Northwest Dive Club

Check this out. Seems like I remember someone doing similar things with Grizzlies that didn't turn out well
http://www.grindtv.com/outdoor/blog/287 ... ive+light/

Fool.

This guy may get hurt, but I am glad if he can inform the public that sharks are not the villainous creatures depicted in Jaws, and in the hysteria that ensues after every (extremely rare) shark attack. Most of these attacks happen when a surfer or swimmer is mistaken for a natural food source. Perhaps the risk he is taking is worth it in the long run, maybe he can make a difference with the folks who are trying to hunt them into extinction out of baseless fear.

Hmmmm,

Mistaken for food = Dead
Unprovoked attack = Dead

Not that I have anything against them I just don't want to be anywhere near them. I am very glad we don't have them here except extremely rarely. I hate what is being done to the world shark population. The concept of killing an animal for it's fins and dumping the rest overboard is sicking and totally uncivilized! We tend to think of anything in nature as ours to do with as we wish without consequence. The world is populated with allot of scary things but they all have a place in the balance of nature and we have no right to dean them expendable just because we can.

A couple of countries have declared shark hunting illegal and hopefully more will. Unfortunately it's not not done for the right reason. It's simply that they have found they can make more money off of shark tourism.

He looks like a yummy seal..... my vote=Fool

I'm thinkin someone who's trying to break new ground must put themselves in situations that have never been faced. That requires one to do thing that, to others who do not share the same passion, may seem foolish... And indeed may turn out t be just that.
The first guys to try Everest we're thought to be fools by some contemporaries, the same as some thought of the Apollo project, deep sea diving, how many people told Wilbur and Orivelle they were boneheads chasing a pipe dream that would kill them.
Today his actions may be viewed as 'foolish' and that could be a right assessment.... But what will they think of this guy in 20 yrs. What is it they say about the fine line between insanity and genius being barely distinguishable? .

Possibly expert but i lean towards fool just because of my ignorance of sharks. But considering the statistic's given I would say swimming with a shark is far less dangerous than driving on the road.

Taken from this article. "To illustrate this point Fallows appears to have tempted fate on behalf of a predator responsible for the deaths of 26 people worldwide since 1990, according to the Florida-based International Shark Attack File. (That's a tiny number considering that millions of people swim or surf in the oceans every year.)"

Also taken from a website ."There were more than 5.5 million car accidents in the United States. Nearly 31,000 were fatal, and more than 2 million people were injured. " http://www.edgarsnyder.com/car-accident/statistics.html

So maybe we are the foolish ones for assuming something when we don't fully understand it?

The big issue I see is if something does go wrong and the shark does ended up attacking him that everyone will immediately think sharks are horrible creatures again. He is sort of pushing it by coming so close into the sharks "bubble". Just think about it, if he succeeds in showing that sharks will not attack he will never get any publicity from the widespread news stations about this positive outcome, but if he gets attacked the story will instantly be featured on most news channel with some sort of title like "Guy proves that sharks are dangerous" etc... I like the fact that he's trying to show people that sharks are not dangerous, I truthfully believe that they are not that dangerous if you give them proper respect (but that respect usually includes giving them a little distance) but I'm just a little concerned of the repercussions if he does get attacked seeing that news medias only like portraying the bad and not the good. Now I'll stop my rant and go back to the hole where I lurk and watch....

citycatred wrote:The big issue I see is if something does go wrong and the shark does ended up attacking him that everyone will immediately think sharks are horrible creatures again. He is sort of pushing it by coming so close into the sharks "bubble". Just think about it, if he succeeds in showing that sharks will not attack he will never get any publicity from the widespread news stations about this positive outcome, but if he gets attacked the story will instantly be featured on most news channel with some sort of title like "Guy proves that sharks are dangerous" etc... I like the fact that he's trying to show people that sharks are not dangerous, I truthfully believe that they are not that dangerous if you give them proper respect (but that respect usually includes giving them a little distance) but I'm just a little concerned of the repercussions if he does get attacked seeing that news medias only like portraying the bad and not the good. Now I'll stop my rant and go back to the hole where I lurk and watch....

I agree with you but, people will always think sharks are horrifying creatures. People are easily convinced by words because they do not think it through on both ends. We being of an aggressive race thrive on emotions, just letting go and not stopping and thinking "well I wonder what it's like on their side of the wall".

Great post, Sonia.

I'm going to go for Expert on this one, mostly because he's not the first person I've seen to try and prove this, especially not about Great Whites. For the life of me, I can't remember who it was, but a couple years ago, I saw another man trying to prove exactly the same thing. And this man didn't go out on a paddle board or anything, he was actually snorkeling, something that not only made him LOOK more like a shark's prey, but probably made him SOUND more like prey due to his fin kicks. But he wasn't just content with snorkeling on the surface and watching the shark, he actually dove down and ran his hand along the shark's side. The shark couldn't care less. So really, I think he knows what he's doing and I applaud him for his efforts.

I have mixed feelings about Chris Fallows. On the one hand, he's a prominent and tireless advocate for the apex predator that made me want to start diving, he leads cage diving excursions to see sharks up close and personal in South Africa, and he's taken some amazing photographs of white sharks hunting. On the other, he's a camera whore, and as you can see, will do almost anything to get on film to talk about sharks. Part conservationist, part PT Barnum.

Drawing attention to the plight of sharks, white sharks specifically, is a good thing. Stopping the senseless slaughter of animals simply because they're perceived as "man eaters", or because their body parts are supposed to have magical powers is a good thing. Encouraging others to take unnecessary risks with dangerous wild animals is not.

scottsax wrote: ...or because their body parts are supposed to have magical powers.

Uh Oh. You mean they don't?

Tom Nic wrote:

scottsax wrote: ...or because their body parts are supposed to have magical powers.

Uh Oh. You mean they don't?

I'm sorry, because the Critter Watcher forum is a NHZ, I cannot respond to that question.

Dang. Are we in the critterwatchers forum?

Makes me want to move the thread, but that would be an abuse of my moderator powers.

Carry on.