Diver Killed by Shark

[Papa Bear]

Really this holier than thou stuff needs to end! Now your a shark expert? Hummm? Well the shark does not know it is chum! It knows it's an opportunity to feed! Is it different than when there is no food? Yes, but we all understand that! Whats the different if you spend months at sea and find a whale carcase and watch the sharks feed? None! If you knew anything about sharks you would not be here telling people how they should not deal with them in a feed! I would rather feed them than fin them! So point your efforts someplace worth while!

If you don't want to go then don't but don't sit behind your computer and tell others how to do something! You have stated they are stopping them for the sake of the environment and that is my point! It's non of your business! Fisherman chum all the time! You know what chum is but the shark doesn't! The world is suffering now it alls that want to control everything! Are you one? There is no evidence that chumming has any adverse effect! Another "Feel Good" deal! "I don't like it" so it must be bad! Please, we threw your tea in the harbor a long time ago and if I want to throw fish heads into the water I will!

The fish die in the ocean! They defaecate and urinate in it to! So where did the chum come from? It came from the ocean and it is being returned! This idea that anything man does is not natural is defecation! We are a part of nature! What about all the fish guts from fish markets along the coast that have been put back for a thousand years?

So I knew some politicians backed by knuckle heads would stop something else in the name of the environment! When are we going to wake up when those same knuckle heads say SCUBA is not natural and we have to stop it?

Take up Cricket will you!

BTW this is not a personal attack, but it is an attack on your misplaced ideas of how to feel good about the environment! Shark encounters do more good to promote understanding than any harm that you think might come from this activity!

[bottlefish]

If by "holier then thou", you mean having a different opinion from you then I think you need to get over yourself. You obviously come from one side of the fence on this matter, and I the other, we've both stated our opinion and we are both entitled to it. I didn't say yours was wrong, I simply stated my own personal viewpoint. Jeez, the one time I did disagree with you, I apolgised first!

As for your claim of not making a personal attack? I think perhaps you should reread what you wrote, any more aggressive and directed, I'd expect to see you charging through my front door weilding a machete!

[BamaCaveDiver]

Do I think it's stupid to get into chummed water with critters such as Tiger, Bull, and other large shark varieties known for aggressive behaviors? Hell yes! Do I think my opinion matters enough that such practices should be banned? Hell no!

I have been a long time member of ABATE, so I hate it when folks try to protect others by imposing laws and bans that tell you how to be safe. If the operator explained all the inherent dangers of what was going on down below (including the expected species known to inhabit the waters and their typical behaviors), then the diver made a personal decision to accept the risk and place his life in jeopardy by participating.

If the diver went into this dive without doing a bit of research on his own as to what species to expect and what their normal habits are thought to be, then he was barnyard stupid in my book, but that does not mean I think he did not have the right to go for it if he wanted.

[bottlefish]

Absolutely, people should be allowed to make their own (hopefully informed) choices and decide what risks to take, there's way too much molly coddling and nanny laws in the world! I didn't say shark feeding should be banned, I'm not informed enough of the true impact, promoting shark awareness for and potential environmental impact against to make that sort of statement.

I was making the same point as yourself Bama, that if we start to shove our oars into the lives of wild creatures, manipulate their actvities to get our kicks, don't be surprised if it back fires.

I also get irked with the popular opinion that we should be able to see what we want when we want, that everything in life is a commodity. Again, I'm not suggesting a ban on shark feeding, I'm just wish people would embrace the idea of being a silent spectator, take what comes to them, instead of trying to generate a false scenario to get their kicks. As I said before, seeing natural, normal shark action is, to me, a far more positive experience, and I would suggest leaves a better impression on divers meeting sharks for the first time. However, relying on chance for those sightings isn't as profitable, gauranteeing a shark experience by throwing in a load of chum or fish brings in the money.

