Shark bites diver

[Renem]

May I please clarify the story of Roy Tanaka, I am his daughter and would like to set the record straight. Tom Winters version is incorrect and very misleading! My father was night diving with some friends but he was in the water already, and had been in for a while, when the boat capsized. The driver of the boat hung on till the divers surfaced and realized what had happened. My dad never surfaced. One of the guys dove to my dad's light only to find his light, all his scuba gear including his mask and spear. They thought he somehow swam to shore. Since they were on the military side of waters, the military did a full search of sea and shore (this happened around 8:00pm on 2/17/1990. They were unable to locate my dad and put a floater in the water. The next day, following the floater - which floated many miles away, they spotted him with 2 tiger sharks (of course he was already gone, but one arm was already missing). By the time they launched the boat to retrieve his body, there wasn't much left. So to sum things up, he was not killed by a shark, or his arm ripped off while he was alive, we believe it was some kind of heart problem (he was having problems prior).

 

[Thalassamania]

10 Oct 2004, off Maui. - Freediver

Recent attacks
Since 1990 there have been 15 shark attacks off Maui, 14 off Oahu, seven off Kauai, five off the Big Island and two off Molokai that involved minor, severe or fatal injuries to victims. Here are recent Hawaii shark attacks that involved injuries:


2004
April 7: Surfer Willis McInnis, 57, of Napilii dies after he was attacked off Pohaku Park about 200 to 300 yards offshore at a surfing spot called S-turns near Pohaku Park on Maui.


2003
Oct. 31: Bethany Hamilton was surfing at Tunnels at Makua Beach on Kauai when she was attacked by a shark. She lost her left arm below the shoulder.


Oct. 5: Clara Alo was attacked by a 4- to 5-foot gray-colored shark at Kalama Beach on Maui. Alo received injuries to her left thigh, right knee and right index finger.


June 24: John Marrack was snorkeling with a pod of dolphins when he was bitten on his right foot by a shark estimated at about 12- to 14-feet long at Makua Beach on Oahu.

SOURCE - Honolulu Star-Bulletin

 

[Black_3000psi]

sharks do not find divers to be easy targets. there are many theories as to why.one theory is the bubbles. because dolphins blow bubbles when they become aggressive. the sound of the bubbles makes the sharks shy away from us.sharks are opertunistic feeders.since divers are for the most parts in pairs are larger groups this is not the situation the shark is looking for.most people who die from shark attacks do not die because they were eaten they bleed to death. most bites are a simple taste test.(bull shark not included) most of the damage from a shark bite comes from the person bit trying to snatch that limb from the sharks mouth. think about it, a person is bit bleeding to death but the shark never returns to finish them off. lets face it, we aint on the menu.but if thats the only thing on the dinner table and the shark is very hungry. im sure he will force himself to choke one of us down.

 

[MauiScubaSteve]

2003
Oct. 31: Bethany Hamilton was surfing at Tunnels at Makua Beach on Kauai when she was attacked by a shark. She lost her left arm below the shoulder.

SOURCE - Honolulu Star-Bulletin

Just showing that often some details don't seem to make into most shark attack reports, here is a quote from one of the Honolulu Advertiser articles on the attack in the Sunday paper, two days after the attack;

Fellow surfer Jeff Walba described what he saw Friday as he, Bethany and a half dozen others were in 5-foot-deep water at a section of the Ha'ena or Tunnels reef known as West Reef.

"I was looking right at her. There wasn't even a splash or a ripple. It never surfaced. I don't think she saw the shark hit her," Walba said. "She looked down and saw her arm was gone, and she freaked."

Bethany was having a joyous time just before the attack, Walba said.

"There was no wind — it was perfectly calm. The waves were small. I couldn't surf it, it was too small. She could. She's a little munchkin," Walba said.

Bethany and her best friend and surfing buddy Alana Blanchard had a habit, when they were happy, of making sounds like dolphins.

"She was making a dolphin noise. ... And then all of a sudden it turned into a scream," Walba said.

Bethany was paddling after riding a wave, and he recalls that her left arm was down in the water at the end of a stroke when it happened.

 

[Black_3000psi]

I think the original question was concerning shark attacks on divers....... i could be wrong.

 

[MauiScubaSteve]

I think the original question was concerning shark attacks on divers....... i could be wrong.

Very perceptive. And that question was answered the day after it was asked, on Nov 5th, 2007.

There was another book I read around then that seemed to indicate non-spearfishing and non-dead already attacks on scuba divers were a couple white tip reef sharks and one hammerhead biting forearms of photographers who cornered them for pictures.

George would be the one to contact for more recent data, still with NMFS on Oahu.

Unfortunately the only web confirmation I can show is from another SB thread about Shark Attacks;

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/shark-forum/289989-shark-attack-fact.html

Stat's sometimes tell the whole story even though the incidents are few and non-lethal.

AFAIK, Hawaii non-hunting scuba divers bit by sharks since 1959 (Statehood); 3.

The species breakdown;
White Tip Reef Shark - 2 divers (photographers)
Hammerhead Shark - 1 diver (photographer)
Tiger Shark, Sand Tiger Shark, Galapagos Shark, Grey Reef Shark, Black Tip Reef Shark - 0 divers

The only recreational scuba bites have been sharks that were provoked and no diver managed to provoke a Tiger Shark. You are infinitely more likely to be bit by our most timid and safest shark than by our most aggressive and lethal shark (at least if you have a camera).

My first couple years in Hawaii I searched for and read everything I could find about sharks in Hawaii. I have continued to read everything I have come across. Nearly 20 years have passed now and I have seen no data to refute what I remember. I will see if I can find the box of books with that data.

I believe you are still correct... all the last tiger shark issues were with surfers and swimmers...to my knowledge no divers were involved.

 

[Black_3000psi]

i remember back about three years ago being in the hold of the san pedro with a huge white tip.wasnt til i got in there with him that i realized he was bigger than me and i aint no little guy.even though he was bigger than me all he wanted was out of the area which he did. so i just dont see a shark attacking a scuba diver unless there is a greater motivator.