Sharks Attacks

[Texas Star]

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

 

[turnerriver]

We were snorkeling off a reef in the Bahamas when an 8 foot blacktip shark started to display behavior that reminded me of a dog getting worked up.The shark's whole body shook,it stiffened it's tail & fins & it was moving rapidly toward us in tighter & tighter loops while continuing the aggressive behavior. We were able to get up on a small rock that just broke the surface & the charter boat captain came over with a spear gun to escort us back to the boat.The shark ran at him & got close enough for him to hammer it on the snout with the spear gun. It moved off a little but continued to behave aggressively.It was very much about us being in it's territory.I wasn't petrified but I wasn't happy either-I was glad to get back on the boat & the captain was glad none of us were hurt-a distinct possibility, according to the captain.Not exactly a stirring story of man against shark but it was plenty close for me.
Regards,
turnerriver

 

[Maximumbob54]

Great. Now I need a .410 revolver for snakes, a .357 for two legged predators, a .44 magnum for black bears, a .460 for grizzly bears, a .500 for Kodiac bears, and what does it take to lay out a shark in one shot???

 

[jkc]

A bangstick --- most of the calibers mentioned are adequate...

 

[mm6mm6]

I too have have had an interest in sharks since I was 10 in 1975 and I saw Jaws in the theatre. I'm usually in the saltwater during our annual summer vacation. We often go to Florida on both the Atlantic and the Gulf sides and to the Keys and off Miami. Recently we were in the Caribbean as well and this summer we're headed to the Bahamas.

I always think about sharks when I'm in the water, but I never let it worry me to the point of getting out. I love to body surf. I stand up often and try not to make myself look much like a seal or other tasty meal.

My only shark encounter was a few years ago when my family was on an 18' flats fishing boat with my best friend. My wife and daughter needed to jump in the 3' deep water (sandy bottom, right up near where the mangroves reached into the water) to pee.

My friend and I stood up in the bow and looked out at the water to give my wife and daughter a bit of privacy.

About a 5' leopard shark swam slowly by about 12' off the bow. Both its dorsal fin and its tail fin were cutting the water very calmly. He looked bigger than he was.

My wife saw us stiffen even though we didn't say a word. No need to panic the ladies with, "Look! A SHARK right there!"

My wife asked, "What are you two looking at?"

The shark just swam a way gently. We didn't say a thing. Until they were both back in the boat. Then I told them and my wife got a bit nervous. I explained to her that leopard sharks are in the nurse shark family and they're virtually harmless.

Then it swam back by us again. Any fish 5' long doesn't look like fun when my wife is 5'04" and at the time out daughter was well under 5' tall.

After the shark glided away, a stingray about the same darn size came by. My wife really freaked about the stingray even though she was in the boat....

 

[seagill]

I grew up in San Diego and have surfed and body surfed since I was a kid. Never really worried about sharks, I'm more afraid of jellyfish and stingrays. Last week I was at Clearwater beach in water just past my knees when a 4 foot shark swam right by me. Must say it made me take pause for a second.

 

[zoom6zoom]

It's the ones with the laser beams on their heads that you really need to watch out for. And the flying ones.

 

[semperfi71]

I too was fascinated by sharks as a kid, and even now. I try to catch "Shark Week" when it is on.

Interesting is that the "latest" thoughts are that sharks do not like rough physical contact. So, in theory, and supposedly "proven" is that when one is in the water and when the shark(s) arrive, touch them vigorously and they will shy away. I don't know what the plan is if there are a LOT of sharks.

Back in 1977 I was working a construction job in Texas. One of the ironworkers came to work on Monday and had a picture of a 8 foot or so Blue shark he caught off of (I think) Bob Hall Pier in Corpus Christi. His wife wanted him to quit fishing off the pier so he could take her over to the beach to swim. He told her to just swim off from the pier. She was worried about sharks. He said, "Don't worry about that." He was fishing for "any ole thing" with bait. She swam around the head of the pier for about 15 minutes and got out. He caught the shark about 5 minutes later. He also caught "heck" from his wife!!

I used to go surf fishing at night on Padre Island with my Dad. He would wade out into waist deep water to fish. I would wade out into toe deep water...and no more!! I would be deathly afraid of swimming in any ocean and not able to touch the bottom. The thought of a shark coming directly underneath me gives me the heebie-jeebies!!

