Girl Killed by 3 Sharks in Bahamas

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by transmitterdan

The shark does not always win:

https://www.charlotteobserver.com/ne...232365707.html

The shark rarely wins, humans are far more dangerous to sharks than vice-versa.

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by Arthurwg

They used to say a poke on the nose with a speargun or a diving knife is a good deterrent.

Google "tonic immobility". Video about it below:

https://youtu.be/NErt6zP2MBI

[SharAndy]

We were in Bahamas at the time of this. Word on the street is that locals out of Nassau who now run boat trips over there (and elsewhere) chum the waters to attract sharks for the tourists to see. Of course the sharks now associate humans and an area with food. Until the Bahamian government outlaws this irresponsible behavior none of us are safe.

[cyan]

Originally Posted by SharAndy

We were in Bahamas at the time of this. Word on the street is that locals out of Nassau who now run boat trips over there (and elsewhere) chum the waters to attract sharks for the tourists to see. Of course the sharks now associate humans and an area with food. Until the Bahamian government outlaws this irresponsible behavior none of us are safe.

Exactly.
Just down stream (on the Gulf Stream) from one of these famous Bahamas shark-feeding spots is the shark-attack capital of the world, New Smyrna Beach, Florida.
Coincidence?

[Rocinante33]

Originally Posted by s/v Moondancer

I went scuba diving in Bimini last week and the dive operators are chumming for and feeding sharks to entertain scuba divers!

They claim they are only attracting reef sharks but a dive master admitted that they occasionally attract a non-reef shark.

As a small child my father took us on several vacations to Yellowstone. He loved the place because he had worked there as a young man, and so as a small child I was treated to the then common practice of bear feeding.

At sunset we were locked into a little fenced enclosure and the trash from the hotel was thrown into a pile and bears came in big numbers to feed upon the leftovers from the hotel. No plastic in those days, but lots of food scraps and cans. The tourists, myself included, loved it.

The practice was nearing its end and although I was a little kid, I could pick up on the fact that it was controversial and that adults were arguing about it. I know my folks had mixed feelings about it, but felt their children should attend this practice just the same. They felt we should see bears that weren’t in the zoo; wild, if you will, but also explained that the wild was hugely diminished by the garbage foraging.

It was billed as a “wilderness encounter” but even as little kid, it didn’t really feel all that much like wilderness or an encounter with the wild.

That was over 50 years ago and of course the practice has long been discontinued and it would be absurd in the extreme to consider reintroduction of that practice today. Y the same token, if you visit Yellowstone today you are very unlikely to see the now plentiful wild grizzly with your own eyes.

The bears, conditioned to humans such as they were, were not really wild anymore but were still highly dangerous. People, conditioned to bears, did some really silly things. More than once my parents would marvel at other tourists who would get out of their cars in the then frequent “bear jams” that would develop along the roads and take pictures of themselves with bears. I have an old Kodachrome slide my parents took of a man approaching a grizzly with an apple while his wife took a photo. That guy survived, but bear attacks happened along the roads every summer. Others were less lucky.

It’s a paradox. We are highly visual creatures but we often pervert what we want to see when we insist on seeing it with our own eyes.

I’ll be gone in 50 years but assuming that the rest of you are still around, the practice of chumming for sharks is probably going to echo the bear story.

[Jubilee39]

In Surrarow atoll the ranger cleans his fish on the outside of the island every day and there is a feeding frenzy of tiger sharks. I was anchored inside the lagoon and the ranger claimed it was safe to swim and most boat crews did so. We had a spell of bad weather come up and I scubaed to fasten onto a coral head. It was a bit disconcerting as there were probably about a dozen tigers swimming around but they gave me no problems.

[Group9]

Originally Posted by belizesailor

The shark rarely wins, humans are far more dangerous to sharks than vice-versa.

Imagine if sharks had newspapers.

[pjr03]

Originally Posted by boatman61

Dont go swimming during ones period.???

Or urinate in the water, on my STCW courses it is taught that urine is a far greater attractant to sharks than blood.

Sadly we won't know the answer to this one.

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by pjr03

Or urinate in the water, on my STCW courses it is taught that urine is a far greater attractant to sharks than blood.

Sadly we won't know the answer to this one.

LOL.. Just goes to show how much disinformation is out there in one medium or another.. I remember reading somewhere or other peeing in the water deters sharks..

[belizesailor]

There are conflicting opinions on both blood and urine:

https://www.quora.com/Does-peeing-in...ill-attack-you

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by belizesailor

There are conflicting opinions on both blood and urine:

https://www.quora.com/Does-peeing-in...ill-attack-you

In other words sharks are unpredictable so steer clear off them.. Works just fine for me.
Remember in Nuku Hiva Tiger sharks used to cruise the anchorage a couple of times a day.. fishermen cleaned their catch on the quay and tossed the waste in the sea.
Regardless some cruisers would jump off the stern for a swim mornings and evenings.. me, I would empty buckets over my head in the cockpit.. no desire to become another 'unexplained' statistic..

[Group9]

All I ask from any shark is to just give me three seconds to get out of the water when they show up.

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by Group9

All I ask from any shark is to just give me three seconds to get out of the water when they show up.

https://youtu.be/SM3jgkChV6M

[Group9]

Originally Posted by belizesailor

https://youtu.be/SM3jgkChV6M

I was actually thinking of that when I wrote it!

[Arthurwg]

Originally Posted by boatman61

In other words sharks are unpredictable so steer clear off them.. Works just fine for me.
Remember in Nuku Hiva Tiger sharks used to cruise the anchorage a couple of times a day.. fishermen cleaned their catch on the quay and tossed the waste in the sea.
Regardless some cruisers would jump off the stern for a swim mornings and evenings.. me, I would empty buckets over my head in the cockpit.. no desire to become another 'unexplained' statistic..

I grew up in Florida and spent lots of time snorkeling along the shore. Always saw sharks big and small. They are always there. If you want to be completely safe, don't go in the water.