SoCal Shark Attack

[Fishstiq]

I have seen tonite on several news channels a story about what appears to be a Great White attack on a SoCal man (he was swimming 150 yds offshore training for a triathalon), that was tragically fatal. In response, authorities closed something like 8 miles of beach and posted shark attack warning signs. It was noted that this was the first fatal shark attack in several years, and that Calif. averages 2 a year, usually not fatal. It was also mentioned that Florida has a "much higher" average of 8 attacks a year. You can read the story here...

http://www.komotv.com/news/national/18300004.html

or here...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24325640/

and video here... plus another perspective...

http://www.kirotv.com/video/15995474/index.html

Anyway, I'm wondering about people's thoughts on this? I know this can be a touchy subject, but I'm curious what people think of how the media portrayed this incident. Did they do a professional job reporting this incident or did they sensationalize it too much and ignore important details and facts?

Please note I'm not saying anything about my personal opinion here, just asking what y'al think of the attention this is getting, so if you're gonna , aim it elsewhere. Thanx!!

[Pez7378]

Okay, I'll "bite" First off, I'm not gonna say the poor man died doing what he loved to do. He probably died kicking and screaming and praying to god for his life. Secondly, you ask about how "professional" the media was in reporting? I'm not college educated, but I do know that "fastly" is not a word.

This is another tragic incident in life. My thoughts and prayers go to the mans love ones of course. And I hope the shark got its fill so that everyone can go back to their normal beach going way of life.

It's media sensationalism, plain and simple.

[Joshua Smith]

Yeah, actually, I didn't see too much media sensationalism in this one. Looked more like factual reporting for a change. Poor guy, I think Pez is right on the money- it would suck to die like that......but I really don't know if it would suck more to die in a car crash; that looks pretty bad, too.

[mattwave]

Sharks like eating. That's what they do, poor dude.

[Sounder]

Sharks like eating. That's what they do, poor dude.

Yup, and people look like seals on the surface.

As I understand it, often when the shark bites someone in a wetsuit or similar "strange (i.e. non-seal)" equipment/surf board/whatever, they decide it's not what they want to eat. Unfortunately, they use their mouths to determine this, and their mouths have lots of sharp teeth... and sharp teeth cut things like arteries... and we need arteries to move blood.

It's an unfortunate incident, but I still think sharks kick- .

[scottsax]

I had a conversation with a group of divers about this Saturday night. The consensus was, you never hear about parts of seals (white sharks' favorite food) washing up on shore. When they attack a seal, it's GONE. You never hear about a shark eating a person. They bite them, and go,"Ooh that's not what I thought it was at all" and spit them out. Unfortunately, when something as fragile as a human body gets bitten by something as perfect as a shark, the consequences are catastrophic.

I also wish they wouldn't call them shark "attacks". It may be playing semantics, but I think calling it an incident or accident gives a better sense of what happened-the shark accidentally bit a human instead of a seal.

I can't wait to dive with them...

[Grateful Diver]

Sure ... call it a shark "chomp - yuck - ptooey" ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

[Tom Nic]

I had a conversation with a group of divers about this Saturday night. The consensus was, you never hear about parts of seals (white sharks' favorite food) washing up on shore. When they attack a seal, it's GONE. You never hear about a shark eating a person. They bite them, and go,"Ooh that's not what I thought it was at all" and spit them out. Unfortunately, when something as fragile as a human body gets bitten by something as perfect as a shark, the consequences are catastrophic.

I also wish they wouldn't call them shark "attacks". It may be playing semantics, but I think calling it an incident or accident gives a better sense of what happened-the shark accidentally bit a human instead of a seal.

I can't wait to dive with them...

Disclaimer - I don't think we should go on shark killing frenzies whenever a swimmer has a run in with a shark, and I don't think shark's are evil, mindless, killing machines. And I don't eat shark fin soup. That being said...

Actually, it was a shark ATTACK. Let's not get all warm and fuzzy about this. Mistaken identity or not, large adult white sharks usually attack marine mammals from below in an awesome display of speed and power. They are ambush predators. Then they let them bleed out and stop struggling, then come back and consume them at their leisure. This keeps them (the shark) from being bitten by a desperate seal or sea lion (have you seen the chompers on those guys?!?) who even on it's last legs could injure the shark! If this guy hadn't been pulled out of the water I have no doubt that he would have eventually been eaten, just like any other "marine" mammal. That's not a bad or a sinister thing, that's just what they do. The reason you don't hear about a human being eaten is that typically their buddies pull them out of the water! If they are alone, then they turn up in the "missing", not "eaten" category. (If they will eat dead whale, I'm sure we don't taste that different! - speaking for myself, of course.)

Just because the marine mammal in their environment happens to be a human... oh well.... They hunt, kill, and eat. That's what they do. And in the areas we are talking about marine mammals are their main prey. They don't single humans out, nor would they likely "reject" a swimming human (who has "become" a marine mammal) if they "knew" it was a human.

With a scuba diver, I'm sure it would be a "chomp, yuck, ptoeey" kind of thing. (Something about neoprene and metal!) The vast majority of the violent attacks are with swimmers / surfers on the surface, and though they have been known to check out and "harrass" divers (and as you pointed out, even a "what is this?" bite would most likely be more than we could take!) they typically aren't going for divers because we aren't in their "prey window".

[John Rawlings]

I had a conversation with a group of divers about this Saturday night. The consensus was, you never hear about parts of seals (white sharks' favorite food) washing up on shore. When they attack a seal, it's GONE. You never hear about a shark eating a person. They bite them, and go,"Ooh that's not what I thought it was at all" and spit them out. Unfortunately, when something as fragile as a human body gets bitten by something as perfect as a shark, the consequences are catastrophic.

