks are not dangerous to humans — people are not part of their natural diet."

 

[Steelyeyes]

Not the government, just bad journalism. The linked article from NOAA actually says "Most sharks are not dangerous to humans — people are not part of their natural diet."

Two things, well three. We were diving on a live aboard in the Baja and I was talking to the diving supervisor about the then recent termination of the cage diving with white sharks. His company was one of the operators there and he said that the reason the government stopped it was that the local scallop and lobster divers claimed the white sharks were getting more aggressive toward them since the cage diving with bait started.

I read about many of the white shark, or suspected white shark, fatalities on the west coast. They had one of two common threads. The divers were spearing fish, or obtaining some other kind of food, or they were near colonies of sea lions or seals.

One of our friends lives in Adelaide Australia and dives frequently. Many of the divers down there wear a Shark shield and have seen evidence that they are at least partially effective.

 

[Belzelbub]

One of our friends lives in Adelaide Australia and dives frequently. Many of the divers down there wear a Shark shield and have seen evidence that they are at least partially effective.

I have no doubt they are effective in many situations. I have one I wear whenever I’m spearing. I got it a few years ago after a shark came real close to my buddy. I saw it and shooed it away, but didn’t realize until I was editing the video that that was actually the second pass. Got real close the first time and I didn’t see it.

First dive with the Shark Shield, we a shark came to greet us right after descent. It was cruising toward us, then abruptly changed direction and rapidly exited. So I have no doubt that the Shark Shield works as intended. The Sharkbanz probably work as well, but not as big of a field, so most likely less effective.

Neither device is guaranteed to repel sharks in all situations. If the shark gets a jolt of the field when in an investigative / curious mode, it will likely be repelled. If it’s in full feeding mode, it’s less likely. Might actually work, just too late. A GW doing a full speed ambush attack may not like the field once it senses it, but it’s likely going too fast to do anything about it. I’m not sure how GWs hunt in the area in question, so if they are slower attacks, either of the repellents may be effective.

 

[dmaziuk]

Not the government, just bad journalism. The linked article from NOAA actually says "Most sharks are not dangerous to humans — people are not part of their natural diet."

yet

You don't survive for half a billion years by not discovering new food sources.