Shark attack, Egypt, Brothers islands

[UFOrb]

I think I read this happened in April?

I believe it was recent, this month or late October.

There are also reports of a snorkeler being killed by an Oceanic near Marsa Alam in early August.
I’m heading to Marsa Alam in April with my family. Apparently it’s rare for Oceanics to visit that area during that time of year but I’m certainly going to be cautious!

 

[reefrat]

Well I googled it and that’s because I did the second step of looking at the item that I asked.

Would you use this against a shark ?

Most of my diving is on a wall with thousands of feet of blue ocean on one side, big sharks are rare but who knows what could swim in!
If I had an oceanic white tip or tiger moving in on me I would use whatever I had to discourage it! The folding spear at least is convenient and concealed most of the time- because hopefully you will never need it. Once deployed, which takes about two seconds, it gives you a 6 ft or longer reach to hit that sucker hard around the head/gills as he comes past to see if you have any defense or can only just do a pathetic shoo-shark routine.
I removed the barb and the rubber sling, which I replaced with a lanyard, this is not for hunting and I certainly don’t want a barb on that point. It’s a stealthy shark billy that is a LOT better than nothing in the unlikely event that it is ever needed.

 

[scubadada]

I do not recall that the Agressor DM Instructor carried a stick of any length when we dove at Brothers (or elswhere in the Red Sea) in 2016...

I also dived the Red Sea in 2016, Cocos in 2017, and Galapagos this year. DMs has no implements on any of these trips. Of course, the Cocos trip was before the two attacks

 

[Rollin Bonz]

Well I googled it and that’s because I did the second step of looking at the item that I asked.

Would you use this against a shark ?

You asked where you could buy one, you can buy one at foldspear.com ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Not sure if a foldspear would do much, except make a shark madder. There's a video on YouTube of a guy spear fishing using his spear gun to try to dissuade a shark from getting too close. It just made the shark more aggressive. I'll pass.

 

[johndiver999]

Just because a speargun may not always work, This does not mean a stick, a pole spear etc. will not be a deterrent. The point of the tool is to give the diver something to act aggressively with. If the shark is not cornered and there is no active feeding occurring, then a stiff poke to the head and aggressive posturing is a reasonable plan . At least compared to what the divers did.

They did not group up, they did not all keep visual tracking of the shark, they did not act aggressively, in fact they looked quite passive and the guy who got bit allowed the shark to swim right up behind him.

 

[scubadada]

Hi @reefrat

Do you keep the Foldspear in its holster, attached to your BC? Do you ever practice deploying it, might not always be much time?

 

[Rollin Bonz]

Just because a speargun may not always work, This does not mean a stick, a pole spear etc. will not be a deterrent. The point of the tool is to give the diver something to act aggressively with. If the shark is not cornered and there is no active feeding occurring, then a stiff poke to the head and aggressive posturing is a reasonable plan . At least compared to what the divers did.

They did not group up, they did not all keep visual tracking of the shark, they did not act aggressively, in fact they looked quite passive and the guy who got bit allowed the shark to swim right up behind him.

True. You're right, something is better than nothing. As @reefrat said, better than doing the "shoo-shark routine" . The video I'm thinking of the diver was trying to protect his catch. Probably better strategy to just give up the fish in that case than to try to keep it by poking a hungry shark.

 

[CuzzA]

There seems to be some confusion and a breakdown on proper nomenclature. A speargun is not a pole spear and vice versa. A properly equipped speargun will stop just about any shark. A pole spear would only serve to help to push off a shark and maintain some distance. I would take anything over my bare hands, but if a shark is hell bent on biting you, a pole spear is no match.

As illustrated in the video, when a shark takes an interest in you it will circle you and tighten it's pattern as it continues to analyze the risk/reward. A diver wielding a big stick and showing a dominate posture sends the message, "I'm more of a risk, buddy!" However, once that shark goes into frenzy mode in close quarters, a diver would likely not have the ability to stop it.

 

[BlueTrin]

You asked where you could buy one, you can buy one at foldspear.com ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Not sure if a foldspear would do much, except make a shark madder. There's a video on YouTube of a guy spear fishing using his spear gun to try to dissuade a shark from getting too close. It just made the shark more aggressive. I'll pass.

Hopefully we’ll never be in a situation where we would regret not having a bigger spear :/

 

[CuzzA]

Probably better strategy to just give up the fish

No. Then you've created the frenzy. What do you think that shark(s) is going to do once he swallows that snack? It's likely he's going to come back to you looking for more. Then of course you are also conditioning sharks to associate divers with a meal. A common problem spearfishermen face in Florida as too many divers give up their fish.