As a foot note, this was posted on a UK forum earlier today:

Austrian Diver Killed by Bull Shark - Divernet Forums

Lots of similar discussion, the post that interested me was the long one posted by ChristianG at 16:25 today, worth a read.

[hbh2oguard]

I just opened up yahoo and here's a related link that was one of the top stories.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/...butattacksrise

[Bill22]

My own previous encounters would fall into the "natural" category. Nurse sharks and sand sharks spotted during dives at West Palm Beach, Florida. A small nurse shark here in Japan. Thresher Sharks at Monad Shoal near Malapascua Island in the Philippines. White Tip Reef Sharks at Gato Island also in the Philippines. I thoroughly enjoyed these encounters.

Having said that though, I've been looking forward to making a trip where chumming was used to get a look at other sharks that are more difficult to see otherwise. I think there is a place for both and I think both points of view have validity.

Now can we all just get along

[Bill22]

Another interesting post here from someone who actually attended one of these shark expeditions with Abernathy.

http://www.divernet.com/forumvb/show...?t=5043&page=3

[seasnake]

The Discovery Channel show "Daily Planet" aired a segment about this last night. They interviewed a guy named George Burgess from the University of Florida who made one comment I thought was interesting. He pointed out that many shark feeding operations are on shallower reefs and the sharks they attract are reef sharks. The same sharks show up all the time and they are conditioned as to how the whole thing works. His contention was that the operation in question was in deeper water, meant to attract larger sharks that are known to be responsible for biting humans like whites and tigers and bull sharks. Since these animals don't get the regular exposure to the feeding operation like the reef operation might, and they are predators that feed on larger mammals something the size of humans, this fella from the university felt that people getting bit and killed is inevitable.
I personally think it's a little crazy to do. We have a plethora of fish called perch in our waters around here. You can feed them too and the result looks like a shark feed in miniature: the fish swarm the bait and attack it ravenously in a huge feeding frenzied ball. And you get bit repeatedly while doing it. Fortunately perch are about 6" long or smaller for the most part, so they just nip at your gloves and suit and hoses, although I have been bit on the ears, hands and face by the little buggers (when not feeding them, it was completely unprovoked! lol) I think the bear analogy is accurate and I use it myself alot. If you went in the woods and started feeding wild bears you'd be in for a world of hurt. I have been much more interested to see sharks swimming along doing their thing. Although I have only seen reef sharks like that I didn't find them to be aggressive or intimidating at all.

[seasnake]

Another thought I just had ... I remember maybe three years ago seeing a device called a "Shark Shield" being advertised, and I did a little research then and there were few similar devices on the market. It was an electronic transmitter that put out a frequency or something that the sharks didn't like. It only projected like maybe six feet away from the wearer, so you would still get to see lots of sharks ... but I remember seeing one video where a diver wearing one was positioned under the carcass of a cow on a hook and sharks were swooping in for a bite but each time they would veer off when they got within a few feet.

Yeh, here it is, check out http://www.sharkshield.com

[BamaCaveDiver]

I don't know if I would use the differences in the targeted animals as a means of justifying one scenario over the other. Condition animals to acquaint food with humans and you remove their natural fears/inhibitions towards our species. Nurse sharks are normally docile, but they have been know to bite (and they usually do not let go once they set their teeth.) I have also seen the Perch snake mentions (as well as other carnivorous species) and it is a good example why it is barnyard stupid (my opinion) to feed large critters and think nothing bad can come of it.

As stated before, I am against regulations as they usually just make those who are interested more determined (prohibition and drug laws always pop to mind whenever I think about this sort of thing.) It also drives up profits making those who offer it more willing to take chances in order to grab their share of those profits. I see this more as a common sense issue. If you want to feed large predatory critters such as sharks and bears, go right ahead; just don't attempt to shift blame when you get bit or eaten.

I will give this operation credit for targeting animals away from more frequented dive/swim locations, in that they are minimizing the risks to others by not conditioning animals that are always in close proximity to sane humans.