Shark attack in Florida

[Brewone0to]

Perhaps we can blockade Florida's borders now , and stop anymore people from getting in(lowering the odds of more bad press) lol

But on a more serious note our thoughts and prayers should be with the victems and their families. Because this is a nightmarish thing to happen to anyone(especially children)

 

[Florabama]

In my shark killin' days (early 60's) there was never - as in never - a shortage of sharks in the surf along Alabama Point/Florida Point from Gulf Shores to the Pensacola pass. In those days there were two distinct bars; three in some areas. There were plenty of Blacktip and Bull sharks around all summer, usually running the channel between the two bars - that channel was typically 50 - 80 yards offshore and 10-15' deep.
What wasn't there then and is there now is a solid wall of condos and near elbow to elbow swimmers. And the handful of swimmers we might see on any given day back then were usually more waders than swimmers, staying inside the first bar... today they're out on boogie boards and sea-doos all over the place.
My only surprise is that given the quantum increase in swimmers - and therefore opportunity - there are as few chance "bite & spit" encounters between swimmers and sharks as there are.
If anything the shark population is lower than it was in the early 60's.
Rick

Hey Rick, I remember when there were only two places you could get a beer and a bite to eat between Perdido bridge and Alabama Point -- "The Son of the Beach" and of course my name sake -- "The Florabama Lounge." Now there's only one place you can access the beach between the bridge and Alabama point for all the condos and shops.

 

[CBulla]

Due to overfishing, finning (completely another topic), and fear-caused general hunting, sharks populations are teetering on the edge. I've seen estimates that the populations (in general) are about 10% of what they were back in your hunting days.

Steve

Generally this isn't really that relevant to the Gulf waters.. most hook and line sharks are catch and release and finning isn't a Gulf waters thing. The big crusher for sharks in the gulf is long lining, which also kills many other species indiscriminately.

Rick totally hit the nail totally on the head with the extreme population growth on the coastline... thats the biggest cause of depletion. With habitat destruction and decreased food sources, the predatorial fish population will naturally decrease as well.

This one's for you, bud! http://shiftingbaselines.org/slideshow/index.html

 

[Rick Murchison]

Hey Rick, I remember when there were only two places you could get a beer and a bite to eat between Perdido bridge and Alabama Point -- "The Son of the Beach" and of course my name sake -- "The Florabama Lounge." Now there's only one place you can access the beach between the bridge and Alabama point for all the condos and shops.

The day the Flora-Bama opened, my future brother-in-law and I anchored in the surf and he waded in with a milkjug - returned with a gallon of beer. This would have been about 1964 or 65, I think... just the original little brick building.
Before that, the road ended at Johnson beach and the sand was so soft you couldn't even get a jeep onto Florida point... and so clean it barked when you walked on it. Boat access only; we could go there and never see another soul all day. The Navy still practiced bombing from SNJs in Old River (every boy on the bay had a Navy practice bomb as an anchor for his skiff) and Ono was uninhabited except for a few wild pigs and us boys on our grand adventures! When they built that bridge to Ono we boys seriously considered dynamiting the damned thing. Nowdays there's a crowd on the beach at 3 in the morning.
Pity.
Rick

 

[Tom Smedley]

I once had a PhD Marine Biologist, Dr Jenny, from the J.L. Scott Center in Biloxi to speak at our dive club. She mostly spoke on Cetaceans but, as always, sharks were brought up in the question and answer period.

She said, that if you destroy the population of sharks in an area it takes fourteen years for replenishment. Thats a dang long time. I just hope that these rogue biters don't bring down fire and brimstone upon their brethren.

During the hysteria when the boy got bitten at Pensacola the news folks showed pictures of these idiots with Budweiser in hand keel hauling a shark by its tail.

I grieve for the families of the young victims but hope that the Sqalous population doesn't suffer as well. I guess that the quote "Fear not the enemy, for they can only take your life. Fear the media, for they will take your honor." is really a true statement.

Two questions - Rick - Had beer been invented when you were a kid?
CBulla - why did you change your avitar - your speedo and gold necklace were icons for manly men all over.

 

[Florabama]

The day the Flora-Bama opened, my future brother-in-law and I anchored in the surf and he waded in with a milkjug - returned with a gallon of beer. This would have been about 1964 or 65, I think... just the original little brick building.
Before that, the road ended at Johnson beach and the sand was so soft you couldn't even get a jeep onto Florida point... and so clean it barked when you walked on it. Boat access only; we could go there and never see another soul all day. The Navy still practiced bombing from SNJs in Old River (every boy on the bay had a Navy practice bomb as an anchor for his skiff) and Ono was uninhabited except for a few wild pigs and us boys on our grand adventures! When they built that bridge to Ono we boys seriously considered dynamiting the damned thing. Nowdays there's a crowd on the beach at 3 in the morning.
Pity.
Rick

Man! Those were the days. I didn't come to Pcola until the '70s, but even then Johnson beach and Perdido were pretty much deserted, and just a few stray homes on Ono. We will never see that again.

 

[CBulla]

CBulla - why did you change your avitar - your speedo and gold necklace were icons for manly men all over.

One person giving me grief for sooo long I decided to give her a brief break. Carlos has taken a hiatus, a short trip back to Cuba to visit friends, family and go diving. The turtle is a result of a dive this weekend, read here:

http://www.scubaboard.com/showpost.php?p=1141518&postcount=57

 

[Rick Murchison]

Rick - Had beer been invented when you were a kid?

Nice...
Rick

 

[Crowell]

Was Ono Island originally called "Goat Island"?

My wife and I are trying to find some property out in Cantonment or possibly NW Pensacola off 9 mile near Hadji and the new Home Depot they put up, but I'm quickly finding that most everything is sold down there.

We've been planning to retire down to that area, but it seems that in the last 3 years everything is selling so fast that if we're going to have anything at all, we need to buy the land now and then sit on it for the next few years or it's all going to be gone. We've been planning to build, but geesh, who would have thought everything would sell so fast. We still have our townhouse at Brookside, but we're renting it out now.

We were actually in Destin Saturday afternoon when the girl was attacked off the coast down there. We'd just eaten lunch that day at Peg Leg Pete's down off the Ft. Pickens Rd., then were making a casual day of just driving along and ended up at the Bass Pro / Hard Rock in Destin for supper. The attack was all over the radio. I was sorry to hear about it.

I'm concerned about the Oriskany too, but I don't know what that's going to do when they finally get it sank. Sarah and I took some pictures of ourselves standing in front of it the other day down at the harbor so we can have some "before" pics of it.

 

[divetahoe]

This one's for you, bud! http://shiftingbaselines.org/slideshow/index.html

Thanks for the link. It took a few tries for it to load, but well worth it once it did.

Again, thanks.

Steve