Sharks

[Surfchaser]

[quote="Rocket"]Are there any signs to work out what that grey blob coming through a wave is? [/quote]

How quickly everyone else around you has gotten out of the water?

- SC

[BEN]

i was surfing cooks terrace on monday arvo and i saw a boil in the water and a brown thing swimming there. Only bout 3 foot big. i also just pissed in my wetty. it was probably nuthing but the surf was shite and i thought its not worth getting my toe nawed off it it is a lil' fella.

[marcus]

was out the island way back, like 93 or something and i was telling boogs (a good surfer) how id would love to have a little shark in my fish tank, anyway just on command a tiny 12 inch wobbygong splashes onto the deck of my booger, and he goes "oh you should put it down your wettie and take it home".
about big sharks, ive seen plenty and hooked up with alot of hammer heads around outside jervis bay area and heard of a few tigers in the stretch between jervis bay and bawley point.
but ive never been eaten by one.
saw a few in g land almost every day but i reakon they get enough to eat that they wouldnt be a problem.
ive seen on shark fishing sites that you can get devices that attract them electromagnetically, and ones that repell them too, so if your worried enough about it get one that goes on your leg rope.

[I like gulls]

The days that are most prone to Noahs being about are those days that are overcast and calm but you can't make out the horizon (usually the best surfing conditions).
Personaly i'm more worried about dickheads in cars. There are so many BIG sharks out there that if we were realy worried about them we'd never get in the sea.

[Morgan The Moon]

I was out at Shelley about a month ago, and as I paddled out, about 10 guys were paddling in. Turned out they'd seen a shark in the line up.

I don't normally worry about 'em, cos I imagine that most of 'em wouldn't find me very appetising anyway, but when I went out later in the week at the same spot my mind played some funny tricks. It was dawn, only 2 of us out, the water was murky and the skies were grey. That cold current had just come through too.

I only stayed in for half an hour, my mind kept playing tricks on me....

[chrisb]

I thought that I saw one at No-Mans about 6 weeks ago, it was spooky as is surfing in murky water like at Ocean Beach Umina.
Looking from the shore I believe that I saw 2 sharks patrolling Gallows some years back.
Oddly after all his years in the surf, Nat Young claims to have never seen a shark while in the water.

[jackjackjack]

here are some stats i found on google. Pardon the american focus.

*******

In the U.S., your chances of getting killed by lightning are 30 times greater than dying of a shark attack.


Bees, wasps, and snakes kill more people each year than sharks.


Drowning, heart attacks, beach accidents resulting in spinal injury, sunburn, cuts from stepping on sea shells, dehydration, jellyfish stings, and traffic accidents going to or from the beach are all far more common than shark attacks.


In 1996 in the U.S. there were 18 reported injuries and deaths from shark attacks, but 198,849 injuries from working with screws, nails, tacks, and bolts; 138,894 injuries from ladders; 43,687 injuries from toilets; and 36,091 injuries while pruning, trimming, or edging plants.


Between 1959 and 1990, 5,528 people were stuck by lightning in the 22 coastal states (excluding Alaska) and Puerto Rico, with 1,505 fatalities. During the same period, there were 336 shark attacks in the coastal waters of those states, with 12 fatalities.


In 1987, New York City reported the following number of people bitten by dogs: 8,064; other people, 1,587; cats, 802; rats, 291; squirrels, 95, raccoons, 11; ferrets, 7; skunk, 3. There were 13 shark injuries reported nationwide the same year.

[CLS]

Used to surf a fair bit up at Straddie, both north and south, you don't get really big ones up there, but the number of smaller ones definately make up for it. We used to watch the schooling bait fish, as soon as they formed a really tight packed ball it was time to get out. Anyone remember the news from a couple of years back at Coffs, there were heaps of sharks and guys were waiding out to waist deep to get close to them? Stoopid. Or the guy up the Great Barrier Reef who was standing on a dead (floating) whale whilst a pack of tigers were feeding on it?

[vb]

Yeah Rocket, interesting you say there was a pod of dolphins about when you thought you spied the Man In The Grey Suit. Apparently, just before the two guys were killed in S Aust a couple of years back, there was a hell of a lot of dolphin activity close to shore. Don't know whether these mammals are trying to warn us or maybe attempting to get into shallow water so they can "drown' the predator. Whatever, maybe when we see those lovely undualting fins close by, it might be time to head in a watch from shore instead of trying to get amongst them for those "warm and fuzzy/dancing with dolphins" vibes...

[streetdaddy]

One of the craziest thing I have seen recently was a dead whale a few kms of Cape Jervis SA. There were about 10-15 BIG pointers feeding off the carcass and there was news footage of a guy standing on the carcass while a shark was chewing on it right next to him. Another one of a guy in a boat patting ones nose, crazy...

[I like gulls]

VB and rocket mention the dolphins, I recently surfed Blacks for the first time, and the feeling of being shark food is impressive. I had finished a ride and was paddling back out with a local, when a large pod of dolphins came through and hung around for a short time. Fantastic to be surfing amongst dolphins, but I looked over to the local and said this and added that they also have another agenda for hanging around ................ He just looked at me and smiled.

