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Spearo fatality - Cape Town

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bluecape

Well-Known Member
Apr 21, 2003
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Hi All

It saddens me to have to tell you that a young spearo was taken today off Millers Point in Capetown by a White Shark.
Details are sketchy, and the sea rescue will continue the search tomorrow, but he and his buddy were doing a shore dive when the shark attacked. his buddy managed to get back to shore. All that has been found is a gun and 1 fin, and apparently there were fish on the stringer. This is just what I have heard within the spearo community, I will post more details as they are avaliable. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family at this time.

Jeff
 
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Hiya

Apparently they were diving in 5m of water with 50'+ viz when the shark took one of the spearo's. From reports, it was a VERY big great white.

A short while back, a swimmer was taken not far from this attack. The scary part is that the shark didn't bite and leave the victim, but actually devoured the victim. Could be the same large Great White thats now become a man-eater.

In other predatory species, such as Lions and Tigers, when the animal gets too old, they often turn to humans as a food source. They become too old to hunt their usual prey, they then often start hunting humans which are easy prey, thus becoming man-eaters.

From my experiences with Great Whites and other sharks, if a large shark is really intent on eating you, he WILL and theres pretty much nothing you can do about it. We survive encounters BECAUSE sharks KNOW we're not seals(we're just far too clumsy in the water to be mistaken for a seal!!!), but they're not entirely sure as to what we are and whether we pose a threat to them. But once a shark has recognised us as prey, we have no chance....................

This whole thing is getting waaaaay out of hand. I know that once you enter the water, you accept the risk of encountering sharks. How-ever, once a creature becomes accustomed to humans as food, they SHOULD be destroyed. We can't live in fear of the water, just becuase of probably ONE rogue shark!!!!

Echo-ing BlueCape's sentiments, as well as the whole spearo community, our prayers and condolences to the family and his surviving dive partner.

Regards
miles
 
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ditto.... that's really sad. Condolences to the family from us up here, in shark-free waters :(
 
Great Post Miles, very intereting points, which I agree with all. You guys be careful down there.
 
Again condolences to the family and friends of the unfortunate spearo.We don't have to share our waters with sharks like the rest of you guy's but still concerned that retaliation and death to the shark comes to the top.Is it not their world and we just use and in most cases abuse it.How many sharks would have to be killed and gutted before the right one is caught.Feel really bad for the family as i have a young family and would have for them to suffer the loss but how many spearos drown every year compared with shark attack??
 
IMHO Miles and the others in the area are rightly calling for this sharks destruction, If a dog bites someone it is put down end of story.
If a GWS devours one possibly two people it is allowed to continue and possibly make it more?
How many people will it take to get eaten before something is done?
Sorry I don't buy that line, and If the people in SA want the Shark to be killed then more power to em, I can't see that there will be that many BIG white pointers in that one area for too many to be killed, besides it takes a pretty big bait to interest a shark that size therefore small sharks need not apply.
I say get em.
 
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Hi
This is from IOl.co.za

In a horrific attack off Miller's Point on Saturday a massive shark came out of the depths, seized young spearfisherman, Henri Murray, 22, of Durbanville and disappeared with him underwater.

His dive buddy, Piet van Niekerk, 23, apparently shot the creature with his speargun in a desperate attempt to drive it away but he did not see his friend again.

Both divers, who were spearfishing about 100 metres off the point in front of the Black Marlin restaurant, are believed to be students at Stellenbosch University, the victim a medical student, according to one source.

Horrified onlookers and witnesses lined the road at Miller's Point
Head of Cape Town emergency services Doctor Cleeve Robertson said Van Niekerk was extremely traumatised after the attack which happened at about 3.45pm.

"He saw his friend being hit by a very big shark and he shot it to try to chase it away before swimming for shore and running for help."

Some fishermen came to Van Niekerk's assistance and used their boat to search for Murray as well as calling the police and National Sea Rescue Institute.

Dave Estment, a member of the local boating fraternity, was sitting at the edge of the jetty looking out over the sea when the attack happened.

"It was incredibly fast. The hwo spearfishermen were about 100m from the beach. Suddenly a huge shark surged from under the water taking the one diver up to his arms in its jaws. It must have been massive to have done that.

"Then the shark and the man just vanished."

Estment said boats frantically went out to try and find Murray but it was too late. Later a helicopter helped look for him. Last night the search was called off but police said it would resume again on Sunday.

PJ Veldhuizen of the NSRI's Skymed division said they had found a speargun and a rubber swimfin about a metre below the surface as well as some fish which were on Murray's stringer [where spearfishermen hook their catch] attached to his buoy. It is believed the shark could have been attracted by the fish.

Another witness said a mask, snorkel and a weightbelt had also been found, the weightbelt so damaged it appeared as if it had been cut through by a knife.

