American(U.S.) diver killed by Great White Shark

I have heard of Greenland sharks throwing themselves onto ice drifts to knock animals into the water so they could get at them.

 

Killer whales in northern Newfoundland waters use similar methods but never heard of the greenland using the same tactics. I don't know why but as I said until a short while ago I never heard of the greenland shark. Just goes to show never too old to learn

 

http://www.elasmo-research.org/education/shark_profiles/squaliformes.htm

"frequently taking fast-swimming fishes, marine mammals, and occasionally even large terrestrial animals such as caribou (known as reindeer in Europe)"

 

Interesting that they are poisonous to eat

http://www.marinebiodiversity.ca/shark/english/greenland.htm

 

I think it does...

Locals know their waters best and usually outsiders are dumb and ignorant.
About five weeks ago we had this Brit from England on one of our beaches at Fish Hoek near Cape Town that did exact that. Since this spot is (most of our coast) known for sharks there are shark spotters on the full time on nearby hill. A shark was spotted and the lifeguards informed whom raised the shark flags and sounded the alarm. Also verbally warned swimmers but this bright spark refused to heed to this and entered the water - even when told first hand not to do so. Apparently he also done this on previous occasions...

Long story short - lower right leg completely severed off at the knee (gruesome pics in the press of this stump left) and left foot mauled that was saved after some serious surgery. he is still recovering in the hospital and refuses to speak about his close encounter with the Great White.
http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/Shark-attack-victim-ignored-previous-warnings-20110929

and video clip take just after the attack and the victim airlifted by helicopter to hospital showing the shark still cruising close to beach and other clips showing his injuries etc at the end of clip.
http://www.accidents.co.za/2011/09/28/shark-attack-in-fish-hoek/

Local people been there done that, seen it and take heed to warnings such alarms, flags and conditions for that very reason. Also know what to look out for and what not to do...

 

Darwinism at its best.

 

Rottnest Island is a beautiful place to dive, as is a lot of our Western Coastline. And, Rottnest is a place I have dived frequently, and swam in the bays.

The fact there has been 3 deaths here in almost as many months means something is wrong.

I blame the protection of the Great Whites over other species and this puts nature out of balance.

Down the coast of Western Australia was fished by Russian and Japanese trawlers, when I did a navigation course around 40 years ago, we were advised that sailing close to those vessels is dangerous because the size of their nets.

Professional fishing is still permitted but they are not allowed to take Great Whites.

These sharks have to go further to find food. At one time Great Whites prefered deep water now they will go anywhere and attack anything to eat.

And of course because of the protection are growing to a huge size.

I have met a lot of Americans during my diving trips and they are all lovely people and they appear to love their experience here. It is sad that such a holiday ended like this and trust intelligence will prevail and the Great Whites will have their protection lifted and their numbers culled.

 

Too bad you couldn't send a few our way and cull the seal explosion we have in eastern Canada--although I hear from the grapevine the great white population is on the increase here also. Two were spotted here this summer by whale watching tours. Another one I seem to recall washed ashore dead. One ( a big one)was caught on rod by a Japanese man on a tuna charter. Some years ago I seem to recall the two biggest great whites ever caught on rod occured here on a charter in Prince Edward Island. Contrary to what alot of people believe there have been deaths in Nova Scotia by great white attacks. So these animals are definately widespread and with our huge seal populations one can expect more encounters.

 

shark attack

due to the marine mammal protection act, seals are more numerous on the North East coast than in living memory. On Monomoy Island which is off the elbow of Cape Cod there is a colony numbering in thousands. Seals are seen down into Narragansett bay in great numbers. Spotter aircraft on the cape regularly see 5 to 7 great whites patroling just off the beach in the national seashore area. My brother had a great white go under his boat off of Providencetown that he estimated to be 18'. It is only a matter of time untill "jaws" becomes a reality here in Massachusetts. As a by line, the local fishermen are pissed at the damage seals are doing to their nets and fish populatio ns in general. Mysteriously, seals are being found shot to death along the coast; the common remedy 50 or 100 years ago.

 

poida, i think it has a lot to do with the population increase caused by the mining boom. there are thousands more people diving and swimming in wa than there used to be. great whites have always been a part of life on the south coast. when the whale station was still operating 15 to 30 foot white pointers were always hanging around the moored whales. in fact the largest fish ever caught on a rod was off there, it was a pointer over 20 feet, was never recognised as a game record because they used whale meat for bait. about 5 yrs ago we had 12 great whites cruising just off the town beach for a month, only 1 person was attacked but he survived. i can see your point but i don't think there are plagues of sharks out there. we are going into there enviroment more than ever and it is us who has to be aware that we are in their territory. culling is a stupid idea.

 

Whitepointer23

Unfortunately one of the problems with our society, probably influence from TV, that we are beginning to think that all societies are like ours, and if they are not, they should be.

Most Australians live on the coast and we have an love for the ocean and is now part of our heritage, and maybe now a genetic feature.

It is wrong to assume that it is a part of other culure's heritage and therefore the same percentage of our migrants would take to the ocean in snorkling and scuba diving activities.

So yes you are correct the population has increased, I do not believe there has been the same increase in underwater sports.

However common sense says there would be a proprtional increase in fish consumption.

This is also evident in the lack of increase in the number of dive shops that have opened. Sure new ones have opened but I also know of several that have closed leaving the number virtually identical.

I also have noted there is about the same number of dive tour boats or maybe even less.

You think culling sharks is silly, maybe but not as silly as suggesting there are more shark attacks because there are more people in the water.

I started diving around 40 years ago. Every weekend there were people diving around bays at Rottnest.

A shark can sense any movement in the water from quite a considerable distance, the number of people in the water is irrelevent. Do you think that a shark is not going to attack one person because there is not enough food, heck let's wait 40 years when there's a decent meal.

You defeat your argument when you say that there were just as many Whitepointers out there and hardly ever an attack.

Then the Whitepointers had enough to eat, but as you said our population has increased, meaning a larger fish consumption so the Whitepointers have less to eat.

Now they are getting desperate and attacking humans so the ratio between Whitepointers and fish needs to be put back in balance.

Got to get some more work done.

The first Whitepointer I'm going to cull is number 23

 

LOL Troy, you mean it will eat you 'less up' if it chomps and let you go

There are only a few man eating sharks on who'se menu you are -
Great White, Bull shark, Free Willy, Mako and a few others.

The Bull shark is a baddy and the Mako is probably the most agressive.

I haven't heard of any hammerheads that took a bite offen someone.

One's biggest problem is that many sharks like the black tip and others may innocently take a 'test' bite on your leg just to see if you're something edible, and this is where the problems start. Keep loose body parts (like arms, legs and others ) from hanging in the water.

Time for the next Jaws movie to scare all boaters out of the water...

Dammit Poida, after 40 years that poor shark will eat ANYTHING

 

Some ancient shark teeth they dug up somewhere...
Must have been a land shark to 'dig it up'... similar to an attorney perhaps

And a scale model of the jaw it belonged to...

 

And of course my all time favourite shark(s)...

 

Time for new glasses mate
Those babies are puffer fish and I must salute you for living on the edge with them pair and I quote: