They wouldn't let us finish playing Cowboys and
Neighbors.......
I will bet I spend more time in the ocean than 99% of the world population. I've seen and dealt with PLENTY of sharks while spearfishing for the last 20 years, in many places all over the earth. I can say- I have been attacked 3 times now by sharks looking to take fish off me.
With this said, I don't like to see sharks taken when there is no use of the shark. I don't mind them being killed, culled, etc. I do not mind them being taken for food, not at all.
I just do not like finning. If they would utilize the whole fish, then I would be quite ok with it.
Now; onto DANGEROUS sharks. We got a couple in Ca. -You simply really never see them. While I have seen GWS, it has always been from the boat; never while in the water. Have speared makos, threshers, leapord sharks and others for food.
Have defended myself from duskies, tigers, and bulls. No meat was taken. Just eliminated.
Now, in the case of the tiger shark that stalked me. I was shooting smaller fish in Hawaii; using a gun with only a 48"x9/32" shaft, and 2 power bands. The shark was around 15FEET. The gun was a non-issue, the only thing to do was make it to the boat ASAP. That shark just swam off. But, had he been there on the beach stalking people? I would have no issue with the removal of that shark.
With sharks like the ones they are dealing with in Australia; like any other predator, they get a feeding pattern set up. They most certainly DO over time learn from other shark's behavior and mimic. (I am quite certain they are not intelligent enough to 'teach and learn' each other. But they do mimic what they observe and SMELL.)
The only way to effectively break a pattern that forms is to remove some of the offending animals, and the pattern is broken. In the case of bears; if a momma bear teaches her 2 cubs to raid trash? All 3 will forever be a problem. When an alpha wolf learns to selectively target cattle and sheep rather than deer and elk? The whole pack will be taught to hunt together and will wind up needing all said animals removed to end the problem.
BUT- if you can cull a single bear, before it teaches 3 or 4 other bears what it is doing, you break the cycle. Whilst a shark does not 'teach' another shark, their sensory receptacles DO get the story of what is happening. They can feel the 'energy' put off by another feeding GWS, and they can certainly smell the blood in the water, and will associate this with feeding activity. If they get this pattern set up, and wired into them?? They will be looking for food sources. And if there are no seals or small whales in the area? They will attempt to feed on the next available offering. In W.A. this means people.
Kill a half dozen big sharks in the general area, and you will remove some of the fish and over time, you will break the feeding association cycle.[/QUOTE
rojodiablo-
You have an interesting point, and I think you are correct, although I think some shark species, like the White, CAN observe and learn, although they don't teach,
per se, which I think is your point. But they can sure play "monkey see, monkey do." IF a shark sees humans attacked and realizes that they are a food source, I do think that swimmers and divers are in more danger.
I also believe in the "rogue shark" theory, in which a particular shark begins attacking humans and continues to target them. I think this may be what caused the muliple attacks in Matawan, NJ in 1916. If the shark moved on down the coast, people might never realize that one shark was causing many attacks. In some primitive areas of the world, some shark attacks are probably never reported to authorities. Thy never make it to the official Shark Attack File.
The keeper of that file was called to Egypt after several attacks there which were hurting the tourism business. I read the article in, "Playboy" that covered this series of attacks and his findings. In that case, a ship from New Zealand (?) was dumping the remains of dead sheep overboard and sharks began feeding on those and this may have brought them in close to the beaches where they attacked the swimmers.
BTW, I have enountered shark attacks in as little as three feet of water. It was very sobering to see the video of the Blue that was literally right off the beach in Wales this summer. Its long pectoral fins were almost touching the sand!
Rule 3-
You are probably thinking of bear threads. Those are weekly here. Shark threads are more like bi-monthly.
Actually, I think this is only the third or fourth on the board.
We could do a snake thread? Some teen in Australia was bitten this week by an Inland Taipan. He made it to hospital, where he is in critical condition. Doctors say that it was a miracle that he will probably survive. The snake was much further east than usual, if the species diagnosis was correct.
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