There was no sign of Murray.

Horrified onlookers and witnesses lined the road at Miller's Point hoping for news and dispersed only when it became too dark for the helicopter to
continue the search.

Before the latest attack the Sharks Board in Durban confirmed that there had been a steady but small increase in the number of shark attacks over the past few years.

A spokesperson said there were a number of contributing factors. One was that surfing had really taken off in South Africa, with far more people in the water.

The greater the number of people in the water, and the longer they stayed in the water, the greater the likelihood of attacks, he said.

According to Sharks Board statistics, there have been over 70 attacks in Cape waters since 1990, of which eight have been fatal.


In March British tourist Chris Sullivan, 32, was attacked by a Great White shark at Noordhoek. He had to undergo four hours of surgery to his right leg and foot.


In November 2004 Tyna Webb, 77,was killed by a Great White off
Jagger Walk on the Fish Hoek coast. Only her red swimming cap was found after the attack.


In June 2004 Nkosinathi Mayaba, 21, a diver from Gansbaai, was fatally attacked off Pearly Beach on the Cape south coast.


In April 2004 surfer JP Andrews lost his lower leg to a Great White at Muizenberg.


In September 2003 a huge Great White killed bodyboarder David Bornman, 19, of Newlands at a popular surf break off Noordhoek beach.


In December 2002 diver Craig Bovim was injured in an attack by a Great White off Scarborough.
 
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Hi

This is the Follow-up Story.

The shark believed to have cut short the life of Durbanville medical student Henri Murray on Saturday, was spotted in False Bay on Sunday, dragging a fishing buoy.

The shark was spotted by fishermen at Roman Rock lighthouse in Simon's Town, and at Kalk Bay harbour. According to their reports, a spear fired by Murray's friend, Piet van Niekerk, remained embedded in the shark, which has also been dragging his spear-gun and buoy along with it.

On Sunday, Murray's car keys were found in a flap pocket of a piece of wetsuit that washed up on Fish Hoek beach, National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) spokesperson Craig Lambinon told the Cape Times.
 
agree with Huan...that shark should be put down. Dont get me wrong, i have the utmost respect for sharks, having encountered them many times here in hawaii, however a line must be drawn between encounters and becoming a man-eater. I can only wish this mans family and friends can recover from this tragedy in time. Everyone, be safe and always take extra precaution whenever we all venture into the watery unknown.
 
really really sorry to hear about this, i send my deepest thoughts to his friends and family.
 
I say leave the shark alone... its a risk you accept and take, surfing and spearing in shark infested areas. Its their habitat... that's all we need in SA, another mass GW massacre like during the early 80s.
 
Hi Everyone

Very sad news. I was encouraged by the families comments reported in the paper - they celebrated his life and didnt speak hate of sharks etc.

I dont know what they should do about the shark. reading the paper was very scary. it went against all the assurances I have about sharks.

The shark didnt strike unexpectedly. according to the paper Murray (the victem) prodded the shark off before it came back and hit him.
the water was clean and it was relatively shallow.

what I want to know is if Miles' theory is right and this is the same shark that killed the old woman and has gone "rogue". then what happens if it isnt killed. do we wait for more people to get attacked. what if two more people are taken? I guarentee that the general public will be screaming for the end of all sharks.

Right now, the shark is not going to be mistaken. its dragging the float and speargun.
i say they kill it now while the float is still attached.
 
Very sorry to hear about this!

I think where the shark is easily identifiable a hit on it is reasonable, I dont know the whole story but sharks do not mistake you for another animal. If your easy to eat your eaten... if you present a hard meal your not.

This one appears to have called the bluff...

Rob
 
Griff said:
Right now, the shark is not going to be mistaken. its dragging the float and speargun.
i say they kill it now while the float is still attached.

This is horrible news and Cape Town waters seem to have had some increased activity in recent years against watermen/woman (factors???).

However, I agree with Griff because if you can sanction the retirement of this Johnny down to 'beyond a reasonable doubt'(towing the float!!), then that would be a fairly conclusive piece of evidence to base that judgement on.

Swim in peace Henri Murray
 
someone told me once, when you go into the water you enter into the food chain.

please take care. :(
 
I must agree with Miles and Griff,this shark has shown different to "normal" attack behaviour.Terminating this shark would not do any harm to the population and it would not be a blanket "let's kill everything with teeth" as it it carrying a homing beacon around with it :)
 
The whole point is to target a single individual animal. When land predators turn stock killer or man-eater every attempt (in countries with good wildlife management policies, at least) is made to track down that "rogue" and get rid of it. On land we have the advantage of hounds that can tell one side of a critter from another, let alone one cat from another. In the sea things are different. At least in this one case we have clear identification for the moment.
 
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