Sharks Attacks

[Islander]

Sharks

The latest snake threads here seem to be faring well, drawing considerable interest. It's a change of pace from bear topics...

What about sharks? Thought of this because the new, Playboy arrived and has a major story on the recent attacks at an Egyptian resort. (I haven't read it yet. It should be on newsstands now.)

I've followed shark attacks and sharks in general since I was a pre-teen, and have about eight or ten books on the subject. I think I have a pretty clear idea of which species are routinely dangerous, and which are sometimes implicated.

What are your thoughts on sharks? I know the arguments about most of them not munching on people and how even Great Whites sometimes mouth a person and proceed no further, apparently because they want more blubber on their prey. But even an exploratory bite by one of those behemoths may prove fatal or permanently disfiguring.

Please, no comments from people who say they aren't worried by them because they never go into the ocean, so the issue doesn't affect them. That won't add anything useful to the discussion.

Some of you guys go deep sea fshing. Do you encounter sharks? Have you seen any act aggressively? Any SCUBA divers here? If you visit beaches, do you swim there? Do you fish in the surf?

Anyone have photos to post that meet copyright guidelines here?

T-Star

Hi T- Star
I worked commercial fishing most of my youth first gill netting kingfish off the coast of Florida I watched thousands of big sharks over the years. They do not seem to really want to eat people they love kingfish though especially the ones caught in our net. I have dove in the water with them all around to clear net out of the propeller Iam still here to talk about it granted I was doing my best to become part of the prop shaft while under there. Also I shrimped all over the gulf of mexico they also love shrimp mostly the ones in our tail bag they make a metal net that gets sewn over the tail bag to prevent the sharks from tearing holes in it. They would follow the shrimp boat all night long the biggest would hang back aways in the morning when we cull out the last tow and throw the trash or by catch back in the would boil all around the boat eating everything that hit the water. If you want to watch sharks go to Galveston and volunteer to work on a shrimp boat for a couple of days you will get to see plenty of sharks.
Regards
Bob

 

[sheriffoconee]

I have been in the water with sharks several times...but one event stands out....
In the early 80's I went to a SWAT school at Camp LeJeune NC for two weeks...(actually, it was a "the Marines killed us over and over again school, but I digress)....we trained on base, but stayed in a series of condos near the beach..and one night, fueled by many cans of what was then new "Bud light" (it was cheap) several of us went to the beach....while in the water a shark swam by....I grabbed his tail and threw him up on the beach...I don't know why now, other than it seemed like a good idea at the time...my companions thought I was crazy as this shark tried to turn and bite me as I grabbed him....
an hour later I recovered his now dead corpse, and folded him up in a freezer and flew him home (TSA didn't exist then, he flew home in my luggage wrapped in plastic.)
He was slightly over 5 feet.....
I don't know if he would have bit anyone or not, but he was close enough for me to reach out and grab in waist deep water....and that was too close for me....

 

[Iggy]

I'm thinkin' that at 6400 feet above sea level, I'm almost fur enuff.....

 

[CAJUNLAWYER]

Well all I know is THIS fat boy don't go swimming in de ocean I stay in the boat and the shark stays in the water.
It appears that swiming at dusk is a bad idea as that is the time when the bull sharks like to feed.

 

[Texas Star]

Well all I know is THIS fat boy don't go swimming in de ocean I stay in the boat and the shark stays in the water.
It appears that swiming at dusk is a bad idea as that is the time when the bull sharks like to feed.

Dusk is indeed a major feeding time for most shark species.
And don't forget that those bull sharks (C. leucas) swim far up some major rivers, inc. the Mississippi.

One that measured over 13 feet was caught in a river in South Africa. Until TV angler Jeremy Wade showed up and started catching big sharks there, the locals had swum in the river. They weren't too thrilled when he released the sharks back into the river, but he had agreed to do so in some biology program with a university. The sharks were known to be there, and frequently steal fish from anglers. I guess the size of them was what startled residents.