 

[pilgrim6a]

My story is rather tragic.
About 20 years ago my girlfriend and I were taking a friend's sailboat down to Morehead City. As we would be spending 3 days on the sound, Suzie had to bring along Cletus, her Siamese tomcat.
Now don't get me wrong, I love animals. But Cletus was a vicious sneaky little monster and he didn't like me.
The second day out and we are running with a fair wind when it comes time to jibe. Unknown to me, Cletus is napping in the foot of the mainsail.
Stand by,,, jibe! I pull the boom over, the wind catches the main and POP! Cletus flies 20' through the air and into the briny.
Suzie goes bonkers! I go into a man overboard drill. We are 10 yds away from netting the swimming cat, when CHOMP! Cletus is no more.
I swear on Aunt Gerdie's glass eye. I DID NOT Cat-a-pulte that little monster into the belly of the beast. Susan didn't see it that way. Such is life.
I feel sorry for the shark. I can't see Cletus going down smoothly.

 

[Texas Star]

FYI, a very high percentage of serious shark attacks take place in water less than waist deep.

 

[perrazi]

t-star, i have read that article. it's quite interesting. i won't ruin it for you,but it was caused by stupidity on the part of the locals.

 

[Texas Star]

t-star, i have read that article. it's quite interesting. i won't ruin it for you,but it was caused by stupidity on the part of the locals.

Thanks. I started it this AM, am about a third through it. It's quite good.

The Red Sea is known for shark attacks.

I saw a photo on the Net with a story about one shark being killed by a drunken diver who landed on its head as it circled below him, waiting on a swimmer at night. But a Serbian friend said that it was from some smart-alec blog that she knows of in her country. It was just a satire about the Sharm-al-Sheik attacks, photoshopped. I guess the improbable is best not believed unless proven.

T-Star

 

[35Rem]

Great. Now I need a .410 revolver for snakes, a .357 for two legged predators, a .44 magnum for black bears, a .460 for grizzly bears, a .500 for Kodiac bears, and what does it take to lay out a shark in one shot???

A Glock, cuz they shoot under water...

 

[wood714]

FYI, a very high percentage of serious shark attacks take place in water less than waist deep.

I've been surfing for years, and have meet up with a lot of sharks, and they were all in less than waist deep water. Most between knee to waist deep.

I just go about my business, and have yet to be bit. Have had a couple friends get nibbled on, but nothing serious.

 

[LennyLames]

What are your thoughts on sharks?
T-Star

The soup made from its appendages is delicious, more so if someone else paid for the dish. I remember it being served during a corporate event a few years ago. A colleague of refused to partake in it because of the inhumane way that that fins were harvested. The way it was served, using one large serving bowl per table, meant that whether he ate his share or not did not change the demand for shark fins. So, I ate his portion.

I've had steaks from smaller sharks, but being at the top of the food chain, sharks accumulate carcinogens and toxins, such as methyl mercury and ciguatera. I limit my intake to opportunistic consumption (I might buy it when I see it for sale, but I don't go around looking for it), once every few years.

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?
T-Star

I SCUBA dive occasionally. I have no desire to go on those shark feeding dives, as it is unnatural and results in more unpredictable behavior in sharks. However, knowing that there are sharks nearby does not dissuade me from diving in the water. Once, on a small island called Balicasag Island in the Philippines, a local fisherman caught a 9 foot thresher shark and the locals were slicing it up on the beach. Our guide said that there were other varieties in the waters. I went diving the following day, and the wall diving was well worth it. I only saw one 4 foot reef shark.

Back when I had my Cal 40 sailboat (sold in late 2007 due to family reasons, a sad day in my life), I had it docked in the Florida Keys for easy access to the Bahamas and Cuba. I had seen several sharks in my voyages, including a 4 foot hammerhead in the shallows of Key West, but none of them bothered me. Even when trolling, I never caught a shark. Perhaps the closest was a cleanly sliced steel leader, but I'll never find out what did that. A sea monster, perhaps.

The closest account I have on sharks attacking humans was from a cruising couple that I met in the Bahamas. They related to me how their 20-something daughter had gotten her hand bitten off by a bull shark when she jumped off their sailboat. For those of you that have spent some time in a beautiful anchorage you can relate that one of the most enjoyable things to do is to dive off the bowsprit or even from the end of the boom. Once I heard that story, I never dove of my sailboat again.

For me, the most worrisome fish is not sharks but barracuda. All of the fish that I caught then lost were taken by barracuda. I've seen one attack a dive knife that was dropped in the water (imagine wearing a shiny watch that just happens to reflect the sun's rays in the right direction). I've had a small barracuda attack and hook itself on a lure of the same size. I've suffered cuts in my hand from a small barracuda's bite but I got my revenge by filleting it. And somehow, in most anchorages I've been to, what seems to be the largest barracuda around would station itself underneath, in the shadow of my boat. Could be learned behavior from cruisers dumping fish offal overboard.

