Sharm El Sheikh Shark Attack - rumour control

[Crowley]

I think the danger should of course be talked about - that's what I am doing - I want people to know what's happening and what they should be doing about it. I am directly affected by this, after all, and have spent a lot of time posting about the situation - I don't see that as burying my head in the sand.

The photo of the sea turning red with blood looks to me like a reflection of the guy on the pontoon wearing a red t-shirt... THAT is the sort of false impression that sells papers and makes people believe that what they are reading is the truth.

I don't disagree with some of what is written - what I disagree with is the way it is written - the media exists to sell itself and a gory horror story is a much better read than, for example, the plain facts, which tend to get in the way.

Sharks are in the water - and since the big oceanic thought to be responsible is still at large, I would advise people not to go swimming in Sharm at the moment - despite warnings, people are trying to do it anyway. There have been persistent problems which may have led to the attacks - and a lot of people are to blame for that - including the tourists themselves who flagrantly ignore the law, as well as the authorities who have allowed it to happen.

Saying that people should have been warned there were sharks in the sea is like stepping in bear poo and complaining nobody warned them that bears do, indeed, visit the lavatory in the woods.

The attacks do not represent typical shark behaviour and it would be great if we could figure out exactly what caused it so no, I don't want to bury heads in sand; I want it to be open and honest and try to figure out a way forward - exactly like the local authorities have done in the last week.

The article written is factually inaccurate in places, and once again portrays sharks as mindless killing machines - and suggests the authorities are trying to keep it all quiet - they have done the opposite and kept everybody informed. Nobody wanted this to happen, but articles like this are doing nobody any favours. Should we take a holiday in the Mediterranean instead? There are great whites in the Med - or did people not know that either?

Cheers

C.

 

[FranksWildYears]

Hi Daggad, Ras Bob, Montazah, end of private beach

 

[Ayisha]

Very interesting article:

Sharm El Sheik's shark attack victims speak about their ordeals | Mail Online

It is interesting that in the photo of the warning sign on the beach, the sign states to avoid swimming in "deep water" due to the threat of sharks, but most of the bites occurred in very shallow water, didn't they?

The South Sinai government would be wise to put signs on all beaches and jetties simply stating to avoid swimming. In fact, all beaches should have signs all the time to the effect that swimming is at your own risk - just in case people don't realize that sharks, eels, rays, etc., live in there.

 

[oceJANic]

most of the bites occurred in very shallow water, didn't they?

As I understand both from the victims' accounts ( quote from the interview: "At the end of the pontoon there was a sharp depth increase and the colour of the sea gets a much darker blue, almost black. I swam into this, and by the time I saw the shark it was too late. It came from the deep and was the same dark black colour as the sea.") and from the photos with the jetty out into the deep water zone, they were not swimming in the shallow,sandy bottom area of Na'ama Bay, but at the edge of the deep(er) water zone.

 

[bracko]

if the waters are anything like Dahab the shore drops off in very steeply...

crazy stories :/

 

[Solly]

The area has a long reef surface and sudden depth increase. No accident to my knowledge occured over a sandy bottom, it was all near the end of a jetty bypassing the reef top to the blue

 

[Daggad]

he South Sinai government would be wise to put signs on all beaches and jetties simply stating to avoid swimming. In fact, all beaches should have signs all the time to the effect that swimming is at your own risk - just in case people don't realize that sharks, eels, rays, etc., live in there.

I agree. And as you say Crowley there are even great whites in the mediterranean sea. Not to speak of South Africa and Australia. but people are still swimming in these oceans.
But the resort owners and travel agents should make it clear for tourists that the Red Sea contains dangerous sharks and that accidents do occour.
I have asked about sharks in Sharm earlier but the answer has always been "no no they are further south" or "our sharks are not dangerous". I spoke however with an egyptian ex-commercial fisherman on a fishing trip off Hurghada and he told me they where seeing some big sharks a few years earlier. He also showed me pictures of these. One was a big tiger shark. The others I think was OWT's but I am not sure. He explained this was about a 2 hour drive south of Hurghada.

I do not think the tourist industry will loose anything from being open about it. It is natural. No other tropical oceans are shark-free.

 

[Jai Bar]

No other tropical oceans are shark-free.

Sharks abound in all the seas, whether tropical or not. Wherever there is a sea- there are plenty of sharks in it. In many coasts with Bull/Zambezi sharks- there are sharks in the rivers too.

Most people just don't realize that when they enter the water there are likely to be sharks in the "near area" (for a shark, swimming a couple of miles is really not a concern). The relatively small of shark attacks throughout the world, taking into account their abundance, just proves that sharks are not as dangerous as their are depicted in movies (e.g. "Jaws", the worst thing that probably happened to sharks, excluding the Chinese fin soup) and in the over-dramatic BBC news...

Sure, it is not consoling for the victims and their families, but there are by far (in orders of magnitude!) more annual casualties from more dangerous animals: mosquitoes, bees, hippopotamuses, domestic dogs, etc etc and the most deadly of all- homo sapiens (leading by far even the fleas that caused the black disease in middle ages...)

Comparing the tens of millions of sharks killed annually for the soup industry and the dozens of humans attacked by sharks, it is probably the shark who should run for his life upon encountering a human being...

 

[Daggad]

Sharks abound in all the seas

Yes they are but normaly not dangerous in colder waters. The Great White likes cooler water (but not as cold as in Norway where I live...) We have lots of Sharks in our ocean, and some big ones, but these are all harmless. The quite common Porbeagle looks like a Mako and is even called Fako i read !
Sharks are facinating creatures and should of course be protected. But the tourists of Sharm should also be protected from dangerous sharks claimed not to be natural in these waters. And if the solution is to hunt them down then I think this is what should be done.

 

[Crowley]

But the tourists of Sharm should also be protected from dangerous sharks claimed not to be natural in these waters. And if the solution is to hunt them down then I think this is what should be done.

Never met anybody here who did not admit the prescence of sharks - but then I don't see the tourist side of the resort. Species sighted naturally in the area include Oceanic white tips, Mako, Grey Reef, white tip reef, whale sharks, Blacktips, Leopard/Zebra sharks (depends on the book you read), Tigers, Silkies and possibly the odd silvertip. Nobody has actually seen a Tiger in Sharm for a few years now, but for sure they appear in the area from time to time.

Also - with respect to the water temperature - it varies between as warm as 30 degrees and as low as 18 - although the minimum and maximum I have seen is 22 - 29. Samaka has a good theory on the cyclical nature of the Red Sea and I would be inclined to agree. If one has gone rogue as per my earlier speculation then yes, I think it is right that this is removed from the area, but as this whole tragedy has unfolded it would appear there are other factors that need to be controlled, not simply the sharks who are, after all, doing what comes naturally to them - although as I have often repeated, this is not typical behaviour for any shark species.

A friend saw a longimanus today - not confirmed if it is "the" female thought to be responsible for the attack but it was checking out the divers for a good few minutes. Nobody has been eaten.

Yes, people need to be informed, but to my knowledge it's never been kept a secret - more than anything, shark attacks have not been given much thought because they are so very rare here.

Still waiting to see what happens... made difficult now because work is so down due to hype and fear that I have had yet another day off.

Cheers

C.