where do you draw the line with sharks

[Craig Thailand]

Thou hast made a strong point, the strength of thy forefathers runs deep in thy veins. lol
Back to the point, I would get out if it was a big enough shark and of a dangerous species.

 

[deep thinker]

Seein that were on the subject, personnaly I wont kill a shark for food. Maybe cause the people I know and normally have over mite be a bit squimish to eat one and also the one time Ive had shark meat it was dried and not very tasty at all... On the subject of where do I draw the line it depends on the type of shark and like some posts mentioned where Im diving. If I ever end up in the position of being in the water with a inquisitive 5m+ GWS Id do exactly the same as what I did the first time, get out asap. These guys are not our freinds, they are big strong and get annoyed if you shoot them with a toothpick. Just keep your spear in your gun and get out of there. Other places I dive I only ever saw a small raggy and they just see if theres something to score, but if the bigger ones get agro Id also get out. So yea depending on type and size Id get out most of the time...

 

[seaman]

Seein that were on the subject, personnaly I wont kill a shark for food. Maybe cause the people I know and normally have over mite be a bit squimish to eat one and also the one time Ive had shark meat it was dried and not very tasty at all... On the subject of where do I draw the line it depends on the type of shark and like some posts mentioned where Im diving. If I ever end up in the position of being in the water with a inquisitive 5m+ GWS Id do exactly the same as what I did the first time, get out asap. These guys are not our freinds, they are big strong and get annoyed if you shoot them with a toothpick. Just keep your spear in your gun and get out of there. Other places I dive I only ever saw a small raggy and they just see if theres something to score, but if the bigger ones get agro Id also get out. So yea depending on type and size Id get out most of the time...

You gotta try some shark panuchos, fromt the Veracruz coast, oh man, those little cakes are tasty!! imagine, some tomato, basil and olive!! yumm!

 

[tbgsub]

If it's me or the shark, no matter how small the risk is, i would take a shot with out blinking. I have a wife and a child to care for a career to think about and although we are a visitor in there world i still don't think it justifys having to wait until my life is on a thread before i take a shot.

if you are at the point of thinking me or (it/them), then the line is drawn isnt it? the decision made in the mind long before the interaction, for a timely self preservation response this is the best option. that much I completely agree with you.

but be cautious of pre-emptive contemplations that can yield to pre-emptive ramifications. e.g. a missed shot!! if it comes down to it; I would feel safe with, point blank to the head as a last resort to survuval, then the knife comes into play. with the range of many bluewater guns, you may not be giving much time for a change of intentions from the predator, and you might be risking a cruitial chance to simply jab it away. there is a reason Stingrays have barbs; most likely, call this a hunch, to avoid similar predation. Millions of years of evolutionary response cant be wrong. it is only recently we see how effective this evolution really is, and I see it as a natural defense mechanism that some of us get a chance to learn from.

I wouldnt dare suggest risking your life and family for preseving wildlife, the choice is always ours individually, and we either live or die with those choices, I am just stressing to make it a careful, and wise one.

P.s. I wouldnt kill a blue marlin if I saw one and was prepared for it. I am not a trophy minded individual, ok maby one GT but for keeps and a meal,
nor do I fall for the super hottie that walks into the party, except for the one that I married, but she had an irresistible mind that lured me to new depths of grandure. but as a small word of advice, if an unfriendly girl walks into a party it might be wise to leave the room before her unfriendly girlfriends follow suit, or you might suffer the bitch slapping frenzy of a lifetime, and it might not even be about you. I used to have two friendly girl room mates, and when they turned on eachother it was time for me to leave!

"to shoot or not to shoot, that seems to be the question? you answer; while, "to exit the water or stay", was I believe the one posed.

 

[deep thinker]

I agree with tgsub, you dont want to fire off a shot and miss, this having possible disastrous ramifications to your own wellbeing, if the shark comes in for a taste after you missed it your stuck with a blunt object to hit it over the head with, o and a short knife for it to use as a toothpick after it swallowed your hand while you were trying to stab it. Where a jab with a 1m plus extension to your arm with a nice sharp barb to the end would have been a much better defence agains a fast moving animal with a whole mouth full of steak knifes. If a shark attacks you you want too keep it as far away from you as you can possibly manage while you gracefully make a escape and come back to fight another day.
Just my 2 sents worth

 

[tbgsub]

wow deep thinker, you have thought alot about the potential outcomes, havent you.

I try not to think about all the details, just keep the sharp things at hand, but you certainly put it into perspective "mouth full of stake knives" and all.

thanks,

now I am going to go have some nightmares.

tbgsub. 8)

 

[deep thinker]

wow deep thinker, you have thought alot about the potential outcomes, havent you.

I try not to think about all the details, just keep the sharp things at hand, but you certainly put it into perspective "mouth full of stake knives" and all.

thanks,

now I am going to go have some nightmares.

tbgsub. 8)

rofl rofl rofl rofl rofl
Well enjoy lol. I had that jaws type nightmare with a shark chomping behind me jaws half open out the water the night before my next dive after I had my first encounter with a big Great White. Luckily I havent come across one again as of yet, but I know that they are out there.
Theres a account of that day here http://forums.deeperblue.net/journal.php?do=showjournal&j=16

 

[Craig Thailand]

if an unfriendly girl walks into a party it might be wise to leave the room before her unfriendly girlfriends follow suit, or you might suffer the bitch slapping frenzy of a lifetime
Point taken, thanx for the advice

 

[ROBERT REYES]

"to shoot or not to shoot, that seems to be the question? you answer; while, "to exit the water or stay", was I believe the one posed.