 

[Texas Star]

Lenny-

I know that barracuda do hide under boats, but wouldn't eat one. Ciguatera is well known in them. Hadn't heard of it in sharks, but mercury in tuna is well known. I limit my intake of it.

T-Star

 

[wuluf]

Go Sharks!!!

oh, wait, not the Stanley Cup thread?

 

[DeathGrip]

Feeding the sharks while fishing can be a problem down in these parts.It seems that they know the different sounds that a fishing boat makes.Say from trolling to fighting.They also know when your on a drift or using kites.I don't think of them as being dumb,just doing what they were designed to do.

Gold Hammer about 9' long.If it was up to me he'd be swimming still.I've caught Grey Hammers up to 12' purely by accident.(they will steel surface baits!)

 

[mm6mm6]

I was fascinated on Myth Busters when they dropped human blood in a shark tank and the shark completely ignored it. Even went around it.

Then they let a drop of fish blood in the what and the shark changed course and went straight for it!

That was a myth truly busted as it appears that human blood does not smell to a shark's sensitive nose like that of fish blood. Which makes sense if you think about it....

 

[Gasman1972]

I was fascinated on Myth Busters when they dropped human blood in a shark tank and the shark completely ignored it. Even went around it.

Then they let a drop of fish blood in the what and the shark changed course and went straight for it!

That was a myth truly busted as it appears that human blood does not smell to a shark's sensitive nose like that of fish blood. Which makes sense if you think about it....

I've always figured that's why sharks bite people and then move on instead of actually eating people...........we don't taste like fish.

 

[Maximumbob54]

I've been surfing for years, and have meet up with a lot of sharks, and they were all in less than waist deep water. Most between knee to waist deep.

I just go about my business, and have yet to be bit. Have had a couple friends get nibbled on, but nothing serious.

You are more of a man than I; I humbly submit my man card on this one. Being nibbled on by a shark would be a void my bowls so I taste even worse maneuver for me. In fact would just ruin my day.

 

[Texas Star]

I've always figured that's why sharks bite people and then move on instead of actually eating people...........we don't taste like fish.

Well, sometimes, they eat people very thoroughly!

BTW, I read the Playboy article last night, and it was excellent. One component was that the area of the attacks was near a drop-off to very deep water, and sharks often come from that deep ocean and patrol in the shallows. Quite a few shark books mention that.

I won't spoil the article for those who may want to read it, but the story was impressive, and implicated a ship that played a serious role in causing sharks to be there more than usual. But the Red Sea has always been a bad shark region.

Still, that many attacks in such a short time in a limited area not part of an air or sea disaster is unusual, and compares to the New Jersey attacks in 1916.

Finally, the idea that sharks are only attracted to fish blood is erroneous. Some species feed largely on marine mammals and tiger sharks are notorious for eating sea turtles. I don't doubt the result that someone mentioned on, Mythbusters, but I wouldn't consider it typical, especially, either.

The sharks in Lake Nicaragua are known man-eaters and are bull sharks, the species most likely to hit people elsewhere.

 

[hotmerc]

We have a deal. I don't go in there water,and they don't come on my street.

 

[BearBio]

Boy, lots of good threads today (or, I'm really bored at work!).

Grew up on the beaches between L.A. and Orange County, in SoCal. Surfed, snorkeled, started deep sea fishing at 3, going out on my own on charter boats at 12. Did a summer internship at Scripps during junior high. Actually got my BS in Marine Bio (switched to land bio for grad school because I found out I was diabetic and PADI wouldn't certify me for diving). Taught Marine Bio Lab for college one semester until we moved to NorCal.

A few memories:

Saw my first shark underwater at awhile in my late teens. Probably a five-foot blue. Swore it was a ten footer!



Saw many an albacore chomped in half out in the Pacific (deckhands would make great sashimi-still quivering!).

Went out on deck for a smoke late one night==besides being bombarded by flying fish, I counted 16 sharks at one time, mostly hammerheads and bonnetheads.

Saw a 35 foot basking shark at the old Pierpoint Landing on Terminal Island, Long Beach.

Surfer buddy and I went body surfing at Windansea (La Jolla)=sat up on the cliffs afterwards watching the garibaldi come up to the surface. That was when we noticed large, dark shapes gliding from one kelp patch to another.......

