Shark bites film maker - Farallon Islands, California

[drrich2]

His prior vs. recent experience raises a question about great white observation in the wild; assuming one's not ambushed mistaken as a seal, and sees one, how dangerous should it be presumed to be? Putting aside emotional responses, what's the 'logical threat level?' Some accounts sound like if viz. is good they're highly unlikely to attack; we look/sound like weird aliens, blow bubbles, etc... Others sound like hold your ground till it (hopefully) leaves, then get out of the water (watchfully, without appearing to be in rapid flight, presumably).

Someone did what you might call an experiment off Guadalupe Island and put a video on You Tube, Gigantic Sharks Break Into Ghost Cage I Island of the Mega-Shark (a tad sensationalist there...). In a nutshell, a guy named Dickie (wonder if he drew the short straw?) got in a fairly small acrylic box surrounded by great whites, hoping maybe a particularly enormous one would show up (the bunch more than capable of killing him already milling around apparently weren't enough). Eventually, some started trying to get at him.

How they act at a particular aggregation, with rivals around, may differ from lone great whites wandering across divers (I'd think fatalities would be far higher if they even attacked once in 10 times they saw a human!), so relevance is shaky, but I consider it a reminder they are dangerous.

Richard.

 

[HalcyonDaze]

I’m glad he survived and was said to be doing okay. I hope when practical he’ll share whether there was anything known to be different about conditions when he was bitten, or whether it was bad luck of the draw.

Richard.

Having read The Devil's Teeth, there are a few instances where Elliott recounts being "attacked" by white sharks that never actually managed to bite him - I think at one point the author mentioned that batting them away with an urchin basket seemed to be his idea of "just another day at the office." Given that this instance was a hit in the hand/arm and he was well enough to walk off the helo, I doubt it was a serious bite.

 

[Shasta_man]

<<how dangerous should it be presumed to be?>> I would rate it as extremely dangerous. Life in your hands every time you get in the water. You would be more than foolhardy to think otherwise. Could you dive it and survive, not even see a shark? Sure. Could you do it again successfully. Sure. But you are talking about a rugged place where great white sharks are relatively in abundance, let alone BIG great whites, in an area where their prey specifically lives, with COLD water and usually bad if not terrible viz. This is far from Guadalupe Island viz. Even great viz is probably 20-30 feet, and mostly less.. Regardless even if you see them, what's the plan? Safest assumption is they can do what they want so that is not a good position to be in. It's most likely that they know you are there before you know they are there. I'm interested in seeing sharks when I'm diving and first thought is to go see them but I also have a lot of respect and common sense for the possibilities. I'll be happy to buy this guy a beer and hold his stuff while he dives.

 

[HalcyonDaze]

Diver's Shark Bite in Farallon Islands Was an 'Accident,' Not an Attack - October 25, 2018 - SF Weekly

 

[kelemvor]

Wasn't another filmmaker bit just last year when trying to film a doc about how bull sharks don't bite? This seems similar to me. I believe in the other incident, they blamed low vis as well.

Edit: It was 2 years ago. Erich Ritter.

 

[HalcyonDaze]

Wasn't another filmmaker bit just last year when trying to film a doc about how bull sharks don't bite? This seems similar to me. I believe in the other incident, they blamed low vis as well.

Edit: It was 2 years ago. Erich Ritter.

Unless Ritter has racked up two Honorable Mentions for the Darwin Award, it was way farther back - over 15 years ago. I remember speaking to Nigel Marvin about it during my undergraduate years. He was filming a documentary with Ritter in the Bahamas where they were standing in waist-deep water with adult bulls all around and one ripped Ritter's calf muscle off. The whole thing was filmed and aired as "Anatomy of a Shark Bite" in 2003.


This remains the epitome of "Too Dumb to Live" around sharks for me, and as you can see this is what happens when even a midsized (6-8 ft) shark has predatory intentions. If you literally walk away from getting bit by a white shark that at absolute minimum is 50% longer and probably three times the body mass of those bulls - you were either really lucky or the shark didn't mean business.

 

[Akimbo]

Diver's Shark Bite in Farallon Islands Was an 'Accident,' Not an Attack - October 25, 2018 - SF Weekly

That is a distinction without a difference to a diver who is missing flesh. Sharks are not evil or noble. They are just big animals with lots of teeth trying to survive. Mistaken, hungry, curious, or defensive makes no practical difference.

 

[HalcyonDaze]

That is a distinction without a difference to a diver who is missing flesh. Sharks are not evil or noble. They are just big animals with lots of teeth trying to survive. Mistaken, hungry, curious, or defensive makes no practical difference.

I would say it does make a practical difference, particularly in this case. The diver got away with what appears to have been non-threatening lacerations on an extremity when the animal in question could have very easily chopped a big piece of him off. Given the damage a large shark is capable off when it decides to kill something, I'd say the intent makes a big difference.

 

[HalcyonDaze]

Refloating this for an update: Shark encounter inspires short doc, 'Near Miss'

 

[drrich2]

Thanks for the update! From the article you linked: "Looking below him, he spotted a 17-foot-long female white shark on ascent, heading straight towards him. Rather than turn away from Elliott, like many sharks had, it opened its mouth and charged. Elliott says he held up his camera — about the size of a breadbox — to fend off the attack, but the shark’s teeth ripped open his right hand and forearm."

And while I've dove with a few different shark species, including some (reef, sand tigers, lemons, bulls, small bulls, tigers I was told were up to close to 10 feet long), I'd be reluctant to get in the water knowing a great white was present. Perhaps a bit hypocritical since I went on dive trips specifically to be in the water with tiger sharks. For all that I read about (& see photos and videos in support of) great whites mostly ignoring or otherwise not molesting divers, and accepting that this man probably had hundreds of encounters over many years...it just takes that one great white who, for reasons we may never know, decides to go 'off script' and go after somebody. It's remarkable that he made it out, called and got help.

Richard.