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Freedive with white sharks.

Thread Status: Hello , There was no answer in this thread for more than 60 days.
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caravias

New Member
Dec 28, 2002
8
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Yeah you read the topic right.... anybody have the guts? And I'm not talking cage diving, I'm talking FREE diving!
 
Hi caravias ,
I doubt if any of us go out specifically to hang around with whites , but you will find quite a few members here who do most of their spearing in areas heavily populated by them .
The same goes for other species of sharks that are just as , or more agressive towards spearo's .
 
Theres a "freediving with GW's" divetrip available isnt there? Seem to recall some clown hanging off the dorsal fin of one shark.:confused:

Anyway, those Great whites are just big pussy cats looking to get their belly scratched...:D
Big, mean, hungry pussycats with big, sharp teeth...:hmm
 
Check out the pic......this was so unexpected I did not even had chance to tune my cam! This baby was literally less then 1 meter away from me. I was luying between the boats engines takeing pics when he thought he would surprise me!
Picture copyright Elna Caravias
 

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Picture Copyright Elna Caravias

Anybody wanna join?
 

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Originally posted by caravias

Anybody wanna join?

No ...:hmm

Not to start that debacle again , but IMHO if you want to interact with whites ; get in the water and experience them at first hand in a NATURAL encounter .
 
Joining In

hmmmm........no thanks, molesting sharks from the boat does'nt seem like to much fun......but thats just my opinion.
 
Nothing better than teaching sharks to associate boats and people with food..:duh

I much prefer diving with Grey Nurse's. Nice, placid fisheaters that know how to behave!:)
 
Have any of you ever done research on Great Whites to see if your theories are true? I have. First of all, we dont feed them. Second of all, we dont pet them, Third of all, we have spend years researching them to see what effect cage diving has on them. Why dont you go look the results up and we'll talk again. A lot of people are very much misinformed about what goes on in the lives of this beautiful creatures. Do you realy think that Custau would have done it if it was all that bad? He became the 16th person in the world to do it. Oh but thats right. You already new that, didnt you? The biggest part of our job is preserving their habitat and doing research so that this specie can become even more protected. We are sharing nature with them and proving to the world that Great Whites are not the JAWS that everybody thinks they are. Even Peter Benchley said that when he came out for a few days. But thats just my opinion, hey?
 
Firstly: All the cage diving operators Im aware of here in Australia use burley to bring them in. And then use fish or meat tied to floats to keep the sharks circling.

Second: In the second photot is that a hand touching the shark? Certainly looks like it...:hmm

Anybody who knows about Great whites is fully aware of their true nature and the precautions needed to share their space.

And Jacques Costeau is not the brilliant visionary and conservationist many believe him to be. His main aim was self promotion. Luckliy for us he achieved that by teaching people about the ocean. Even if that meant catching fish and "posing" them for the camera...:hmm

So enlighten us: How did you get the GW in close enough for the photos and how close was the hand that was "petting" the fish?
 
Yes, please enlighten us. I'm sure the staff here at Mote Marine Lab's Center for Shark Research would love to see what you've published, particularaly the hard data you've collected from your 'research'.

M-2
 
well, for example, you put a decoy in the water to research their attack behaviour, and also to determine if the theory that sharks attack surfers because they mistake them for a seal are true. Obviously they start circling the boat once they are in the area, and then sometimes they try to attack the boats engines, and because we dont want them to get hurt, you just give them a light push away when you see they are about to "bite" the engines. It is fascinating what you learn from then went you sit on a boat everyday for about 8 months observing them. They are very curious and very clever creatures. All the time we learn new things about them. And how do you teach sharks to associate boats with food when they only stick around for a few days? Also the area where the research is done has two natural seal colonies. If you sit on a small boat for 1 day observing, you WILL see live attacks. And what is your feel about people swimming with dolphins and touching them in their own habitat?
And I didnt start this thread to fight with anybody, I am simply sharing opinions and what I have experienced. A lot of people dont know the first thing about sharks and a lot of people know a lot about sharks, and I love to hear it and share opinions. And by doing this we all learn a lot more about these beautiful creatures.
 
First of all, we dont feed them.
And how do you teach sharks to associate boats with food when they only stick around for a few days?
Which is it?

You wouldn't be teaching the sharks that boats are a good place for an easy handout IF your boat were the only one on the water worldwide. The shark gets fed from boat A for a couple of days and moves on. A few days later it approaches boat B looking for a snack and gets a .44 Mag powerhead between the eyes. Now whose fault is it this
beautiful creature
is dead?
This is one of the reasons feeding bears in America's national parks is illegal. Not to mention the fact that it's a good way to get somebody bitten.
And what is your feel about people swimming with dolphins and touching them in their own habitat?

Swimming with :) , if they'll let you. Touching:naughty
Have any of you ever done research on Great Whites to see if your theories are true? I have.
.............................
Why dont you go look the results up and we'll talk again.
Where has this been published? I'd like to read it.
 
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Hi caravias ,
If you are doing legitimate research , that's great to hear . I agree there is much to learn about whites and the misconceptions need to be dispelled .
What organization do you work with and where can we find the results you mentioned ?
While none of us would claim to have done research as such some spearo's do regularly encounter them and we definitely study their behaviour , if only as self preservation ...
Hunters in general often know far more about their prey and natural competitors than pure researchers would give them credit for .
As I mentioned in an earlier post , and you are surely aware , the whole shark/cage issue is something we on this forum are intensely interested in ; with varying opinions .
Please tell us more about what you are doing .
 
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Originally posted by caravias
Do you realy think that Custau would have done it if it was all that bad? He became the 16th person in the world to do it. Oh but thats right. You already new that, didnt you?

Then I bet you already knew that he came to Louisiana in the 50's and gave a seminar on how to "stone" the 500+ lb jewfish found under the rigs that were virtually wiped out here using his technique...or did you?:naughty

Ease up with the attitude and you will make great friends here, this is a friendly forum;)
 
dolphins

"And what is your feel about people swimming with dolphins and touching them in their own habitat? "


You can swim with the dophins if you want, but as I am sure you have researched this as well, the reality is if the dolphins choose to swim with you. Even the most social dophins (spotted) on the Bahama Banks are quite tempermental and clearly dictate what and how goes on in the water when the swimmers try to interact. If there not in the "mood" your might as well enjoy staring at the sand because you got no chance of keeping them around.

However, I have heard of some unique situations in places such as Hawaii where swimmers/tourists target resting dolphins that come into protected harbors and bays and put the dolphins between themselves and the shore to ensure an encounter.....I do not know the specifics on this but maybe some of the Hawaiin members of this forum do, if that is indeed the case...then in that situation I do not encourage swimming with the dolphins anymore than I agree with molesting white sharks.

I have mixed feelings about the research that has been done on white sharks lately, it seems that between Discovery Ch. and Geographic there has been a lot of sensationalism for ratings and that if any breaking or important data has been found it has been passed over for the shots of the freediver/spearo swiming with no cage and the shots of the whites breaching.

I am curious to know if you have seen any recreational boaters/fisherman in the area towing false seals in the attempt to get them to breach? Or is the location really remote or too far for the recreational boaters? Please let me know. Thanks.
 
Sharks!

Hi Everybody!
Hope you all had a great Christmas and a massive New Years Party!

Well, you can check out Natal Sharks Board, Cape Town Sea Fisheries or go check out who National Geo and BBC fund for research. If you search the net maybe you'll find it but I'll doubt you'll get books from SA .

Anyway it was nice having the discussion and I hope all of you will come join us soon in watching and learning about the big fish with the bad rap!

Signing out -
Happy diver that loves Jaws!
 
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