Reaction to Shark Approach Fear poll options?

[drrich2]

Some recent postings in other threads discuss a concern that shark feeding in the Jupiter region off the west coast of Florida could in theory lead to sharks that, normally avoidant of divers, rather swim in close to other divers to investigate whether said divers may offer a handout.

The likelihood of this happening with significant frequency is hotly debated and there's no consensus.

A concern is that 'innocent' approach by sharks to investigate divers outside of feeding trips could lead to divers feeling threatened, and by either direct (e.g. bang stick) or indirect (e.g. calls for a cull, bad publicity) methods cause harm to sharks.

I'm curious as to how the membership of ScubaBoard who dive in Florida, or have done, would react to being approached (not attacked or aggressively 'shook down') to a fairly large shark of a species known to occasionally kill humans, passed 1 to 5 times if fairly close proximity, and left. But I'd like a fair poll with a good range of questions, not one pre-conceived as a weapon in a point-of-view war. So, before making a poll, I'd like to see if these options sound good.

If you, outside of a shark feeding dive, were approached in fairly close proximity (say, within 20 feet) by an obviously curious shark (seemed interested in you), fairly large (at least 6 feet long) of a species associated with potential human predation (e.g. tiger, bull, great hammerhead, maybe a BIG reef shark), and it circled around a bit, then left, would your main reaction be -

1.) Appreciate the encounter and perhaps even endorse shark feeding for (maybe) contributing to your opportunity to have this special encounter?

2.) Appreciate the encounter, anxious and wary, but feel appreciative?

Three.) Neutral - concerns for & against balance each other. You would neither seek out nor avoid an area where such was apt to occur.

4.) Appreciate the encounter after the fact, but wouldn't have chosen it, and hope it doesn't happen again?

5.) Appreciate the encounter after the fact, but weirded out and would NOT want that to happen again.

6.) Be fearful and upset that this had happened to you, but consider it a one time fluke.

7.) Be fearful and upset, and be concerned that this might be a significant risk in the future (so you might avoid this dive site, become critical of local shark feeding, etc...)?

8.) Be angered to the point of wanting to 'take action' against shark feeding dive operators?

9.) Be angered to the point of seriously considering carrying a bang stick or similar device to use on large sharks that get 'too close' (even without attacking you)?

Note - I'm at a keyboard where the three and semi-colon/colon keys don't work right now.

Does this seem like a fair and balanced poll that isn't slanted to attack anyone?

My purpose for the poll is to see whether sharks approaching people are apt to engender a hostile human reaction leading to shark deaths.

Richard.

P.S. I left out great whites because as far as I know they aren't being actively fed on cageless shark feeding divers off the Florida coast, and the prospect of being approached in close quarters by medium to large great whites is apt to wrongly bias the poll, for a species that's probably not even an issue in it.

 

[PBMako]

2.) Appreciate the encounter, anxious and wary, but feel appreciative?

I'd vote for number "2.5".

I'd strike "anxious and wary" and add something like a "safety post dive evaluation". Was the shark just inquisitive or stalking. What species was it and was the behavior considered aggressive by knowledgable divers? Did the divers behavior attract the shark, ect.

Someone suggested on the other thread that I should dive in the "kiddie pool". On my OW dive I think there were 15+ sharks around. Loved it. They kept their distance.

 

[HalcyonDaze]

Probably a 2 for me. I can't say I wouldn't be somewhat wary, but I don't consider the scenario you describe to be cause for a freak-out. Can't say I'm a 1, though.

Good topic, by the way. One of the issues I have with depending on diver anecdotes is that people view such encounters through different filters. Outside of Emerald dives I've gotten buzzed by reef sharks while shooting lionfish, not to mention having been in the water with spearfishers while tigers, bulls, and hammerheads were around. Didn't particularly faze me or make me feel threatened. Some folks, even experienced divers, might freak in those circumstances. A couple times when I lived in Southern California I went shooting fish solo near offshore seal colonies, which has a way of making you check your six while in the water.

At the extreme end of the scale, you have this guy: Devil's Teeth - YouTube

 

[hilljo88]

2.5. I've done shark dives in Aquarium, shark feeding dives in Bahamas and dove with schools of hammerheads. All of these were exciting but not particularly threatening. However, a known aggressive species shark circling me will always get my attention

 

[CajunDiva]

10) I'm so amazed that I can't wait to get this video camera turned on and start recording!

[video=youtube_share;NUBIWxrhqcM]http://youtu.be/NUBIWxrhqcM[/video]

 

[drrich2]

Was the shark just inquisitive or stalking. What species was it and was the behavior considered aggressive by knowledgable divers? Did the divers behavior attract the shark, ect.

The assumption is that it is not stalking, as such would be evident to the diver. I had to allow a range of species that could at least pose a potential threat; large reef shark up through tiger, not nurse shark, and didn't think great whites were a valid concern for this.

Assumption is that the diver was not on a shark feeding dive, and did nothing knowingly to attract the sharks. Just your regular old 'coral reef and see the pretty fish' dive, where all of a sudden, HELLO, 8 foot bull shark comes by, passes at about 12 feet, does a couple of loops, sees you have nothing and swims off. That sort of thing.

Richard.

 

[HalcyonDaze]

The assumption is that it is not stalking, as such would be evident to the diver. I had to allow a range of species that could at least pose a potential threat; large reef shark up through tiger, not nurse shark, and didn't think great whites were a valid concern for this.

