Spearo fatality - Cape Town

[Murat]

condolences to his family and firends.

Yes its known that due to old age some land predators becomes man eaters but this is may not hold for sharks, but its not worth the risking the life of HUMAN.Since the shark is carynig the eveidence with him he should have been killed otherwise it would do greater harm to shark reputation and if this GW takes one more people then all the of the sharks will be in trouble. In this case its better to remove the shark than to regret it later.

I think those SA boys takes fair amount of risk by spearing in those waters and its so easy to say this (eaten by "rouge" shark) is the risk you should take since its not your life at the end of the line.

 

[bluecape]

Hi Alison

Thats pretty much the case, the thing has gone quiet, and it seems to be forgotten for now.
I do'nt think anything will be done, there is just too much red tape, and for the sake of nature, I think we must still dive by the law that we are visiting his place, and we need to accept the risk that goes along with that.
It's a case of adapting our lifestyle, and my adaption has been to cut back on diving in the area where the attacks took place.

In fact whenever I dive False bay, I struggle to relax into a comfortable flow...there are just too many GW's being seen around. Instead of wasting my time, I give up 2 weekends a month of spearing, save, and every third weekend I head out on a really cool road trip, 4-6 hours drive away, and have 2 days of quality diving in warmer water, with better fish. Works for me.

The GW's are probably still around, but it just does'nt have that ominous feel that certain parts of false Bay are giving out right now. Diving becomes fun again, and that is what its all about at he end of the day, yes.

 

[seaman]

What i think is very important is to clearly determine the ¨identity¨of the attacker. All, including eye witnesses are blaming the GWS. But that outcome is more of a huge tiger behavior. Its rather a very uncommon thing of a great White to eat a whole spearo. If we blame the GW. it could lead to overfishing. Anyway is a very sad thing ...

 

[zeN]

Just in case some think a GW can't take a diver whole- zeN

 

[glowworm]

Nice picture zeN i beleive it belongs to Vic Hislop who is more at home slaughtering big sharks than anything else.How authentic is this picture??? May rate up there with crop circles and roswell rofl rofl

 

[zeN]

Probably is a fake but an interesting pic nonetheless zeN

 

[sinkweight]

Yeah. Funny how this GW doesn't have his eyes rolled back. Perhaps he's tired of always blinking for feeding photos.

 

[glowworm]

The picture maybe a fake but the fact a large GW can swallow someone whole is not.I have seen pictures of a GW swallowing a 6 ft long bronze whaler shark tied to the back of a fishing boat.

 

[Huan]

A GWS doesn't have to be that big to eat a human whole, They are made to eat seals , which are the same size or bigger than a human.
I have passed through a set of jaws of a 14 footer in a Museum.
Tigers have a big bite too, I had a 10 foot tiger on a handline and couldn't pull it aboard so tied it off on a cleat, came back and all that was left was part of the head.
His big brother ate him.....

 

[seaman]

Certainly a GWS, could easily eat a whole human if he want to. But humans are not in the menu of that particular kind of sharks. The Tiger Shark instead is a real man eater, and is easier to locate a particular shark that hunts in a specific area, all that i say, is do not blame Withes right away ....

 

[seaman]

Besides, If there is a shark detering device as the shark shield, developed by the shark board of Z.A. it's very irresponsible for the authorities not to make the S.shield obligatory. Same as the safety belt for the automobile. Nobody is thinking of a car crash, but we buckle it up nevertheless!!!

 

[zeN]

Did you say "OBLIGATORY???" someone needs some wuuupppass for saying something like that, society is already so freakin' safety conscious you can't go into the water without a gazillion gadgets and $$$, give the dive industry an idea like that and before you know it you WILL have to wear the gd (no I don't mean Good Day) device and shell out $$, not to mention they are still experimental, and may very well attract predators, who pick up on electrical fields naturally zeN

 

[Huan]

not to mention they are still experimental, and may very well attract predators, who pick up on electrical fields naturally zeN

These units are in full commercial production and have been proven to work very well.
I am not advocating mandatory use, but from the reports that I have seen many experienced spearos have given them the thumbs up for deterring sharks.

