Seals in Jamestown, Rhode Island

[deeper thoughts]

that's a lot of shark bait

 

[tkaelin]

the presence of sharks doesn't have any correlation to shark attacks.

Okay, I enjoy and value your posts in the past, but I am pretty sure you meant something other than what you just said. I am fairly confident in saying that this statement is false. If you are out in the Northwoods of Maine where there is ZERO presence of great whites that fact correlates in a straight line to the conclusion and probability of ZERO percent chance of a great white attack in Baxter. Just because there are great whites present doesn't mean I will be bitten but it does factor into the calculation of the probability.

And to drrich2 I am not sure how to respond. Are you suggesting there have been no shark attacks in California waters because I am pretty sure that is not correct. 2015 may have been a good year. Out here the thought of a great white in our diving waters was the stuff of Peter Benchley's imagination until the seals took hold on the Cape. We have already had one shark incident on the Cape and they now have shark patrols on the beaches. Previously unheard of out here.

You guys want to dismiss the threat or otherwise want to think it is not existent, more power to you.
All I have been trying to convey for perhaps the third or more times is that for me the presence of great whites in NE waters where we dive is not a positive. Hugh seals colonies a negative as well for the marine environment. If you think otherwise ok.

 

[drrich2]

"Are you suggesting there have been no shark attacks in California waters because I am pretty sure that is not correct."

No. My point is that the risk of great white attack out there is thought to be very low, from what I've read, especially when you consider the legions of swimmers, surfers, divers, etc...who use California waters.

There are 2 practical impacts of having them around; the risk of attack (which should be very small; much as we know lightning could kill us but outside reckless acts deem it very unlikely), and the psychological impact.

I booked a trip for California for late summer. If I'm blessed to go & enjoy it as I hope, I will be mindful of 'the Landlord,' as they call it. I will strain to keep my mind from playing Jaws music. I'll imagine grisly death in the jaws of a white shark, and try not to think about it. And if I saw a 14 footer swim nearby, I wouldn't be thinking 'Chill, it's harmless!'

In one of the articles I read, a buddy pair was watching sea lions when suddenly, they all fled. The author worried that they might've been fleeing from a great white, but far as he knew, 'Whitey' never showed up.

Any large, potentially dangerous predator you're not used to showing up in your environment can be anxiety provoking. If someone weren't used to big great barracuda, 1st time in the water with one or more could be a little anxious.

My point is, I doubt the seals around are going to raise your odds of great white attack high; you probably already accept much higher risks from other things (e.g.: car wreck en route to dive). But knowing they're there may mess with you a bit.

Richard.

 

[CT-Rich]

I think whites will be making a comeback. Culling is a dicey proposition, too many unforeseen consequences. Also with animals like deer, there is history of sport hunting. I don't see a lot of people lining up to render seals on the weekend.

Finally, we should be looking at what the historical seal population was. What was it like in pre-colonial cape cod? What seal population is ideal for a healthy ecosystem? The Ausies were just culling sharks, but it looked more like they were saving some of the tourist market more than anything about sharks.

 

[CT-Rich]

Okay, I enjoy and value your posts in the past, but I am pretty sure you meant something other than what you just said. I am fairly confident in saying that this statement is false. If you are out in the Northwoods of Maine where there is ZERO presence of great whites that fact correlates in a straight line to the conclusion and probability of ZERO percent chance of a great white attack in Baxter. Just because there are great whites present doesn't mean I will be bitten but it does factor into the calculation of the probability.

And to drrich2 I am not sure how to respond. Are you suggesting there have been no shark attacks in California waters because I am pretty sure that is not correct. 2015 may have been a good year. Out here the thought of a great white in our diving waters was the stuff of Peter Benchley's imagination until the seals took hold on the Cape. We have already had one shark incident on the Cape and they now have shark patrols on the beaches. Previously unheard of out here.

You guys want to dismiss the threat or otherwise want to think it is not existent, more power to you.
All I have been trying to convey for perhaps the third or more times is that for me the presence of great whites in NE waters where we dive is not a positive. Hugh seals colonies a negative as well for the marine environment. If you think otherwise ok.

Nah... you pretty much got my meaning. Risk is relative. From historical evidence the the likelihood of being killed by a shark in RI waters is insanely low. In the last 116 years, there have been SEVEN shark attacks. Only five were unprovoked and only two were fatal. And those statistics are for ALL sharks. Very few sharks are going to hunt seals from a colony. So even if we make the likelihood go up ten fold. we would still only increase it to one person every 2 or 3 years. And that is for the entire state and includes all boaters and swimmers in addition to SCUBA divers. I am much more concerned about entanglement, CO poisoning, being hit by a boat and getting tossed on a rock.

Would it suck to be bitten in two by a GW? Absolutely, but am I more likely to have a heart attack in the water, drown on get an embolism or die from a shark? I certainly can better control some of those other things. The shark just isn't worth worrying about. Although if a GW cruised by I imagine I would pee my wetsuit...

Actually that might happen anyway....

 

[rzep]

When the FW boat ramp will look like that beach in the video, I'll be more afraid, about jealous male seal, protecting his harem, than GW attack. But for now, it was just a single, cute seal pup.
On the other hand, cute pup like that, bite the guy, when we were diving in Queen Charlotte Islands.

 

[LittleOne525]

From one point, the fact that we have seals in this area just shows that the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 works in a very practical and measurable way. The reason we didn't have as many seals in the area for the last few decades was because we hunted them to essential extinction from the area (you could get a bounty for every seal nose you brought in) - they were thought to be a nuisance to the fishing industry (not arguing that point, it is true), so free reign was given to hunters.

And there's a decent chance you have been swimming/diving near a White Shark...it's just our great New England visibility that hides them.

 

[CT-Rich]

Sharks can hear our tanks bubble from a mile away (probably literally). They can detect the electric field from us and the metal in our gear. They can see better than us. The bubbles are the most likely thing to scare them off. We are unlikely to get an encounter with one in that dinky little cove especially with sixteen open water classes roto-tilling the bottom.

 

[AfterDark]

Seals are hurting the fish population in MA Bay that is a fact presented by the MA Fisheries Div not just someone's opinion.

Seals need culling. If those colonies off the cape were reduced say 10-20% the seals would still thrive and the fishery would become more balanced. Nature will let the seal population grow until it is unsustainable due to reduced food availability then they will begin to starve and the colony will culled. One way or another those seal colonies off the Cape will not continue to grow unabated, man or nature will intervene at some point.

We do long surface swims sometimes; the thought of being lifted out of the water in the jaws of a GW then slammed back down on the surface, I'll be quite honest terrifies me. I'm a big believer in when it's your time that's it but I'd be more receptive to passing in my sleep than being crushed between the jaws of a GW and the water.

I saw video of a shark attack in SanFran Bay where a GW lifted an estimated 500 lb sea lion out of the water then slammed it down on the surface! On long night time surface swims that always comes to my mind.

Seals blow bubbles too sometimes it's the last thing they do before the shark grabs them.

The history channel carries the show Swamp People where for one month out of the year alligators are hunted to cull the heard. That seems to work well for both humans and those gators not culled. They have a safe and sustainable population of gators. I see no reason why that can't be done with seals also.

 

[Buliwyf]

Ya'll have been diving with GW's for a long time already:
http://www.ocearch.org/tracker/mobile/

IME, land or sea, a well fed large predator, is safer than a starving one.

Too bad we can't convince Orca's to reduce the seal population. Orca's are complete jerks to anything except man.