Is Shark Phobia Dangerous?

[The Chairman]

 

[lerpy]

I have dove both intentionally and un-intentionally with sharks, no issue. On the shark dive probably about 20-30 reef sharks around, got smacked in the face by a tail. A few days later doing a drift, a couple of reef sharks came in and checked me out, swam around me for a bit, then ventured off. Have also been in the water with a bull shark around, and a couple of lemon sharks. Not to concerned, they did their thing, I did mine. Seeing sharks I have found I have a new respect for them, and a greater irritation for the demonization of these animals.

 

[The Chairman]

 

[CuzzA]

Here's how I understand it works...

When you don't want a shark visit, like when your fishing or doing commercial work. They come.

When you do want a shark to visit, like when you bring a camera and hope to photograph one. They don't come.

So make it a point to really want to see a shark. Bring a camera so you can take a picture and show it off to your friends and family. Problem solved. You won't see a shark.

 

[TMHeimer]

You're far more likely to be bitten by a spider that a shark. I have been attacked by triggerfish in Cozumel and last summer I was "bitten" by a Garibaldi at Catalina. I've seen lots of sharks ( relatively ) while diving but most have been about 16 inches long at most. Maybe a 3 footer once in a while.
It's the ones you don't see but they see you that you should be concerned with I've had far more trouble with myoplasts or whatever those stinging invisible things are

About the spider bites- I believe that for sure (well, it depends on where you are, what kind of spiders are in your area and a host of things I presume, as well as if you happen to be in the water where there are usually a lot of sharks and not in a place where they are rare), but my phobia extends to daddy long legs, which though extremely poisonous, have jaws way too small to pierce human skin. Yet, they strike a mild terror in me. The thought of a fist size spider absolutely freaks me out.

The "Shark" thread pops up occasionally in different forms and we all lay out the same scenarios and views, including yours truly's desire to never see one. The only important thing here is that she works through her phobia (fear?) enough so a life-threatening panic is avoided while diving.

 

[drrich2]

"They are big, threatening looking and can kill you--despite the miniscual chances of that."

From what I understand, most shark sightings in the Caribbean region are reef sharks or nurse sharks. Reef sharks can get pretty good sized, but it seems like most are smaller; not over 5 feet. Most adult divers are larger than the majority of sharks seen. For many people, finally seeing a shark on a dive can be pretty anticlimactic as far as fear goes.

This assumes you're not doing a shark feed dive surrounded by them, or hitting a shark-specific destination like the lemon shark aggregation in the spring out of Jupiter, Florida, or the sand tiger sharks on off-shore wrecks out of North Carolina.

Richard.

 

[drbill]

Amused to read that Pete stopped diving in the ocean after seeing "Jaws." I had the same reaction (portions of it were filmed about a mile from where I was living at the time). Back then I worked with Jean-Michel Cousteau on a summer program each year. In 1978 he saw me suiting up in a wetsuit and said he thought I wasn't diving any more. He wondered what got me back in the water. I told him I had recently seen "Jaws II."

 

[TMHeimer]

I wasn't a diver in 1975 (40 years later I was...), but I didn't stop swimming in the ocean because of the movie. People doing that was really silly (sorry Pete), since whatever danger existed from sharks was there long before the movie and they were swimming/diving then. I was in Martha's Vineyard a year or two later and the locals were laughing at some of the scenes that were shot there--especially the one where they dropped a big steak on a hook off the dock and I think Jaws ate the end of the dock (maybe that was Jaws II?).

 

[DiverDownD3]

Seeing sharks I have found I have a new respect for them, and a greater irritation for the demonization of these animals.

This. Over the last month or so there has been a facebook post circulating around my area. A guy took some pictures of a sand tiger that he caught and then proceeded to call it a "beast" and basically not to get in the water because they are going to attack us. From the photos he was obviously bottom fishing one of the inshore artificial reefs. I found myself extremely aggrevated and went on the defensive.
So to counteract that I posted video footage of me diving with one. I explained that though the gnarly teeth make them look scary, they are pretty docile sharks. A lot of people travel to our little corner of the country just for the opportunity to dive with them, so they are also good for our local economy.

 

[wspalding]

I'm hoping the lemon sharks are still around in Jupiter next week! There are lots of videos that can be seen showing that sharks are pretty nonchalant around divers. They get more interested if someone is spearing, but you can avoid those charters. Honestly though, the best way to get over the fear, in my opinion, is to see and spend some time around them. Most are scared of you, and will flee if you confront them.