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shark in Gib..

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

Sea fanatic
May 2, 2005
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Hell....Spearfishing in Gibraltar, I have asked Memo and Shane, they had never seen a shark on the coast in Gib.
Well..I did last week, there was a lot of Macarel, and I spotted a shark, to be honest with you all, did not like it that much, so I called it a day.
I saw it swimming away from me at 14 meters, In little bay, afterwards I went to A local scuba center and they told me they had seen it too...a blue shark.( must have been 2,5 meters)
Any advice?...was it chasing the macarel?
 
Just a short emocional comment....

Well..... :hungover

I would feel just stunned if i would see a 2,5m blue shark !!!

My heart beat would burst up in no moment !!!


Still, I would keep calm and regard all of his actions. (Is this actually the right behavior, when spotting dangerous inhabitants of the blue sea at close range?)
What should I do if he sets his course directly on me and with some tempo (yes, and I mean TEMPO!)???
 
If its a Blue Shark, swim up and enjoy the sight!

The same species was used in a "shark tossing" competition some years ago! Scuba divers would catch them by hand and "toss" them through a hoop.

Harmless species.
 
Shadowkiller said:
If its a Blue Shark, swim up and enjoy the sight!

The same species was used in a "shark tossing" competition some years ago! Scuba divers would catch them by hand and "toss" them through a hoop.

Harmless species.
Click to expand...


rofl


Now that, I'd like to see!
 
I have heard from numerous divers that Blue sharks are quite harmless and skidish. One of my buddies saw a large blue on a night dive. Told me that he grabbed it by the tail and it took off like a rocket out of fear.
 
Congrats on seeing the shark, the way world populations are going you should enjoy every one of these encounters as they are bound to become few and far between!


Polystigma said:
he grabbed it by the tail and it took off like a rocket out of fear.
Click to expand...


this is an excellent way of loosing a hand. :crutch
 
Amphibious said:
this is an excellent way of loosing a hand. :crutch
Click to expand...


Not if you know what you are doing. They guy has been around sharks many times, even great whites.
 
Polystigma said:
Not if you know what you are doing. They guy has been around sharks many times, even great whites.
Click to expand...

in time I hope you will look back at this and relize how ignorant that statement is.


a shark is a wild animal, and as such, completly unpredictable.
 
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Even nurse sharks, reportedly one of the most harmless, have been known to turn on their "tail pullers" and serve themselves up a nice piece of "skindiver tartar". As Amphibious says, unpredictability is the word.
 
Hiya

Blue sharks are relatively harmless buggers!! A bit stupid, as they often tend to bump into your fins or even your mask, scary-ing the daylights out of you!! I've shot YF with more than 10 blue sharks in the water. How-ever, getting complacent around them isn't always such a good idea. Check out this report, which clearly shows how getting complacent with blue sharks can lead you into some trouble!! http://forums.deeperblue.net/532068-post96.html

Regards
miles
 
Amphibious said:
in time I hope you will look back at this and relize how ignorant that statement is.


a shark is a wild animal, and as such, completly unpredictable.
Click to expand...


Do you have blue sharks in BC, Canada? Probably not, so don't just go off by telling people what they do is ignorant when they probably know more than you. Here in so cal where we do have blue sharks. They run dive trips for divers to swim and play with them. I myself have pushed blue sharks bare handed out of the chum slick several times while shark fishing. They react by doing nothing more than swimming away for a little while.
 
Reactions: foxfish
Just a little info - they are not as harmless as you may think. They also range from the Straits of Magellan all the way north to Alaska.


http://www.courseworld.com/ocean/shark.html
"Growing to lengths up to 16 feet, the blue shark is the most abundant shark along the east and west American coasts. They may travel alone or in groups, unlike most other species. This behavior of traveling in groups makes them especially susceptible to feeding frenzies and is one reason they are considered dangerous. Blue shark attacks on humans have been reported but they are not as common as the attacks of "man-eaters." Other than the four listed above, seventeen species, including the blue shark, are considered dangerous to man."

http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/Gallery/Descript/BlueShark/BlueShark.html
"Danger to Humans Having been known to attack humans and boats, blue sharks are considered to be a dangerous species. Twelve unprovoked attacks and four boat attacks have been documented by the International Shark Attack File. Three documented attacks resulted from air or sea disasters and there are several accounts linking blue sharks to attacks on shipwrecked sailors floating in the open ocean. The blue shark will sometimes circle swimmers or divers it encounters for up to fifteen minutes or more. While not overly aggressive it is not a timid shark and needs to be approached with caution, especially if it has been circling since it may attempt an exploratory bite in test feeding."

http://www.sharkresearchcommittee.com/statistics.htm
"Of the 108 authenticated cases of shark attack reported during the Twentieth Century, 12 (11%) were unidentified, one (1%) was attributable to the Blue Shark, and one (1%) to the Common Hammerhead. In the remaining 94 cases (87%) the White Shark was either positively identified or highly suspect as the species responsible for the attack. Distribution of these 94 cases among victim groups is as follows: six swimmers (7%), 45 divers (48%), 39 surfers (41%) and four kayakers (4%)"
 
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I always thought that blue sharks were aggressive along with the oceanic white tip.. arent they part of the ocean disaster feeders?
 
