Tiger shark encounter - what would you have done?

[cmcloughlin]

Last year on a pre lobster season recon dive in shallow water, 12-15 ft, about a quarter mile off the beach, my friend and I had a hairy encounter. I have seen a few bull sharks and hammerheads, but this was by far the biggest and chunkiest, estimated at 10ft long and about 3-4 feet in diameter.

It went like this: We dropped in and right in front of me was a nice red grouper just looking at me. Bam, pole spear in the head, into the bag he went. A few minutes later, he was joined with his buddy, a few minutes later a nice snapper, followed by a couple of sheepshead.

Looked to the side and about twenty feet to the left was mr. tiger shark, swimming right along with us. I signal my buddy and his eyes about bulged out of his head. Together we looked like a big object, and the shark moved out to about thirty feet away and started circling us. He was keeping his distance and I felt secure on the bottom, but with 700 psi left, it was time to get outta there.




We were about a hundred yards away from my anchored boat with my wife in it, and we needed to surface to get a fix to navigate back. So I signaled my buddy and I surfaced while he watched my back, with a pole spear and a three prong paralyzer gig tip. Located the boat, got a bearing and dropped back down. Shark closing in, now circling at twenty feet.
My dilemna was should i cut loose the fish, or hang on to it until we were ready to board the boat. I figured that the shark would gulp down my fish as an appetizer, and possibly get agressive, and with no more fish to feed it, well you know what would come next. Mind you that in the process of subduing the fish with the pole spear, I


was covered in slime and blood, and probably gave off more scent than the bag of fish. So i decided to hold on to the bag and cut it loose at the right moment.


We were tooling along at the course set to the boat, praying we would see the anchor line. Well, we didnt, and it was time to pop up again. So we did, and we passed the boat, now we were thirty yard past, so I yelled to my wife to tie off the anchor line to a life jacket, toss it, fire up the boat, and come get us. I didnt tell her why. By this
time the shark was circling about 15 feet away, and was occaisionally coming in a little closer. We saw the boat and it was our time to surface. My buddy signaled for me to go first, so at the surface I opened the bag, and shook the fish towards the shark.

The fish slid down right in front of the shark, but he didnt locate them, then in a flash he snatched the bag sinking toward the bottom about ten feet from me, shook it to pieces like a pit bull with a toy poodle, spit it out and zoomed right up to us and
stopped. He looked pissed.

I shot out of the water onto the platform like a missile while my friend had the spear inches form the sharks nose. He then launched up, getting his body about half way
into the outboard splash well, with his legs flapping at the surface. My wife grabbed his bc and was trying to pull him in. But a hundred pound woman is not going to pull in a big 225lb guy with full gear on. He was screaming for help. I rolled into the boat, grabbed onto him, and pulled him in.


We did not see the shark again, it did not surface.


So, does anyone have any suggestions (besides not spearfishing)? Should I have cut

loose the fish at first, poked him in the nose with the Spear? I reckoned that the spear would just piss him off and make things worse.

In retrospect, I was awed by the shark, and was not really afraid. I was heavily concerned however, and just wanted to make the right decision. My buddy is now

armed to the teeth with powerheads in case of a similar encounter, but I would not want to kill an awesome, beautiful, magnificent creature like this just because he was curious or a little hungry. Of course if it was me or him, well, shark stakes for everyone.


What would you have done?

Hindsight is always 20/20
You and your buddy made it out in one piece, so you did ok.
I enjoy spear fishing, and would not give it up. But, I don't use scuba when hunting.
I like being quick and agile, so free-diving is the way to go for me.
I use a RIB inflatable and will arrive at the site at low slack tide (usually a rock formation 1 mile off the coast of Rhode Island), the incoming tide brings fish. I also don't use a bag. I wait for the one fish I want (hopefully a stripped Bass), spear it, and
plop it into the boat.
Its easy to become disoriented in the water. I would work on my underwater navigation, so I don't have to surface to find the boat. Boat traffic could be a bigger hazard then sharks. I remember once in twenty feet of water, looking up and seeing
the 5 ft deep keel of a sailboat going by. Most boaters don;t have clue what a dive flag is.
Chris

 

[shooter226]

I'm not real big on giving them my fish. Main reason being that I don't want them to become conditioned to the idea that divers = easy food.

