Suspension of all diving and watersports activities in Sharm el Sheikh

[vladimir]

A Google search confirms that the most famous Five Mile Reef for scuba diving is the one in Sodwana. Here are some others that came up--some fishing sites and some dive sites--including one in the Red Sea:

Five Mile Reef in Australia:
Scuba diving: 5 Mile Reef, Australia
Five Mile Reef in NZ:
Absolute carnage at 5 Mile Reef - The Fishing Website Forums - Page 1
Five Mile Reef in Florida:
Marco Island 5 Mile Reef Charts, Maps, Marine Weather Forecast, and Real Time Bouy Reports
Five Mile Reef in the Red Sea:
SAUDI ARABIA
DESERT SEA DIVERS 12TH ANNUAL UW CLEAN-UP DAY:

 

[divebunnie]

I agree with Christian... there is no official, or organised shark feeding here in Sharm, so I can't imagine that this could be behaviour learned by the shark. This would have to have been a regular occurrence for it to have learned about the location of food. Maybe it did swim up from South Africa, as they are pelagic creatures, however with their amazing senses I would imagine they would only go for the back pack if they could smell fish.

What had been happening (apparently) was the tossing of chicken and other similar stuff over board in the hope of attracting bigger fish (again completely illegal, hence done on the sly so to speak). What had also been happening was the feeding of smaller fish which would have created a small feeding frenzy which it is believed may have attracted the shark into the shallows.

As the tourists begin to return, I only hope that people have had a little time to think long and hard about their previous actions, and that those who apparently have been allowing possibly even encouraging such behaviour, and those who have been fishing the waters illegally have finally learned some kind of lesson from this tragedy. The rules were put there for a reason...

 

[vladimir]

If you read the full article at Undercurrent (I believe it is accessible to non-subscribers), it seems pretty clear from quotes like this:

The scientists' recommendation was to kill that shark (along with the video, a photo of the same shark at another attack site marked it as the culprit). "Unfortunately, you can't untrain the shark, so you have to catch and kill it," says Collier. "And stop feeding reef fish, because their agitated signals when food comes are picked up by sharks."Red Sea authorities said they will now energetically enforce the no-feeding law, and any diver caught feeding a shark gets a fine of up to US$10,000.

that they are referring to behavior learned in the Red Sea. But read it yourself and see if you agree. It also seems that whatever laws there are against fish feeding were not "energetically enforced."

 

[Christian]

A Google search confirms that the most famous Five Mile Reef for scuba diving is the one in Sodwana. Here are some others that came up--some fishing sites and some dive sites--including one in the Red Sea:

Five Mile Reef in Australia:
Scuba diving: 5 Mile Reef, Australia
Five Mile Reef in NZ:
Absolute carnage at 5 Mile Reef - The Fishing Website Forums - Page 1
Five Mile Reef in Florida:
Marco Island 5 Mile Reef Charts, Maps, Marine Weather Forecast, and Real Time Bouy Reports
Five Mile Reef in the Red Sea:
SAUDI ARABIA
DESERT SEA DIVERS 12TH ANNUAL UW CLEAN-UP DAY:

Florida and Australia or Saudi ... I think that sound ridiculous if they are seriously considering that as an explanation for what happened. If the bitten woman was wearing a fanny pack, yes, but altered behavior. Come on.

 

[Christian]

If you read the full article at Undercurrent (I believe it is accessible to non-subscribers), it seems pretty clear from quotes like this:



that they are referring to behavior learned in the Red Sea. But read it yourself and see if you agree. It also seems that whatever laws there are against fish feeding were not "energetically enforced."

I did read it and it was a disappointment. Especially Burgess's comments. Almost get the impression that he's just a desk guy with very little "real" experience of sharks or other animals...

To alter a behavior of an animal you need to train it, which means repetition with the same individual. There are certainly sporadic baiting and perhaps even feeding of sharks going on in the Red Sea (I know there is in Sudan) and there used to be on Rocky Island and outside Port Safaga (many years ago) but nothing that organized and regular that it can alter the behavior of a shark. That said, you can of course attract them with bait or food, which radically can make a situation more dangerous. But it has nothing do with altered behavior. It's capitalizing on their natural behavior.