Shark attack, Egypt, Brothers islands

[InTheDrink]

I do agree that erratic behaviour also exacerbate the situation but owt had targeted the dangling camera right away in the second pass. In this range, prominent sense is vision, not the lateral line. Have a look at , again owt is heading straight at the dsmb.
Unfortunately you cannot always choose who you are with in the water. This is a very unfortunate accident, victim and the disorganized divers are not even belonging to the same group/boat if I understood correctly.
I hear fewer to none incidents in provoked/baited dives around the world, mostly because operators have to take safety more seriously as their business rely on a clean record.
Red Sea shark diving has become too accessible to the masses and too casual. In one hand this is positive for the future of the sharks and the reefs on the other hand it is about time to do some changes by the operators. Diving with owt, silkies, bulls and tigers is never going to be 100% safe and there is no protocol that will guarantee an incident free encounter.
I am hoping that the dive guides will show this or similar videos to their customers in the future to demonstrate the consequences of casualness.

It’s possible and we can never know for sure but I’d be pretty confident neither camera nor SMB were triggers here. Sure Longis will go for an inflated SMB, that’s because of the rapid movement to the surface. Anything moving quickly up or down in the water column could be carrion or injured and a potential meal.

Longis aren’t chummed here as they react significantly when there is food or what looks like food in the water. I understand longimanus are chummed in the Bahamas. Their behaviour there is different to Egypt. I can cast iron guarantee your stick a chicken carcass or bit of fish in the water with Egyptian OWTs their behaviour changes immediately. Hence why it’s banned. Also remember the OWTs here are not resident so not habituated to chumming etc. I don’t know whether the same is to be said of those in the Bahamas.

Videos and briefings showing how to behave around Longimanus are shown on all boats that I know there. Showing a shark attack video however would be the wrong thing to do as this would make divers more anxious and more likely to behave the wrong way (panicked, prey).

I do agree however that the average diving experience level needs to improve. How to achieve that I do not know.

And again to reiterate, tens of thousands of divers dive with these sharks each year. Practices need to improve but this is a rare event and the currents there and the remoteness are the primary hazards.

 

[Neilwood]

It’s possible and we can never know for sure but I’d be pretty confident neither camera nor SMB were triggers here. Sure Longis will go for an inflated SMB, that’s because of the rapid movement to the surface. Anything moving quickly up or down in the water column could be carrion or injured and a potential meal.

Longis aren’t chummed here as they react significantly when there is food or what looks like food in the water. I understand longimanus are chummed in the Bahamas. Their behaviour there is different to Egypt. I can cast iron guarantee your stick a chicken carcass or bit of fish in the water with Egyptian OWTs their behaviour changes immediately. Hence why it’s banned. Also remember the OWTs here are not resident so not habituated to chumming etc. I don’t know whether the same is to be said of those in the Bahamas.

Videos and briefings showing how to behave around Longimanus are shown on all boats that I know there. Showing a shark attack video however would be the wrong thing to do as this would make divers more anxious and more likely to behave the wrong way (panicked, prey).

I do agree however that the average diving experience level needs to improve. How to achieve that I do not know.

And again to reiterate, tens of thousands of divers dive with these sharks each year. Practices need to improve but this is a rare event and the currents there and the remoteness are the primary hazards.

I think the divers behaviour was one of the main factors in this particular attack - he had absolutely no awareness of anything that was going on around him when he went to take the line. Had he looked at all he would have seen the OWT in close vicinity and quite possibly not presented such an opportunity to the shark. I would certainly not have made that move for the line if I knew the shark was that close and swimming right for me.

Diving with OWT etc is an activity that brings a certain level of risk (and I would never argue that it doesn't) but stick to the behaviour around them as described in the briefings and it becomes a lot safer. Divers need to respect the fact that they are in their playground and that the sharks are the apex species.

 

[John Bantin]

I've dived with Oceanic WTs in the Red Sea since around 1980. They are scavengers perpetually searching for a meal in the shallows. They have made it a habit to follow ships that travel the busy sealane from the Indian Ocean to Suez because they throw their galley waste off the stern. The noise made by large liveaboards rings the dinner bell for them. You are more likely to suffer an investigatory bite in shallow water close to a vessel.

 

[Kay Dee]

Having dived from Sharm to Djibouti, and places in between, and also many other remote 'big' shark areas around the world, and been closely, agressively, threatened on several or more occasions (thank your diety of choice, or whomever, for a big u/w camera rig) by one or more sharks, the one simple piece of advice I would proffer re sharks, is, never, ever, take your eyes off a shark that takes an interest in you / your group. And be prepared to 'defend' yourself in any way / means possible. (Well, thats two pieces of advice actually. )

And, of course, (doesn't it go without saying that) if you choose to dive with sharks, you know - well beforehand - what the various forms of threat behaviour look like.

Oh, and as John alludes too above, shallow water / the surface is not your friend when it comes to sharks (and / or especially if / when you have a decompression obligation to boot )!