I agree. We are the top of the foodchain on this planet! If the shark does'nt leave you alone, kill it. If you are spearing you should have protection with you.

 

[Santa]

i wouldn't try shooting a tiger, that's for sure, though... all you'd do is piss it off
QUOTE]



I have no experience with tigers, but can you actually "piss off" a shark? Doesn't it take a little more than sharkbrains to produce vengeful feelings?

 

[H2Andy]

I have no experience with tigers, but can you actually "piss off" a shark? Doesn't it take a little more than sharkbrains to produce vengeful feelings?

what an interesting question... i guess biologically speaking, getting shot
in the head will produce one of two reactions (assuming the shark does not
immediately die or become incapacitated):

1. holy crap! run away!

2. holy crap! kill it before it kills you!


and it is this second option that i, in a moment of jovial mirth, mischaracterized
as "pissing off the shark"

if it results in parts of your body going missing, then it doesn't really matter
to me if the shark is really pissed off or not, as it were :14:

 

[Santa]

My primary course of action would be to soil myself and hope the shark finds that smell offensive.

yeah. Hate to think of the reverse.

 

[Santa]

if it results in parts of your body going missing, then it doesn't really matter
to me if the shark is really pissed off or not, as it were :14:

Aye but I'm questioning (in all joviality) whether it would come back to haunt you at all - unless it was just biting the bullet to get to the meal, which would not imply a change of heart.

let's say a great white took a bite out of a lesser tiger - would retalliation really be a great darwinistic tactic?

My guess is that some species of predator may have that kind of 'kill it before it kills you instinct' but that it would have to be directly linked to the common survival parameters for that species.

I also figure distance would be a factor. One thing is a bite that is an immediate reaction to a close and identifiable stressor - that would imitate normal social behaviour for many species (like say pink poodles).

If you shoot a shark at 10 metres however my guess is it may not even realize that the pain is connected to you but react to the total situation in a much more general or primitive way.

Maybe I'm just hoping for safety where none can be found ;0) Anyone know anything about this?

regards

 

[Tom Winters]

I don't condone spearing while on scuba - for 10 years in Hawaii, a speargun never crossed the gunwales of my boats, but my wife likes to shoot for the table. What she does is carry a couple of inflatable sausages with those stainless steel fish stringers that look like giant safety pins. After she shoots, and I'll give her credit for only shooting decent-sized fish and not sandwich meat, she skewers the open end of the stringer through the fish head, inflates the sausage, and gets it the hell out of there. It's easy enough to snag on the surface.
You have to be nuts to carry shot fish with you underwater. Years ago, a guy I knew was shooting at night off Oahu and just had his bag disappeared from his hip in the dark. Nothing hit him, he never saw anything - something just took it nice and slick.

 

[H2Andy]

If you shoot a shark at 10 metres

hmmm... can you shoot that far away (that's about 30 feet, right?)

i thought you have to be within 10, 12 feet, at most, to be able to shoot them?

 

[Jim Lapenta]

No fish is worth my life or safety. Drop the bag and if you want fish that bad stop at long john's or go to the counter in the supermarket.I understand the challenge of the hunt and the chase. the thrill of fresh blood on your hands and a large gut pile. I gave up hunting 10 yrs ago but still love venison.I just don't need to kill it myself. I still surf fish on occaision but more for the relaxation than the catch. My goal was to always catch a large shark. Until I got to snorkel with a 9 ft bull in the keys. It was just passing through and paid no attention to us. The grace and power it displayed as it moved through the water was enough to dispell the dream of catching one. One of my goals before my dive career is over is to go to guadaloupe island to dive with a great white. In a cage of course but I would still love to see one in it's environment on it's own turf. That is the key. It's their turf!! We are the invaders. To be so arrogant to state that we are at the top of the food chain is nonsense. Maybe in the city. But in the oceans they are at the top just as in africa on the open savannah it's the lion, or the tiger in India. No they are the apex predators, safe divers remember and respect that. And plan accordingly. Once in awhile a person is going to get taken out. That is a price we must realize may be paid for entering an alien environment.

 

[cudachaser]

Supposedly a Tiger will not attack if eye contact is made between the Tiger and the potential prey...A world renown Marine biologist told me that (Dr Grant Gilmore).