 

[zeN]

Here's one case of a diver killed while wearing a pod:
"THE coronial inquest into the death of commercial diver Paul Buckland has heard evidence the diver may not have correctly used his shark repellant device.

Mr Buckland, 23, was attacked and killed by a great white shark while diving for scallops in the waters off Smoky Bay on April 30 last year.

He was wearing a Shark Pod which his crew member advised was switched on when he retrieved Mr Buckland from the water"
http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/sharks/innews/poduse2003.htm

more to come :hmm zeN

 

[Huan]

Here's one case of a diver killed while wearing a pod:
"THE coronial inquest into the death of commercial diver Paul Buckland has heard evidence the diver may not have correctly used his shark repellant device.

Mr Buckland, 23, was attacked and killed by a great white shark while diving for scallops in the waters off Smoky Bay on April 30 last year.

He was wearing a Shark Pod which his crew member advised was switched on when he retrieved Mr Buckland from the water"
http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/sharks/innews/poduse2003.htm

more to come :hmm zeN

By Liz Walsh
Port Lincoln Times
"The court heard that prior to his death, Mr Buckland was not wearing the shark pod to the manufacturer's specifications and may only have turned the device on when he saw the shark approaching. "

 

[zeN]

If you listen to the South African developers and promoters, Shark POD (Protective Oceanic Device) is a technological marvel that will keep humans and sharks from tangling.

But California diver Morris wants to let potential customers know that sometimes sharks ignore the irksome sonic frequencies that Shark POD emits.

"There were a couple of times when the shark didn't give a damn when the unit was on," Morris says, adding that Shark POD is a work in progress. Yet divers across the world have enthusiastically embraced this new technology, either unaware of or undeterred by its shortcomings.
http://www.sharkattacks.com/protecting.htm

 

[DeepThought]

I agree with zeN about not making shark sheilds obligatory.
There's more than enough control over our lives as it is, I'm getting tired of politicians pushing products for companies while free will and good judgment is being pushed out of human kind's existence.
I'm not against poeple having to learn to drive and hold a license or something like that, I just think that there's a limit somewhere and the shark sheild is not in it.

 

[Huan]

Maybe the POD's sonic deterrent is not a effective as the Shark shields electrical impulses, I can only go on what I have read from other Spearos regarding these devices.
Bill Mcintyre has posted on other boards about the effectiveness of these devices on GWS in California, and I would have no reason to doubt him.
but saying that these things don't work is plain wrong. many many divers have seen just how effective these are WRT to repelling bull sharks that were trying to eat speared fish.
No device is going to protect 100% of the time, fact.So you have to just accept that these work most of the time and either invest or grow bigger Cojones

 

[Griff]

Hi guys, some background info.
The Shark POD is the result of the development of the natal Shark's board who have been conducting extensive research into the repulsion of sharks using ellectric fields. the sharks board then sold the patent to the company that make the shark shield a few years ago. the shark shield is an evolution if the POD but the principal remains the same - a pulsed electric field is generated between two electrodes. anyone who calls the field sonic has got it wrong. About the species of shark, its almost certainly a great white. as far as i know you dont get tigers in the colder cape waters. the spearo who shot the shark (victem's buddy) identified it in the clean water, and a misidentification between a great white and tiger would be pretty hard. the shark did behave strangely though, from what i have heard of the story. the diver poked the shark off with his speargun twice before it came back and hit him, breaching.
cheers
Mark

 

[bluecape]

As Mark says, definately a GW, no Tigers down this neck of the woods, we leave those 'Bad boys' for the Durban crew !!

Just to throw another cat amongst the pigeons, I do know someone who was actively harrased, at some speed, by a big GW in false bay, whilst his shark pod was on and working.

Another theory which I have heard, we know that GW's are attracted by magnetic fields around the prey, long before seeing or smelling anything. So, someone in the water with a pod is generating a HUGE magnetic field around him, would a shark not pick that up and say."hey, whats this about then...lets go have a little look.."

IE, are they not only fully effective when switched on as the shark is nearing, thereby freaking the shark out with a sudden, violent, magnetic field?? I do'nt know enough to comment, but I have heard the above theory from an experienced diver, ie, can a pod not be attracting a GW if it is far away?

Jeff