Assumption is that the diver was not on a shark feeding dive, and did nothing knowingly to attract the sharks. Just your regular old 'coral reef and see the pretty fish' dive, where all of a sudden, HELLO, 8 foot bull shark comes by, passes at about 12 feet, does a couple of loops, sees you have nothing and swims off. That sort of thing.

Richard.

About the only reason I did not list myself as a 1 was the whole "appreciative of feeding" mention. I'm skeptical of how that affects shark behavior as stated elsewhere, but if I was dead certain it had approached me for that reason I would show some concern. In the situation you describe I'd certainly have my eyes wide open and be tracking the shark, but I would definitely not mind seeing that on my dives. CajunDiva's clip from the Keys is a good point; I hardly ever go to Key Largo anymore because a lone juvenile reef shark is the biggest, toothiest shark I've ever encountered there in probably something over 100 dives. If that's all I see in Palm Beach/Jupiter it's a dull day on the shark index, and unless I saw a leatherback, pod of dolphins, mola-mola, manta, or goliath aggregation it's going to be a dull day, period.

 

[billinwilliamston]

If I connected the encounter with shark feeding I would have to say 8 is closest to how I would react. While I enjoy seeing these wonderful creatures up close and personal, I am against the deliberate feeding of any animal. I believe that shark feeding causes unnatural behavior and possible dependance on humans much the same as feeding seagulls, squirrels or tarpon.

 

[guyharrisonphoto]

I think this is a good attempt at a poll, but it does not address the particular situation. I would suggest that there are several possible scenarios to consider when evaluating the encounter:

1. Being present on an active shark feeding dive with fish chunks and blood chum freely in the water, and also spearing going on to incite feeding behavior, with diver behavior untrained and unregulated (the current situation in Jupiter)

2. Being present on an active shark feeding dive with professionally trained feeders, in protective chain mail, feeding sharks not at the apex of the predatory scale, usually reef sharks, one chunk at a time, with divers strictly regulated in their locations and behavior (the Stuart Cove technique).

3. Being present on a sharking "attracting" dive, including apex sharks such as tigers, bulls and hammerheads, with clean bait locked in containers, no feeding, no chumming, no spearing, with diver behavior strictly regulated (similar to Abernethy's techniques in the Bahamas).

4. Diving in an area where activity #1 is occurring, but not actually during the dives, and encountering sharks.

5. Diving in an area where activity #2 is occurring, but not actually during the dives, and encountering sharks.

6. Diving in an area where activity #3 is occurring, but not actually during the dives, and encountering sharks.

7. Encountering unstimulated, unattracted sharks behaving naturally in the environment during a regular, non-spearfishing dive.

I have been diving in all of these scenarios except for #1 and #4, perhaps because what is happening in Jupiter is unprecedented. Putting aside the active feeding, I percerived distinctly different risk levels to scenarios 3-7 and I ranked them highest to lowest.

For me, scenario #7 is the highest-level of shark encounter because you truly observe their natural actions. It also seems to be the lowest-risk, in my experience. Most sharks stand off, The closest encounter I ever had was a slow cruise-by from a great hammerhead who looked at me from about 10 feet away then continued on is way. Lemons are naturally shy and getting close is almost impossible. Bulls do the cruise-by thing, sometimes relatively close. Reefies too but I consider them a less-threatening class of sharks. But, in all of these cases, there was never any fins-down fast-twitch behavior indicative of any sort of aggression or feeding behavior.

In the other scenarios #5 and #6 (diving in feeding/scenting areas but not the actual feeding/scenting dives), there is a noticeable and distinct difference in the behavior. Anyone who says different is just not observing the world around them. The sharks approach closer and faster. They have no natural shyness towards divers. Usually, there is no fins-down fast-twitch behavior, but I experienced one exception near the Stuart Cove site where two reefies would approach fast and then sharply break off. While I did not feel an overt threat or immediate fear of attack, the behavior called for more attention and careful monitoring of the sharks than a natural shark encounter. Has everyone forgotten that all animals are unpredictable and you can never assume anything about their behavior? The #1 rule at Abernethy is NEVER TAKE YOUR EYES OFF THE SHARKS!

I have no desire to experience dive scenario #4, on a 100' strong current wreck dive, where the sharks that have been stimulated to approach divers are tigers, bulls, lemons or hammerheads. Just search the accidents and incidents forum here for shark bites on feeding/spearfishing dives. Although I would agree that it is safer at the site after those dives are over, any notion that the presence of highly stimulated apex sharks is "no-added-risk" diving is just, well, delusional. If daily-stimulated apex sharks with no reluctance to approach divers become part of the mix, I would not react very favorably to the encounter. If I was forced to accept such encounters on my dives, so that I had to add constant vigilance for shark approaches to the other tasks at hand such as photographing goliaths, I would not be very inclined to keep visiting the site, and would not recommend it to anyone I cared about.

As you can see, I react favorably to carefully conducted scenting/feeding dives if I know I am making a dedicated shark encounter dive focused solely on that purpose. I do not, however, react favorably to scenario #1 or #4, under any circumstances.

For the ridiculous comments that my experience and observations (and that of thousands of others) are irrelevant, and we have to conduct "studies" and get "statistics," let me just say that I, for one, do not care for my wife and I to become forced at-risk experimental subjects in a "study" to gather "statistics" on the safety of Emerald's shark rodeos.

 

[Wingy]

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