Many more, many more!

ps: Take a thresher steak or a blue shark, if it is FRESH and very well blooded. Mako sharks also work great. Season well with Old Bay. Broil (low!) or bake until just done. Crumble and fry/crisp in a little olive oil with garlic, a little cumin, paprika, and maybe chipotle powder. Serve on hot, soft tortillas with cilantro, red onion, cheese, a little radish and cabbage and a squeeze of lime.

 

[35Rem]

YouTube - SNICKERS Peanut Butter Squared - "Focus Group"

 

[Tunachaser]

we spearfish in about 100 feet of water, we always see em, usualy they swim off, if they hang around we keep an eye on em, sometimes a bull will come in and try to get the fish bag, But one day, this guy I never dove with before decides to shoot a hognose in front of a 12 foot tiger, his reg went wet, he almost drowned, got switched over to his octo, i never saw the shark agian, but I tried to beat him to death when we got back on the boat. I'm not realy scared of em, I just respect em...........it's their world down there, I'm just visiting.

 

[Gasman1972]

Well, sometimes, they eat people very thoroughly!







Finally, the idea that sharks are only attracted to fish blood is erroneous. Some species feed largely on marine mammals and tiger sharks are notorious for eating sea turtles. I don't doubt the result that someone mentioned on, Mythbusters, but I wouldn't consider it typical, especially, either.

The sharks in Lake Nicaragua are known man-eaters and are bull sharks, the species most likely to hit people elsewhere.

At least we all know how vast my knowledge of sharks is now

 

[jkc]

One evening, resting upright on the twin keels of our Westerly Pageant sailboat at low tide in about 3' of water in a little bay of Manjack Cay in the Bahama's Abaco islands, my father and I had filleted a mess of trigger fish for our dinner, and were about to discard the offal overboard, when we both had the same idea --- this isn't merely offal, it's chum, and bait!

We found a very large hook in the tackle box, twisted up a multi-strand leader from a spool of Monel wire in the rigging repair kit, and attached this to about 50 yards of 3/16" Dacron flag halyard line. Jamming the hook into the carcass of one of the trigger fish, we tossed the baited hook and remaining offal overboard, and went below to fry up the fillets and fix the rest of our repast.

After dinner, I climbed up the few steps of the companionway stairs to the cockpit, dirty dinner dishes in hand, to clean up. I heard splashing off the starboard quarter, and shone my flashlight's beam in that direction to investigate. This prompted schools of some smelt-sized fish to leap from the water, en-masse, and make a great commotion. Then, I remembered the baited hook, and cast my light on the transom cleat to which the "fishline" was attached. The line was taut, arrow-shaft-straight, and describing large arcs. Near the end of the flashlight's effective range, I could just make out a dorsal fin, and behind that about four feet, the upper part of a tail fin! We'd caught a great big shark, in waist deep water.

Now what? We had no actual weapons (foreigners in the Bahamas...) apart from some knives, and a mason's hammer, (kept for cracking conch shells at the key point to permit dislodging the tasty meat from the shell). We decided that a brain blow from the mason's hammer was our best bet to dispatch the shark (why we decided that dispatching the shark was our best bet, I don't recall...)

So, ever so carefully, so as not to have any fingers or other parts tangled in the line, I pulled the line in, shark attached, and brought the shark alongside the boat, and tugged its head above the water, allowing my father to strike it a sound blow with the mason's hammer.

This did not have the desired result ... The shark thrashed mightily, and was gone. We were left with a short length of line, neatly severed, as if stretched to half its diameter to reach the sharp edge of the propeller, the only sharp edge underneath the boat.

So, this maybe nine foot long lemon shark was prowling waist-deep water that evening, probably taking olfactory advantage of the ebbing tidewater to bring it info on potential meals.

So, take two lessons from this --- 1., shallow water is no guarantee of immunity from sharks, and 2., entering salt water, anywhere, anyhow, relinquishes your position at the top of the food chain, and puts you at the peril and mercy of pea-brained pre-Pleistocene predators.

 

[586nickel]

It's the ones with the laser beams on their heads that you really need to watch out for. And the flying ones.

LOL!!!



Oh, man, I needed that after reading Emory's cancer thread -- man, that tore me up.

 

[semperfi71]

I can tell you this, in the ocean, if I was swimming (which I won't) and I knew a sharks(s) was anywhere nearby, I'd never get bit because they would have to swim through a thick, smelly haze of my "poop"!!

LOTS of it!!