I also wish they wouldn't call them shark "attacks". It may be playing semantics, but I think calling it an incident or accident gives a better sense of what happened-the shark accidentally bit a human instead of a seal.

I can't wait to dive with them...

Actually, when a Great White attacks a human the initial "chomp" is the exact same tactic that they use with seals and sea lions. If you read about and study the attacks, you will discover that the "typical" attack is one initial bite and then the shark hangs out in the immediate vicinity waiting for the seal or sea lion to die from blood loss. Only then does the shark return to devour the remainder of the carcass. The speculation is that marine mammals have teeth and claws and that even when horribly wounded can cause a lot of damage to a shark's eyes and gills....far better for the shark to simply hang out and wait for the inevitable death and then feed without any physical risk.....at least that is the theory....who really knows how sharks think?

Attacks on humans display this exact same pattern - one big bite and then nothing more. The difference in the typical outcome of attacks on humans is usually that people are snatched up by other swimmers, surfers, etc. and rushed to shore for medical attention. The seal and sea lions don't have such an advantage and will usually die in the water, (although I have seen photos of some that HAVE made it to shore and survived with terrible wounds). I suspect that a lone human that wasn't immediately taken to shore and dies in the water would become a full meal deal as well.....

Mistaken identity and then spitting it out? Typical attack in which the final outcome is altered by rescuers? I suspect that the latter is closer to reality.....but how do you test such a thesis?

- John

[Tom Nic]

Hmmm.... John and I must have been writing our replies at the same time? :rr:

[coachrenz]

John and Tom -

Have you two been hanging out together? You both wrote almost the same thing.

Maybe John just cut and pasted from Tom's post (Like my students like to try to get away with).

[scottsax]

The reason you don't hear about a human being eaten is that typically their buddies pull them out of the water! If they are alone, then they turn up in the "missing", not "eaten" category.

Excellent point. I never thought about it that way....

Let's not get all warm and fuzzy about this.

Definitely wasn't trying to be warm and fuzzy, but people as a group are dumb, panicky animals. How something is phrased can have a tremendous impact on their reactions to an event, and a shark hunt is not something any marine life afficionado wants to see. Closing 17 miles of beach and putting up signs was an overreaction too, in my book. Calling it a shark bite incident makes it sound more like what it was-a random, unfortunate encounter with a shark. A shark does what a shark does. While it is surely a terrible way to die, these things happen when we're no longer the apex predator in the environment. It's not like he got bitten on San Diego Boulevard....

That being said-anybody have any cool shark diving stories?

[Tom Nic]

John and Tom -

Have you two been hanging out together? You both wrote almost the same thing.

Maybe John just cut and pasted from Tom's post (Like my students like to try to get away with).

LOL! But if anyone's going to cut and paste from anyone, it would be ME stealing John's stuff, NOT the other way around!

[Sounder]

That being said-anybody have any cool shark diving stories?

You've got to read LCF & Grateful Diver's description of their most recent visit by a sixgill. After a couple glasses of wine, it's hard not to be rolling on the floor laughing as Grateful Diver describes LCF putting him between her and the shark... Jan has a priceless cartoon of it somewhere too.

LCF? GD? Jan?

[John Rawlings]

John and Tom -

Have you two been hanging out together? You both wrote almost the same thing.

Maybe John just cut and pasted from Tom's post (Like my students like to try to get away with).

Hee Hee Hee....nope, no cut and paste involved! I started the reply here at work and then was temporarily pulled away, (darned work getting in the way of talking about diving....the nerve!), and then came back a while later, finished up my thoughts, posted it.....and then was promptly pulled away again. I didn't actually see Tom's response until I came back later.

I guess that maybe the two of us learned it back in Mr. Smith's science class back in Alderwood Junior High? NAAAAH....how about if we just say that "great minds think alike"????

- John

[Phineas Gage]

Mistaken identity and then spitting it out? Typical attack in which the final outcome is altered by rescuers? I suspect that the latter is closer to reality.....but how do you test such a thesis?

The survivors of the USS Indianapolis might have some valuable input into that question. I don't think any of them would characterize the behavior they observed as mistaken identity.

[John Rawlings]

Mistaken identity and then spitting it out? Typical attack in which the final outcome is altered by rescuers? I suspect that the latter is closer to reality.....but how do you test such a thesis?

The survivors of the USS Indianapolis might have some valuable input into that question. I don't think any of them would characterize the behavior they observed as mistaken identity.

Very, very true! My point exactly! No matter what the species....whether its mosquitoes, crocodiles, lions or sharks....we are still a good source of necessary protein to be taken based upon ready availability.

- John

[Sounder]

Very, very true! My point exactly! No matter what the species....whether its mosquitoes, crocodiles, lions or sharks....we are still a good source of necessary protein to be taken based upon ready availability.

Sure, but I can swat mosquitoes and even if I miss, they're not going to bite me in half... course, I could get some terrible illness and die a slow painful miserable death where I'm wishing I would have just been eaten by a shark!

[Tangfish]

Annual Risk Of Death During One's Lifetime [by type]

Sounds like pretty good odds to me. It's apparently more dangerous to reach for that bag of potato chips (containing saturated fats) than it is to go diving in "shark infested waters" everyday.

[Grateful Diver]

That being said-anybody have any cool shark diving stories?

You've got to read LCF & Grateful Diver's description of their most recent visit by a sixgill. After a couple glasses of wine, it's hard not to be rolling on the floor laughing as Grateful Diver describes LCF putting him between her and the shark... Jan has a priceless cartoon of it somewhere too.

LCF? GD? Jan?

Hmmmmm.......I think I've seen the cartoon, would love to hear the story that goes with it.

Here ya go ... http://www.nwdiveclub.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=3497

... Bob (Grateful Diver)