Suspension of all diving and watersports activities in Sharm el Sheikh

[peterbj7]

All sounds pretty sensible to me. Are they doing anything active to catch the shark concerned, as opposed to every shark alive in the Red Sea?

 

[DandyDon]

Stories like this one keep suggesting feeding for tourism and with dead lifestock as the instigator: The Sharm Shark mystery: Why are the attacks happening? - Telegraph

Excerpting...

A ship carrying sheep from Australia is also a prime suspect, after it tossed carcasses and waste into the sea as it voyaged up the Red Sea. With such a powerful sense of smell, sharks from 100 miles away could have been attracted by the ship - whose owners are facing possible litigation from the Egyptian government - according to Mr Burgess.

When the meat dried up, the sharks would have struggled to find food because of a dearth of tuna, their favoured prey, probably as a result of overfishing.

 

[Crowley]

Stories like this one keep suggesting feeding for tourism and with dead lifestock as the instigator: The Sharm Shark mystery: Why are the attacks happening? - Telegraph

Excerpting...

I think it's likely. I am told that the population of Tiger sharks in the area rose dramatically when the dumping of livestock happened several years ago (would need to check dates; DiveBunnie might know better) and also, sadly, the 2003 plane crash.

Overfishing and fish feeding - I originally posted a speculative example of what a fish feeding snorkeller looks like from below, but apparently none of the victims were engaged in this. Overfishing removing the natural food source could be another obvious factor; but actually it wouldn't take a longimanus long to find some pretty sizeable snapper, tuna, trevallies and barracuda. The thing is that fish feeding and overfishing are common to sharm - the dumping of carcasses is not. I suspect that there are several causative factors but I think that people are leaning towards the dead sheep theory, plus a lack of natural prey. The shark returned to the area to find something floating at the surface, arms and legs akimbo, and snagged the wrong animal... maybe.

We will never know for sure unless a common sequence of events resulting in a shark attack re-occurs. Sadly, with the best will in the world, I suspect that like so very often in Egypt, all of these activities will be dealt with for a few months and then people will start to forget, everything will become lax, there will be a turnover in staff, the rules will get forgotten and then one day it will all happen again.

Take it easy,

C.

 

[peterbj7]

What was the plane crash in 2003?

 

[Crowley]

an aeroplane crashed in 2004 (not 2003 sorry that was a typo). There's a monument at Ras Umm El Sid to the victims. I don't have many details but most of the deceased were French. I remember watching a video of the crash on the news because I had been on vacation here a few weeks before.

I just googled and found this BBC report: BBC NEWS | Middle East | Egypt plane crash claims 148 lives

With respect to shark prescence - I have only second hand information but it's not a new story and I believe the people who have related it to me.

C.

 

[Daggad]

If the mad shark is mistaking swimmers for sheep then its time to shave those legs..

I hope the OWT with the damaged fin is found, and that they kill it. Anything else is madness. It is great that it has an easily indentifiable mark on it.

 

[Tigerman]

Well, weve seen how that easily identifieable mark has helped so far. Theive killed lots of sharks, but not that one..

 

[Christian]

Well, weve seen how that easily identifieable mark has helped so far. Theive killed lots of sharks, but not that one..

Where do you find information suggesting that a lot of sharks have been killed (besides the Mako and the OWT)?

 

[Christian]

Hey Crowly

I'm interested in what the industry people in Sharm say about the dead sheep theory, which apparently has surfaced as the main explanation for attracting sharks to the area. Has anyone found or seen dead animal bodies floating around?

When it was first brought up, it sounded kind of rumorish to me.

cheers

 

[Ayisha]

Where do you find information suggesting that a lot of sharks have been killed (besides the Mako and the OWT)?

...Any and every shark seen is being killed regardless of species or even where its found. Its effectively open season on sharks and no end of private fishermen going out to kill whatever they can find as well due to bounties being offered.

There are dead white tips, makos, reef sharks and everything else being "proudly" caught everywhere.

The very animals people pay to come and see are now being wiped out over a massive area (pretty much all of the red sea) due to this uncontrolled reaction.

Due to the photographic evidence its been confirmed that none of the sharks caught (6+ officially, probably many more) are the ones responsible for the attacks.
CDWS and HEPCA appear toothless and completely unable to stop or control this.

String said there were at least 6 sharks caught and killed way back...