Shark attacks and buddy diving

[Walter]

Attacks on divers are very rare. I've only ever felt threatened by sharks once (the dive report is in the Conch forum). That time, we were diving in a three person team when two large Bulls acted like they thought we would make a nice meal. Did we escape that fate because we stayed together? Did they come at us because they thought with three of us there would be enough food to go around? Did we live because we stayed calm and didn't try to outswim the sharks, charging them when they charged us? Could they smell our fear (I think I could)? Would they have been more or less aggressive had I been out there solo?

Predators generally single out individuals for attack. They will pick solitary prey, but they will also focus on an individual in a group. Often the predator will ignore other individuals even when the come to the aid of the victim. That increases their chances of making a successful kill. It's not thought, it's merely instinct, but what works gets passed on. So, if you encounter sharks, stay off the surface, don't act like prey and if a shark comes at your buddy, charge the shark while screaming at it. If you're diving solo, don't hesitate to charge the shark, make lots of noise. Sharks don't like us swimming at them.

 

[Vayu]

Nice report walter. Bulls will be bulls... good job showing them who was boss.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

One striking thing about the study is that the increased amount of attacks simply reflects increased ocean use. Just like most divers are in the water at certain times and at certain places. This is why California, Florida, and Hawaii have the highest rate of shark attack even though other states and nations have just as many sharks.

-V

Was that conclusion supported by the study? I would have to disagree with this statement, I KNOW there are a lot more sharks off the coast of Florida than off NJ or Maine....

 

[Vayu]

I havn't seen a report of coastal shark populations. Ocean use is huge around Florida though so I think it is an important factor.

-V

 

[dumpsterDiver]

I have had a number of negative experiences with sharks. I have been within a second of shooting one with a gun a number of times. All my "negative" experiences where when I was (or had been) spearfishing.

I am quite sure that I can confirm that you are safer with a buddy or two with you when shark(s) become aggressive. Especially, if there is decent visibility and the divers can work together to keep an eye on the sharks. If a shark knows that you (or your buddy) sees him, that you are tracking and watching him carefully, he will be much more likely to just swim off.

Equally obvious is the fact that, when multiple aggressive sharks confront a single diver, it is much harder (or impossible) to watch all of them, plus they tend to stimulate eachother and become much more aggressive as a group. Kinda like a pack of big dogs is more dangerous to one man than a single dog is to a couple guys. It really isn't about statistics. If you have experience in diving around aggresive sharks, this would probably seem obvious.

 

[uspap]

I had a buddy attacked by a loan shark once.

 

[onfloat]

was he alone?

 

[capeofstorms_pierre]

Hi all, can sum one tell me where they are gettingt he stats from? When u refer to attacks on divers are u refererring to divers on scuba or spearfisherman?

thanx

 

[Vayu]

The information comes from the international shark attack file: http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/sharks/ISAF/ISAF.htm

-V

 

[ams511]

they did a very nice job interpreting the bar graphs...bringing up contributing factors.

Are you serious or sarcastic? These are only descriptive statistics. You cannot tell anything from them. The descriptions at the bottom tell you as much.