Shark kills Diver

[concollective]

Shark diving, as such, is just plain stupid -- and, more importantly, inconsistent with the principles of ecologically sound diving. I don't mind seeing a shark on a dive -- it's in its habitat, and so am I. But deliberately attracting huge schools of sharks in circumstances calculated to induce a feeding frenzy is completely different.

First -- moralistic questions about whether a diver is "asking for it" aside -- it's an established fact that shark feeding behavior is different in a frenzy. True, there is no evidence that sharks seek out people as food. But that misses the point: the shark that killed the Austrian diver wasn't seeking out human food, just any food, and the diver conveniently served himself up.

Second -- and more importantly to me -- chumming to attract sharks is like any other diving practice that disrupts the natural marine environment. It's a completely artificial human intervention having nothing to do with observing a marine animal in its natural habitat, but rather a selfish manipulation of feeding behaviors just so divers can get a particular kind of fix. If somebody figured out a way to divert the migratory routes of humpback whales so divers could get a closer look, most of the diving community (and non-diving community) would freak out. Or, maybe to be a bit silly about it, if we moved part of a coral reef to a place more convenient to established diving spots, there would be an outcry. How is it really any different with intervening in the behaviors of sharks?

 

[pescador775]

It doesn't take much to stir up sharks, even those greys and blacktips seen in the Bahamas. I've been bumped and stalked repeatedly by those things after spearing one little ol' fish. It's lucky I still have all my parts. I don't remember it being that way decades ago, not at all. Either their food supply is short or they are becoming trained attack dogs thanks to the rubes who are paying the big bucks for a cheap thrill.

 

[bobmaggi]

please see another long thread about this accident under accidents section-- it goes on for 23 pages and 200+ posts. Many questions here will be answered there, by those of us who have been on his shark trips.

MODERATOR, can these 2 threads be combined? Thanks Maggi

 

[MauiScubaSteve]

Here is another article about the incident...Shark-dive boat operator in a tight spot - 02/27/2008 - MiamiHerald.com


From the article

She also said Sunday's incident could lead Bahamian authorities to forbid Abernethy from leading shark-feeding dive excursions there. It's already illegal off Florida's coast. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission banned shark dives with chum baiting in 2001 -- sending operators like Abernethy toward the Bahamas.

Another misleading article - Florida's law only extends 3 miles off shore (State Waters). Capt. Slate in Key Largo was one of the main reasons for the law, with notorious advertising videos of him feeding barracuda and green morays with small fish held by the tail in his teeth. The funny thing was, none of Capt. Slates dive sites are within 3 miles of shore, so the law had little effect other than free publicity. Did Abernethy move from Florida after '01, or just operators like him? Where was the dive site location, is it in Bahamian controlled waters (3 miles out)?

 

[Hetland]

A man is dead and some of you guys find it necessary to make lawyer jokes? Pretty sad.....

 

[pescador775]

A person would have to be pretty motivated to read 23 pages about a common shark attack. You need to pause to consider how many attacks have come and gone without one single sentence being written other than "missing, presumed lost".

 

[deepblueme]

Funny thing about this feed/human conditioning thing some of these posters are talking about.

I worked as a feeder on a Eel Feed and a Shark Feed dive program at 2 different islands.
We would do the Eel feed in the afternoon, when we dove that site with out food bags we saw the normal amount of fish for a similar site.
Same thing for the Shark feed site, NO sharks there unless we had food.
I even dove on the Bahamas Unexso&Stuart Cove Feed site multipal times, without food NO sharks.

So where is the proof that feeding makes them conditioned to humans?

sad to hear someone dies but that is sad anytime, he knew what he was getting into.

 

[Rockhound76]

I've been away a while and should know better than to jump in, BUT....

1)If a diver loses his life on the Doria, he does it because he understands the risk. The same goes for a participant in a shark dive that OPENLY states these animals will be drawn in by chumming. I've gone on open water shark dives, sans baiting, and think they are great experiences. These are magnificant animals worthy of our protection.

2) Outside of the loss of a HUMAN BEING who knowingly took a risk that cost him his lift, I DO have an issue with the practice of feeding wild animals in general. While I know of no shark studies on this subject, it is well known and documented with a number of land animals that human interaction like this DOES have an effect on behavior. Studies I've seen referenced big predatory land mammals like bears and big cats and even big grazing animals like elk and deer.

In my area, several years ago, an elderly man was gored to death by a buck deer in rut, a animal that neighbors had (acecdotal presumption) conditioned to be fearless due to their practice of putting out deer licks and feeders. In my own neighborhood, I had a buck "huf" at me and paw the ground when I came out one morning. Even as I rushed at it yelling (to clear the yard for my kids), it stood it's ground and shook it's antlers at me.

3) Sharks IN GENERAL are not "man-eaters", particularly warm-water sharks in the gulf of mexico and caribean, even large sharks like tigers. Big mammals aren't part of their normal diet and barring a behavioral change influenced by chumming, they do not associate big mammals (US) as food, but as potential predators. Their immediate response to a diver is avoidance, except in special places, like the Flower Gardens, where other behaviors take precedence (halocline/thermocline gatherings in hammerheads and mating "requiems" in silkies. "Shark attacks" in the gulf/caribean are, by in large , dueto low-viz or "excitement" hits while these animals are feeding on other things, like baitfish or BAIT. Once they bite, however, their instinct to tear away a chunk no matter what it is, even if it's a chunk of someone's calf. That's why so many hits on swimmers along the Florida coast are "hit and runs". This does not hold true, however, in areas where big mammals are part of the diet, i.e., Hawaii, the West Coasts (US and Australia), etc.

4) The lawyer jokes are beyond my comprehension. This man left behind a family and many friends. His loss will also haunt everyone on the boat that day.

5) I take issue with the "shark" killing the diver. I've yet to read the examiner's report (is it out?), but would not be surprised to learn that his calf wound was survivable and that the cause of death was an embolism from a panic ascent.

 

[paradicio]

I am sorry to the family of the man who lost his life. I am equally sorry that we do not have the same sort of media buzz around the millions of sharks that are killed by man every year. I am sorry that I cannot turn on my local news channel every day and have it shoved in my face and the face of everyone else that in the past half century we have decimated 90% of the worlds shark population. I am sorry that a shark can have it's fins cut off while it is still alive and then be kicked off a boat back into the ocean to die a slow and painful death. I am sorry that we pour blood and fish parts into the ocean to attract an apex predator, and then expect that predator not to associate our presence with food. I am sorry that this is what we have become.

 

[rawls]

I am sorry to the family of the man who lost his life. I am equally sorry that we do not have the same sort of media buzz around the millions of sharks that are killed by man every year. I am sorry that I cannot turn on my local news channel every day and have it shoved in my face and the face of everyone else that in the past half century we have decimated 90% of the worlds shark population. I am sorry that a shark can have it's fins cut off while it is still alive and then be kicked off a boat back into the ocean to die a slow and painful death. I am sorry that we pour blood and fish parts into the ocean to attract an apex predator, and then expect that predator not to associate our presence with food. I am sorry that this is what we have become

Chalk up one for the sharks...Good riddance...