Sharks !

[IdoraKeeper]

Just say nooooo to sharks! I would sooner swim with Orca's.

[Laidback]

This one shortly after having killed a surfer :

[Motley]

Thanks for the nice film, Oz. I nearly spoiled my skiddies; and I'm sitting in the living room!

On my Atlantic crossing I was becalmed three times; and, yes, I went swimming. There's something quite hypnotic about looking at the vanishing point of your shadow in 5 kilometres of water!

Steve.

[Motley]

Much speculation about lightning strikes and unscientific talk of odds. The possibility may be a million to one but, somewhere in the world, there are certainly more than a million people swimming. So, statistically, someone's going to get it. Remember, to you, in mid ocean, it only needs to happen once.

I have an informal arrangement with the toothy fellas; I don't put on air tanks and go and bother them; they don't put on water tanks and come and bother me. So far both sides have scrupulously observed this deal.

Steve.

[downunder]

Without getting into the water one misses a lot of the pleasure crusing haso offer.

[boatman61]

Some friends of mine were becalmed just of the Canaries at the start of their crossing, late afternoon a pod of whales came drifting up and settled around them... they each tied a long line from the boat to an ankle and went over with a water camera... the shots were amazing especially seeing each take turns grabbing a fin... youngsters and older females they thought..
Dunno if I could do that..
And definitely not with the pod of orca that visited me once.....

[Bergovoy]

although that sounds so cool, and if i were there, i would be wanting to do the same, that is not the right/best thing to do...befriending or reducing the strangeness of human / whale interaction is probably going to back fire as someone either feeds them something they shouldnt, or the whales think a whaling ship is going to feed or pet them

but, i would definately have to think about what i would do in that situation as well, cause i would love to see those creatures up front and personal too...

[GordMay]

Man films himself after shark attack off Australian coast

Matte Mariotti was snorkeling, just off the coast, when the creature struck. Clothes torn and the water around him filling with blood, he filmed himself with what appears to be a GoPro camera as he swam toward the beach.
Mariotti lost half of his right leg and suffered bites to his left.
After he posted the video on Instagram, Mariotti was flooded with supportive comments.
A GoFundMe webpage has already raised over $50,000 for “substantial medical care.”

More about ➥ https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/s...tti-rcna129466

There were 57 unprovoked shark attacks last year, according to the Florida Museum, which keeps a database of all known shark attacks worldwide, most of which occurred in the United States and Australia.
Five were fatal, down from nine deaths in 2021 and 10 the year prior.
Since 2013, there has been an average of 74 unprovoked bites per year.

International Shark Attack File ➥ https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/shark-attacks/

More about ➥
https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/sc...onal-hotspots/

[skipperpete]

There’s something about going over the side far out at sea that doesn’t sit well with me, especially after seeing a video of a woman getting a leg removed by a shark while swimming around a becalmed yacht off soundings..... the crew rescued her and miraculously she survived. I’d go in to do a repair or clear a prop...... maybe...... but here in Australia waters it’s risky despite the fact that every day on the GBR thousands of tourists dive an snorkel..... every now and then, out of the blue a shark just happens to be right there when the human hits the water..... like the attack in Cid harbour or the kid who fell off a hobie cat at Blacks beach near Mackay.... both instantaneous fatal attacks. I’m very certain that no trawler deckie would don a mask and fins to duck under and clear a prop, every fisherman knows how many sharks are constant company at sea. I’m going to be in Ballina tomorrow and there have been numerous shark attacks in this area thought to be linked to the prior existence of a whaling station and later, an abbatoir at Byron bay a short distance up the coast where the blood and offal was piped straight into the bay,...... some attacks are simple “tastings” and non fatal but the great white attacks like the honeymooning scuba diver at Julian Rocks and the high school teacher at lighthouse beach were truly horrifying and didn’t even leave a body to bury. These are all attacks in my direct personal experience at times where I lived, worked, sailed or dived at the time of the attack (not the lady who lost her leg though, I saw that on YouTube).

[noelex 77]

Sharks are very common when cruising. In general these cause few problems, but the frequency of attacks on humans has been increasing over recent years.

This seems to coincide providing these creatures a protected status.

I think it is time to rethink this legislation.

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by noelex 77

Sharks are very common when cruising. In general these cause few problems, but the frequency of attacks on humans has [NOT] been increasing over recent years.

This seems to coincide providing these creatures a protected status.

I think it is time to rethink this legislation.

I think it may be time to rethink your facts, and position.

