How many fatal shark attacks to stop you diving

[tridacna]

This is a dumb self-serving poll. You obviously have no grounding in statistics. You omitted the most obvious option:

Shark attacks will not deter me from diving.

But then that would not serve your real intent behind this silly pointless "poll".

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

You didn't have a box for "No amount would deter me".

I very seldom or never think about it. And if I do it's more of a fantasy to be able to get that close to something that magnificent.
I live and dive in a very shark infested area, so if I worried about it I would never dive.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Sharks don't attack ... they feed. And we're not on their menu, so I don't generally worry about them. Of course, they're as unpredictable as any other wild animal ... but for the most part if you don't bother them they won't bother you.

Personally, I dive to see wild animals ... and encountering a shark would be more of an attractant than a deterrent to my diving in a particular area. Around where I normally dive, we don't get the opportunity very often ... and most of our shark encounters are with six-gills, which aren't particularly aggressive ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[0002s]

Confirmed Unprovoked Shark Attacks, 1580–2013

[TABLE="class: wikitable sortable jquery-tablesorter"]
[TR]
[TH="class: headerSort, bgcolor: #F2F2F2, align: center"]Region[/TH]
[TH="class: headerSort, bgcolor: #F2F2F2, align: center"]Total
Attacks[/TH]
[TH="class: headerSort, bgcolor: #F2F2F2, align: center"]Fatal
Attacks[/TH]
[TH="class: headerSort, bgcolor: #F2F2F2, align: center"]Last
Fatality[/TH]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="align: left"]United States
(Excluding Hawaii)[/TD]
[TD]1055[/TD]
[TD]36[/TD]
[TD]2012[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="align: left"]Australia[/TD]
[TD]704[/TD]
[TD]202[/TD]
[TD]2014[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="align: left"]Africa[/TD]
[TD]339[/TD]
[TD]93[/TD]
[TD]2013[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="align: left"]Asia[/TD]
[TD]129[/TD]
[TD]48[/TD]
[TD]2000[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="align: left"]Hawaii[/TD]
[TD]129[/TD]
[TD]10[/TD]
[TD]2013[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="align: left"]Pacific Islands / Oceania
(Excluding Hawaii)[/TD]
[TD]126[/TD]
[TD]49[/TD]
[TD]2011[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="align: left"]South America[/TD]
[TD]117[/TD]
[TD]26[/TD]
[TD]2013[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="align: left"]Antilles and Bahamas[/TD]
[TD]70[/TD]
[TD]16[/TD]
[TD]2013[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="align: left"]Middle America[/TD]
[TD]57[/TD]
[TD]27[/TD]
[TD]2011[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="align: left"]New Zealand[/TD]
[TD]49[/TD]
[TD]9[/TD]
[TD]2013[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="align: left"]Europe[/TD]
[TD]49[/TD]
[TD]27[/TD]
[TD]1989[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="align: left"]Réunion Island[/TD]
[TD]33[/TD]
[TD]17[/TD]
[TD]2013[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="align: left"]Unspecified / Open Ocean[/TD]
[TD]21[/TD]
[TD]7[/TD]
[TD]1995[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="align: left"]Bermuda[/TD]
[TD]3[/TD]
[TD]0[/TD]
[TD]—[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR="class: sortbottom"]
[TH="bgcolor: #DDDDFF, align: center"]Total:[/TH]
[TH="bgcolor: #DDDDFF"]2,881[/TH]
[TH="bgcolor: #DDDDFF"]569[/TH]
[TH="bgcolor: #DDDDFF"]2013[/TH]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]


In 433 years and 22,516 weeks of reporting there have been 569 reported fatalities world wide for an average of .02527 fatalities per week. (for the record there have been an average of .12769 attacks per week in the same time period)

Are shark fatalities and their trending really that big of an issue? Statistically there would have to dramatically increase for years to move the decimal point from 100ths to 10ths

 

[Foxfish]

You didn't have a box for "No amount would deter me".

I very seldom or never think about it. And if I do it's more of a fantasy to be able to get that close to something that magnificent.
I live and dive in a very shark infested area, so if I worried about it I would never dive.

In that case you would select the '1 a week' option since it best reflects your description as indicated in the OP.

---------- Post added February 18th, 2014 at 11:13 AM ----------

So far we've got a few who have participated in the poll and many more comments. This can be a controversial topic and the intention here is not to discuss issues with regard to mitigating the risk of an attack.

I'd ask that people avoid commenting unless they have participated in the poll and then confine comments to the issues related to the OP. Thanks.

 

[Ste Wart]

If fish bothered me, I don't think I would have taken up diving in the first place.

 

[tridacna]

So far we've got a few who have participated in the poll and many more comments. This can be a controversial topic and the intention here is not to discuss issues with regard to mitigating the risk of an attack.

I'd ask that people avoid commenting unless they have participated in the poll and then confine comments to the issues related to the OP. Thanks.

Your previous posts on this subject clearly illustrate your obvious bias on this matter.

SBers beware.

This guy is simply seeking fodder to justify shark culling in Western Australia.

There is absolutely nothing useful or positive that can be gained by feeding this member's point of view.

 

[ams511]

The problem is, if some people are feeding sharks, when I dive the site, sharks may expect food from me, and get pissed off if I had nothing for them.

Where is your buddy?

 

[pasley]

My concerns with the poll and why I did not vote are:
1. The highest choice is 52 fatal attacks in an "area". Some of use simply don't care how many attacks there are on swimmers, surfers, and snorkelers.
2. This is a SCUBA Board and you did not define what type of victim of the fatal "Shark Attack" you talking about. Just any fatal attack of swimmer, wader, surfer, snorkeler, SCUBA diver or person who fell overboard or are we talking SCUBA divers only? Since most shark attacks are swimmers, surfers and waders they really do not involve SCUBA divers. It is very rare for a shark to attack a SCUBA diver under water. So like some others, I may go dive the area to see the sharks, just don't do a surface swim, get under quickly.
3. You don't specify the activity of the victim at the time the shark sampled or fed on them. Were they spear fishing? Attacking a shark who was minding their own business? Holding up a dead fish and chumming while sitting on the ocean floor to attract sharks for filming or shark dive viewers? If they were not just SCUBA Diving to see the sights or take pictures, I would not be bothered by the attack. I live in an area that serves as a Great White nursery. I have in the past gone to dive an area when I hear reports of a GW sighting.
4. Sharks do not attack. They defend, feed and sample to see if it is food.
5. The most shark "attacks" in the word occur in Florida USA in one county, principally on one beach, So if you swim or surf there......here's your sign.:reaper:

Last of all, What about Orka (killer whale) attacks? or Giant Squid Attacks? or Giant Pacific Octopus Attacks?

 

[TMHeimer]

I voted 1 per year. Maybe one per infinity if it were a diver (even one on the surface like a swimmer--yes, we go there frequently). Of course, I haven't heard of any for sure yet at any of the specific places I dive. I would guess that if I heard of ONE, in reality, I probably would continue to dive that spot with my eyes wide open (as they always are). So, I don't completely disagree with tridacna--I wouldn't go as far as calling the poll dumb, but I think we all know sharks exist and can kill you. And I think we all will keep diving regardless--The poll seems to ask if more shark attacks happen in a specific locale would you stop. So I guess it is valid. Of course, the poll was successful in causing the usual explanations of the tiny % of attacks on divers.