 

[InTheDrink]

Having dived from Sharm to Djibouti, and places in between, and also many other remote 'big' shark areas around the world, and been closely, agressively, threatened on several or more occasions (thank your diety of choice, or whomever, for a big u/w camera rig) by one or more sharks, the one simple piece of advice I would proffer re sharks, is, never, ever, take your eyes off a shark that takes an interest in you / your group. And be prepared to 'defend' yourself in any way / means possible. (Well, thats two pieces of advice actually. )

And, of course, (doesn't it go without saying that) if you choose to dive with sharks, you know - well beforehand - what various threat behaviour looks like.

Oh, and as John alludes too above, shallow water / the surface is not your friend when it comes to sharks!

Yep don’t be on the surface for sure

 

[scubaozy]

Point that I am trying to make with baited dives relates to the divers behavior in an baited environment, not the sharks. Mindset of a diver doing a casual reef dive at the southern plateau in big brother is different than the one doing a baited dive. Imho, any dive with owt should be treated as baited dive.
There is an article by Dr. Elke Bojanowski in Hepca web site (http://www.hepca.org/downloads/projects/3f24b-feature-draft sharks.pdf) even though a bit dated, she states that there is no conclusive data whether there is a specific Red Sea population or they are a subset of Indian Ocean population.
Sharks are great at sneaking on you, that is why they survived so long, so I hardly see that it was divers fault. In one occasion, I was approached from behind by owt just seconds after a negative entry at 3-5 metres of depth while unfolding my strobe arms. There is no way you can keep visual contact with something you do not see .

 

[Kay Dee]

There is no way you can keep visual contact with something you do not see .

Agreed, naturally; as to paraphrase Forest Gump sometimes s**t does just happen. But.............not 'seeing' was certainly not the case in the video / incident as first posted here, nor in my òverall experience 'most' - repeat most but not all - cases.

Besides, even 'seeing' is very very different from being 'aware'.

 

[InTheDrink]

Point that I am trying to make with baited dives relates to the divers behavior in an baited environment, not the sharks. Mindset of a diver doing a casual reef dive at the southern plateau in big brother is different than the one doing a baited dive. Imho, any dive with owt should be treated as baited dive.
There is an article by Dr. Elke Bojanowski in Hepca web site (http://www.hepca.org/downloads/projects/3f24b-feature-draft sharks.pdf) even though a bit dated, she states that there is no conclusive data whether there is a specific Red Sea population or they are a subset of Indian Ocean population.
Sharks are great at sneaking on you, that is why they survived so long, so I hardly see that it was divers fault. In one occasion, I was approached from behind by owt just seconds after a negative entry at 3-5 metres of depth while unfolding my strobe arms. There is no way you can keep visual contact with something you do not see .

I’m sorry but I think you’re putting out false information which could be dangerous.

You mostly can keep visual contact.

Most divers that don’t maybe at best get a sniff. Totally unaware.

The sharks are doing what they do which is seeing if there’s an easy meal. We are big, blow bubbles and if they get injured they’re ******.

Thousand upon thousands of dives happen with these sharks without incident every year.

Don’t put food in the water.
Don’t flap around like prey.
Keep eye contact where possible.

It’s very simple.

P.s. I’m a good friend of Elke and I’m pretty sure she’d back me up on all points I have made. She’s spent 14 years out there with them so she’s effectively the most knowledgeable person on these sharks in the Red Sea

 

[Neilwood]

I’m sorry but I think you’re putting out false information which could be dangerous.

You mostly can keep visual contact.

Most divers that don’t maybe at best get a sniff. Totally unaware.

The sharks are doing what they do which is seeing if there’s an easy meal. We are big, blow bubbles and if they get injured they’re ******.

Thousand upon thousands of dives happen with these sharks without incident every year.

Don’t put food in the water.
Don’t flap around like prey.
Keep eye contact where possible.

It’s very simple.

P.s. I’m a good friend of Elke and I’m pretty sure she’d back me up on all points I have made. She’s spent 14 years out there with them so she’s effectively the most knowledgeable person on these sharks in the Red Sea

She does actually make the point herself about rules for people to follow (quoted directly from that PDF):
Do we have to conclude then, that it is unsafe and dangerous to meet these sharks while scuba diving? In my opinion, clearly not! Despite being an apex predator in the world’s oceans, the longimanus (and ANY other shark species, for that matter!) does not have humans on the menu.
Simple rules applied, diving with them will remain the exciting and enjoyable experience it has been in the past, hopefully for years to come...

 

[InTheDrink]

She does actually make the point herself about rules for people to follow (quoted directly from that PDF):
Do we have to conclude then, that it is unsafe and dangerous to meet these sharks while scuba diving? In my opinion, clearly not! Despite being an apex predator in the world’s oceans, the longimanus (and ANY other shark species, for that matter!) does not have humans on the menu.
Simple rules applied, diving with them will remain the exciting and enjoyable experience it has been in the past, hopefully for years to come...

Well said. If boats and divers stick to protocol then no drama.

I suspect both will now.