According to the International Shark Attack File*, both, attacks, and fatalities are slightly down, if anything:

“... Annual fluctuations in shark-human interactions are common. Despite 2021’s spike in fatalities, 2022 was a return to typical long-term trends which show a decreasing number of annual fatalities...
... Short-term trends show both fatal and non-fatal bites to be decreasing...”

Worldwide, there were 57 unprovoked [and 32 provoked bites] shark attacks last year, most of which occurred in the United States and Australia.
Five were fatal, down from nine deaths in 2021 and 10 the year prior.
Since 2013, there has been an average of 74 unprovoked bites per year.

*International Shark Attack File
➥ https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/sh...dwide-summary/
➥ https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/shark-attacks/

[noelex 77]

Originally Posted by GordMay

I think it may be time to rethink your facts, and position.

Gord, your usual excellent research skills have faltered in this case.

See here:
https://time.com/6292696/shark-attack-data-2023/
Quote:
"For starters, there’s no denying that from 1950 to 2020, the total number of unprovoked shark attacks has risen, going from 50 in the middle of the last century to over 80 in 2020—and reaching that 111 peak in 2015."

Or closer to home (for me) these are the Australian numbers:
https://www.canberratimes.com.au/sto...33%20by%202015.
Quote:
"Australia has gone from an average of just nine shark attacks a year in the 1990s to an average of 22 attacks from 2010-2020.
Incidents have been steadily rising, going from six attacks in 1992 to 17 in 2007 and 33 by 2015.”

"There was an extreme uptick in incidents in 2020, recording 37 attacks, eight of which were fatal. It was the highest number of fatalities in 50 years."

[Orion Jim]

I only swim in anchorage’s, especially when I have noisy, splashing neighbors close by. Offshore never. The pelagic species don’t have the luxury of investigating and lingering before they make the decision to fill their bellies. They tend to make the best of their limited opportunities to feed. Those who hesitate go hungry…

[GordMay]

What legislation do you (noelex 77) think needs re-thinking?
Australia's Shark culling?
China & Japan's Commercial Shark fishing?

What protections sharks have is very recent.
Sharks were first included in Appendix II, of Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), in 2003, after the Conference of the Parties to CITES decided to include the basking shark (Cetorhinus maximus), and whale shark (Rhincodon typus).
Since then, a number of other shark and ray species have been added to Appendix II including, porbeagle shark, scalloped, great, smooth, and hammerhead shark, oceanic whitetip shark, thresher shark, silky shark, and all manta and devil rays. At the 2019 Conference of the Parties, shortfin and longfin mako shark, giant guitarfish, and wedgefishes were added to Appendix II. All species of sawfishes are in Appendix I which prohibits any commercial trade.

From your linked Time article
➥ https://time.com/6292696/shark-attack-data-2023/

”... For starters, there’s no denying that from 1950 to 2020, the total number of unprovoked shark attacks has risen, going from 50 in the middle of the last century to over 80 in 2020—and reaching that 111 peak in 2015...

... It’s not just the raw number of shark attacks that makes a difference, but the rate of shark attacks—how many encounters per million people. Back in 1950, the global population was 2.5 billion people. Today it’s just over 8 billion. Crunch the numbers according to the rate of unprovoked shark attacks per million people and things stay pretty flat, with 0.012 per million in 1950 and 0.010 in 2020...

... the actual rate per million of shark attacks hasn’t risen since 1950...

... One 2016 study*, in Progress in Oceanography, warned that higher ocean temperatures were pushing shark species from the warmer, more sparsely populated southern hemisphere to the cooler, more crowded north—increasing the odds of shark-human encounters. What’s more, higher temperatures also mean more beach-goers and bathers, providing more potential chum for sharks...

And, from your linked Canberra Times article:
➥ https://www.canberratimes.com.au/sto...33%20by%202015

”... "The foremost hypothesis for the recent rise in shark bites is human population growth, particularly along the coast...
... Environmental and habitat variation, such as changing water temperature, decreased water clarity, and climate change are also likely to contribute to changes in the number of shark bites and the increased occurrences in some regions...

* How Climate Change Is Fueling a Rise in Shark Attacks
“Projecting future changes in distributions of pelagic fish species of Northeast Pacific shelf seas” ~ by William W.L. Cheung et al
➥ https://www.sciencedirect.com/scienc...79661114001505

[boatman61]

Personally I never swim in waters where sharks are a known factor.. Oz, S Pacific, US E coast, hell I'm even hesitant swimming off the boat in the clear barren seascape of the Marigot Bay anchorage..
I could not believe it when I saw newly arrived cruisers swimming off the stern of their boats in the Nuku Hiva anchorage, I had been there several days and seen Tiger sharks patrolling the anchorage before heading to the jetty to collect fish offal from the boats.