[I & I]

Never seen a shark in Oz , but 5 times in South Africa . There was a legend of "submarine" the 30 footer in the False Bay (where you see great whites breaching while feeding on seals ) . I was surfing with a friend "Mr No sharks" who believed every fin or shape was a dolphin or seal . We rose over an incoming swell and saw a massive fin 4ft out the water about 10 metres from us . It was heading back under the water in a line taking it slightly beach side of us . Didn't waste a second even though we knew that we would paddle right over it but there didn't seem anything else to do as it seemed to already be circling us and very aware of us . With no sets around it was the scariest minute in my life , barely scratching the surface in murky water 100 metres from shore . Paddling stronger than "Mr No sharks" I turned slightly to see if he was on the first lump heading our way and the look of terror and his pleading with God amused me so much I nearly fell off my board and missed the wave too . Anyway we knew we'd met the submarine or it's brother that day .
Another time I was swimming in a rip channel 3 k's down a deserted beach taking photo's of my 5 friends on a little peak . Earlier that day we'd spotted what looked like a fin through binoculars way out at sea - Mr No sharks claiming it must be a dolphin . This large shark surfaced right next to them on the peak and the first I knew about it was when they were all lying down on a foamy coming in on the bank yelling shark . With no fins , wearing a full wetsuit and with a camera hanging off my hand I swam against the rip as fast as I could . I'll never forget seeing the 5 of them standing on shore shouting "swim , swim , swim ...!! " I literally swam 2 metres up the sand and I think the Minolta was a bit stuffed cause I don't remember using it ever again , (but we got pretty smashed afterwards).
The other occasions were not as radical - just sightings and further away . My brother still surfs Gansbaai on the side of a channel where the shark dive boats launch . Not for me anymore but he reckons it's a quality peak and always uncrowded !!!
The last year has seen 2 attacks in Cape Town - 1 death . One in a kelp bed , and one in the foam on a sand bank . This dispels two myths about where sharks WON'T attack . My brother reckons that contrary to world trends the crowds are thinning out down there .
Haven't been to South Oz but I hear it's pretty exciting down there too !

[vb]

Yeah, we all know the stats about getting taken by a shark but I dare say if you're a plumber in Des Moines as compared to a bodysurfer at Mavericks the odds might shift somewhat. I wish I knew how to put a website on this post but for anyone who can do a Google search, look up at site called Sharkcamo .... see the pic of the pointer with his tribe of accompanying pilot fish. Makes me want to go out and buy a can of black Dulux gloss ...

[fletch]

about 7 years ago my gf (now wife) and I arrived in Byron the day that guy was eaten. Poor guy was diving the wreck in a group of 10 people with his new bride and just got bite in half. Didn't stop me surfing tallows the next day on my own in the rain for a few hours. Was awesome, I was joined by a pod of dolphins. Of course many a dolphin has been found inside a shark.

Saw a big shark surfing macca's oneday. At least 3 metres. The clubbies came over and said there was a shark, we said we know, we saw it. About 15 minutes later they came back over and said we should probably get out. We said thanks. Sif paddle in, shark attack is bloody rare.

[fletch]

i've also seen the odd gray nurse at era. That's abit of a worry actually, you are a long way from the car and those buggers like to try before thy buy.

[Dave]

The Grey Nurse was hunted heavily by spearfishermen ('60s + '70s I think) to the point where they nearly got wiped out. They became a protected species by law. A recent tagging exercise around Forster, South West Rocks, Jervis Bay and other known areas estimate the total population in NSW to be between 20 to 30 individual sharks i.e. fark all

The worst offender is apparently the Bull Shark. It is a type of whaler shark and is the only one that travels up river and into fresher water. This is the one that you hear about knocking rowers off their boats in the harbour and sighted in the man made canals. They are known to travel 1000's kms up the nile etc. They are agressive too. They dont grow as big as whites but can sure spoil your day.

Apart from the wobbegong which will clamp on like a bull terrier, there are not many species that can go a person. The only ones big enough are Great White, Tiger (probably wrongly blamed for some bull shark attack) the Bull and the Oceanic White Tip (this is the one that follows ships in the open ocean and picks up the scraps. When you see the oooold drawings from botanists of tall ships showing sharks aroud the ships...it is probably an oceanic white tip)

As far as behavior goes, they are like dogs. You know when you walk past someones house and the dog behind the fence goes mental at you. Jump into the backyard and you will probably get a bite even from a smaller animal. Sharks are apparently a bit the same. If they think you are threatening their territory they can feel challenged and 'attack' although it was probably more a defensive thing or a wild animal alpha male thing.

If a shark is swimming gracefully and slowly then it is in an ok mood. If it has its back arched and is darting around or circling then it is in a not so ok mood. (like a dog eh)

They are also inquisitive. They do not have hands to see what an object feels like so they just have a bite. If you survive a shark attack it may have been more of an inquisitive nibble. Big sharks are killing machines (evolution baby) so if they really wanted to eat you there would be no surviving that.

But as fletch says...shark attack is bloody rare. But then again I havn't been chased by a big one in Sth Africa.

[ActiveGal]

Did anyone see that programme on the telly (ACA I think) a while back about the guy who let whalers eat dead tuna from around his feet in the shallows? He was some shark loving type who wanted to point out how friendly sharks are. From memory there was a follow up show where one of the whalers gnawed on his toes. It was kind of like Sigfreid and Roy's little tiger problem...

Was that the same guy who was dressed in a dinner suit ready to go out and pushed his arm down the mouth of a dead shark only to find they have barbs along their gullet and he couldn't get his arm out?