Not if you know what you are doing. They guy has been around sharks many times, even great whites.
Click to expand...

Poly, ever heard of a chap that goes by the name of Andre Hartman? He's the crazy south african that freedives with great whites. Possibly regarded as THE most knowledgable guy on great white sharks behaviour. He is also the guy thet push's the shark away from his boat with his hand. Guess what.........with all that knowledge and experience, he was bitten a couple of months back..............

Sharks are wild creatures. Respect them.

I'm sure you have friends or you, that owns a dog. No matter how docile and loving a dog is, if you provoke it, it WILL BITE YOU!! Try pulling any dog by the tail and see what response you'll get............:martial :martial :crutch :crutch Similarly, don't do stupid things like annoy sharks, no matter HOW docile they might appear!!

Dive Safe

MB
 
Reactions: miles and island_sands
Amphibious said:
this is an excellent way of loosing a hand. :crutch
Click to expand...

Agree completely. Its also an excellent way to get bitten on the elbow... :blackeye

But I know, this guy, who like, knows everything and has done everything, and he once grabbed this shark and kissed it, and now it follows him around, even on dry land, because he's so experienced. True story! :mute :mute :mute
 
Reactions: Amphibious

if you took 5 minutes to read my profile or do some reading on this board you'd find out I've only been in BC a very short time. before that I spent then majority of my life diving the redsea and arabian gulf, and yes, we have lots of sharks

I think the folks that have responed between your post and mine have argued this nicely so I'll leave it at that. eventually, when your foot comes out of your mouth, I would love to hear more of diving in California, a place I've always wanted to dive.
 
Ah, what the hell, I'll throw in a little snippit....


Back when Amphibious was but a tadpole, he used to do many stupid thing. one of these was wrestle Guitarfish. in the Arabian gulf these fish get rather large, some to the 6ft+ range. well on dive trips, during surface intervals, my buddies and I would cruise the shallow sand flats looking for flatties, swim down, and grab their tails and see how long we could hang on for. at the time this seemed like a great idea and lots of laughs. well prolly a couple years into this and dozens and dozens of molested shovelheads later, i swim down and get a good double hand grab on a 5ft and expect the ride of my life. well this usually timid, placid fish turned into a horseshoe, bit the meaty part of my hand and ripped the glove right off. it's rather hard to scream in a snorkle so I bolted to the surface. my hand was bruised for a good week and very painfull. I was very lucky I din't break my hand or loose a finger.

I'd start telling stories of all the "bear experts" in these parts that have been killed by a little tiny "timid" fur ball, but I have steak to grill.......
 
A good way of looking at sharks and what they eat is through their dentition.
Whites have big thick serrated triangular teeth that can bite through bones of mammals.
Tigers have serrated teeth that are half moon shaped, also designed for biting tough stuff like turtles and general scavenged stuff.
Porbeagles although big sharks have relatively small tri-cuspid teeth designed for grabbing and holding fish
A similar sized Mako has much bigger teeth with micro serrations.
A blue shark has half moon shaped serrated teeth that are designed for scavenging and cutting.
I would not take liberties with a Blue, all wild animals are unpredictable and should not be trifled with, The blue shark is called a gumboot in NZ sportfishing circles because it fights like one, that does not make it harmless.
I have seen 14 ft blues bite holes through heavy duty commercial trawl nets to get at the fish inside and I would not fancy being in the water with one, they can move quite quickly when aroused.
 
I can resist telling stories either Amphi.

--------------------------------------------------------
I was out hunting with a mate one day, after Rabbits and Foxes. We both had shotguns as the cover was pretty dense. I use a Baikal double-barrel, he uses a Pump-action.

After the first paddock turned up empty we hoped back in the truck to move to the next spot. He threw his loaded gun onto the back seat and hopped in. I asked "Why don't you unload the gun first? Safer that way!"

He replied: "But you don't even own a pump-action shotgun..."
---------------------------------------------------------
 
Shadowkiller said:
If its a Blue Shark, swim up and enjoy the sight!

The same species was used in a "shark tossing" competition some years ago! Scuba divers would catch them by hand and "toss" them through a hoop.

Harmless species.
Click to expand...

Now thats a good game

I think in this time of ultra conservative fun killing grannies who try to stop
every pastime that is even slightly dangerous or loud or noisy, we should encourage Shark Tossing.

I fore one have had enough of being told,
Dont ride that it to loud
Dont climb that its to high, you have to wear a harness
You cant wind surf that far from shore without a life jacket and flaires
Dont do this dont do that, dont play with matches.
Dont do anything

I say GET STUFFED, lets toss the Sharks, lets pull a few shark tails lets ride some turtels lets do all the things our Dads used to do before they ban use from doing anything. or our kids end up being wrapped up in cotton wool and placed in a draw because the world might hurt them.

Next time there is a game of Shark Tossing put me down as a starter

Crusty
 
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