Children and Sharks

[Christian Van H]

Originally Posted by David_Old_Jersey

Maybe get a dog? If the dog is still swimming happily after 5 minutes let the kids in the water..............

I saw Jaws...the dog was one of the first ones to disappear!

[David_Old_Jersey]

Originally Posted by Christian Van H

I saw Jaws...the dog was one of the first ones to disappear!

Of course Animal lovers can do the reverse.................

[Randoneur]

I think you need to keep the little ones close and completely supervised. I would have one parent stand watch while the kids play in the water and be alert - as much for your ease of mind as for their safety. If you can't be there to watch, have them play on shore or in the boat. Don't go off collecting sea shells along the beach while they are in the water.

I had a 12 ft hammer swim directly under me one time in florida, really close, and was not freaked out too badly - just stopped still and watched it pass on through. There are probably more shark attacks in florida waters than in the bahamas. You can look at some of those cases to get an idea of how they happen.

Given the (what I consider to be) low risk, of being in the water, the rewards are so great - just use common sense and take care.

[Hudson Force]

A young playmate of my son's died in the Abacos about 25 years ago due to a small fish improperly cooked and eaten,- Ciguaterra, as well as the skin cancer mentioned above, is a greater danger than sharks. 'take care and joy, Aythya crew

[hummingway]

What kind of person provokes a shark attack?

[Surveyor]

As someone mentioned earlier, barracudas in the Bahamas are probably more likely to be your bigger concern. Never ever ever come to the surface with a lobster in your hand and dont wear jewelery or shiny nail polish. Dont clean your fish on the dive platform and dangle it to rinse in the water.

All sharks deserve to be given plenty of right-of-way. I would maintain a vigilant watch when children are swimming in shallows in the Bahamas. Reef Sharks can be aggressive and agitate easily. The real danger though are Bull Sharks. I have seen them in shallow waters from dusk to dawn and a couple hours after. I personally have never seen one in the middle of the day but I am sure they are around.

I have had Bulls bump our boat at night while snook fishing. The first time this happened we had just got back in the boat after wading the shallows. Ocean shorelines at dawn are teeming with bait fish during certain times of the year and all kinds of predators follow them in including Bulls. I have seen, while shore fishing, dozens of Bulls chase bait onto the beach in an incoming wave completely beaching themselves. The sound of their jaws snapping shut as they try to catch the bait fish reminds me of a steel animal trap when it is triggered. Some of you morning beachcombers may have witnessed this before also.

Anyway, keep your eye on the kids but dont worry too much, shark attacks are rather rare.

[Mariness]

Originally Posted by hummingway

What kind of person provokes a shark attack?

This kind

YouTube - man vs beer vs shark

But if you don't let your kids do that, your odds improve considerably.

[SurferShane]

Originally Posted by MarkJ

look.... I know everyone says in the Pacific white tipped reef sharks are not dangerous, as well as black tips, or grey... but I always get a bit wary.. sharks is sharks! I don't go and pat them!

What would a one year olds leg look to even a small shark? The leg is smaller than a tidler tuna...

I would go with Rams comments to keep close to the kids on the reefs. Agree also with the shiny bits on cossies. Why look like a lure?

I got a bit of a shock when I recently had one of those white tips motoring along toward me in barely knee deep water when I was wading to shore on the Great Barrier Reef (Australia). It was my first close experience with the species and maybe he was as shocked as me because he darted off and I have no scars to confirm the story.

Although Australia, (especially NSW) had a bad run of shark attacks a year or so ago, one at the famous Bondi Beach, there is no way I would let this ruin anyone’s holiday. Most public beaches and well used swim spots are very safe. Where you are pushing your luck over here is swimming late morning and evenings around river mouths, in dirty water, when fish are schooling and at spots notorious for sightings and attacks.

So play it safe. For instance, due the “great white factor” it is not healthy to go diving in South Australia around a seal colony in a shiny black wetsuit. On the other hand, I don’t think shiny cosies are a drama. The only thing they might momentarily attract is pelagic fish like barracuda that like most sharks will almost instantly realise there is something wrong with the sensation that just attracted them.

Likewise, I have had many other experiences with known man-eaters surfing and spear fishing, but to date seem to have retained all four limbs. One small shark even had a number of goes at trying to snatch a fish out of my hands that I had just speared, which shows you that they prefer their natural diet to us other types of white meat. Years earlier I tested the same hypothesis on a 14 or so feet tiger shark and luckily came up with the same conclusion much to the amusement of some blokes filming a movie called “Marlin Off the Rocks” at the known shark infested game fishing spot.

That is, too a large extent it is like anything else; use commonsense and enjoy your holiday! As above, I am sure there are other warning signs and precautions that will keep you safe in the Bahamas and let you enjoy a swim in the clear waters?

[SurferShane]

Originally Posted by hummingway

What kind of person provokes a shark attack?

I would say the kind of person who sends themselves out as human bait in some of the situations I mention above. This is why with spear fishing the rule is to NEVER toggle your fish too your person. Similarly, if you go swimming in a huge school of baitfish at dawn just to admire what you think are the dolphins splashing around, you are really looking for trouble.

Got too admit though this kind of behaviour is a far cry from swimming inside some perfect lagoon at a beach that is known to be safe?

[SurferShane]

Originally Posted by cat man do

Some decent pics here (shame to see these big fellas killed)

No offence, but the jewfish or mulloway of NSW are closely related to the Northern American white sea bass. Even over here in NSW we once did get giant cod. I had a meeting with one that survived the spear fishing craze of the late 60’s and early 70’s at Seal Rocks. It would have been somewhere between three and four hundred pound and tagged along behind my buddy mirroring his every move. My mate freaked not realising that fish like this still existed and totally panicking that it was about to eat him whole. I calmly explained it was one of the last of the great black cod and we were privileged to take a swim with this monster.

I note these fish and a couple of similar species are now protected. The spot we had our encounter is now a marine park and grey nurse shark protection area.

[Inkwell]

Thanks, Schoonerdog for the link on sharks deaths. Looked at Zack's blog. Great. The big yacht does look beautiful. Who is the celebrity?

[cantxsailor]

I swam with sharks and barracuda in the Bahamas without any trouble but got a really good chunk taken out of me by a Northern Pike when I was a kid.....m

[hummingway]

Muskelunge ... I bet many who grew up in Ontarion heard musky stories; how one took the calf out of some guy who had caught it and tossed in the boat without quite killing it or; how the kid caught one when it grabbed his toe hanging off the dock; the cousin of my sisters friend had it happen to her brother ...

[Roc Chambeau]

Wha'd the shark say to the clown?

[Roc Chambeau]

Here, in the Bahamas, the answer is to get your freshly speared fish out of the water asap. Ten seconds is a good countdown until you see the first "free-loader". We have one person follow us in the dinghy and collect the fish as soon as we spear them. Sometimes we (the spearfishermen in the water) have to all dive down to spear at the same time, either hit or miss, and get back into the dinghy to go to another part of the reef... usually mid-summer as the shark activity seems highest then.