Someone has to tell the shark about the posted one.

 

[Lockedin]

Sharks! An interesting subject for sure! In So Cal, My buddies and I generally spot Leopard & Horn sharks, though out at the Channel Islands, we've seen a good size GWS (or a gigantic Mako, according to my buddy), and chose to abort the dive - mostly due to the fact that we were by a seal rookery (GWS fast food joint ), and it just didn't seem wise. We moved to the other side of the island. I know, the shark could've made it to that side of the island in less than an hour, but with plentiful food where we spotted it, we figured it would stay put.

My usual dive buddy is also the only diver I've ever known to have been bitten by a Horn Shark - because he kept grabbing it's tail as it tried to escape :rcard ; so it (rightfully) whipped around and under him, and got him on the upper thigh! :crutch Now he knows better. :naughty rofl

When I'm spearing, I'm far more wary of Sea Lions. The ones local to some of my favorite spots seem to be just curious and innocent, until you nail a fish. Then, they transform into aggressive, ocean going pit-bulls. I'm not the only diver whose had his catch bitten right off of the stringer (they are GOOD at this), or had a bag of lobster stolen right off of my hip. I've speargun butt and camera whipped a few, :martial kicked one from a surfboard, and was nearly taken advantage of by a one that thought I was a dead sexy little female seal :inlove Ahhhhh, mating season!

Have fun, everyone!

Rick

 

[Hypersquid1]

the only sharks that swim around where i freedive are little sandsharks. they dont get much larger than 3 1/2 feet, and seeing a 4 foot one is sort of rare. they are actually scared of you and swim away. even if they tried to attack, they couldnt do much to you either. however, if i ever came into contact with a bigger shark, i would get out of the water as soon as possible.

 

[covert]

I love this thead amazing to see people's perspective about sharks and what to do. And i thought i just have to throw in my two cents as well. In my opinion when on safari and you see a lion, you get back in the Land Rover, nobody will consider staying out in the field and I guess the same applies for a shark if you see it then 1 count yourself lucky and 2 get out of the water. Id rather be scared than trying to find half my intestines drifting all around me not quite my idea of a good time.

 

[RuhRoh]

I answered leave the water if they are an aggressive species. I dove around Nurse sharks a bit and they are fun but I think I would be a little squimish around a big'un.

Any tips from the old hats on dealing with them till you can get away? I have heard some stories about people popping them on the nose with their gun when the shark tries to take a speared fish and such. (bulls were mentioned). Any particular tactic work best in diswading a shark that may be getting too close?

Pointing spear at them and using it as a disatnce keeper makes sense now. I heard refernece to it before but didn't understand how the tip would diswade the shark until I heard someone mention the long profile comment. And keeping it away from you with the spear, if it snaps at the spear Sure I might be out a couple hundred bucks but I'd be 10 feet in air and counting my fingers and toes...

Honestly anything bigger than me I'd probably be getting out of the water and trying somewhere else.

 

[deep thinker]

A mate of mine had a nurse shark come at him one day in bad vis, he says its the most agresive hes ever seen one of em behave. He had to punch it with his spear 5 or 6 times before it finally decided hes not worth the effort. Needless to say he headed back to the shore after that encounter.

 

[chris the vis]

I guess by nurse sharks you guys mean Carcharias taurus aka Raggies in SA. They seem to be quite moody sharks as I've heard different reports on them from different divers. Some buddies of mine recently got harrased by one-they had some fish on their stringers, but the shark showed no interest in the fish and instead made continual passes at them. They had to keep on beating it with their guns when it got too close and eventually had to leave the water. I've also spoken to other people that have had similar problems.
In my own experiences I've never had any real problems with raggies out at sea, they usually keep their distance and I keep mine. At the oceanarium where I scrub windows occassionally they have two raggies-one of them a big female~3m and one male~2m. The best way to keep these sharks at bay when they start showing interest in you is to just maintain eye contact and point your glorified broom stick at them, even swimming non aggressively to them, just to show your not some easy meal. I've also applied this technique to a curious little bronze whaler and it seemed to work, although if I see a GW I would crap myself a little island and get out of the water asap.
Oh about the raggies-around spring time we usually have to be more alert when diving with them since it's the start of their breeding season-so the males will mistake anything big and swimming for potencial mating competition and are thus way more aggressive during this time, which might explain some of their apparent moodiness...damn and I thought women were complicated.

 

[deep thinker]

Yea so you know what Im talking about, I myself also havent encountered a agresive raggy although I have seen them and like you stated, we keep our distances.
I have had the pleasure (or should I say displeasure ) though of encountering a large GW and the island strategy doesnt quite work, you just realize ok weve got a problem and stick your head down and keep your gun on the shark hoping to keep it as a barrier between the two of you. In cases like this when the shark reaches the stage of being 5m or bigger and wants to come and taste you, your spear tip wont be doing much harm so your hoping it swims into it and pushes you away from it using its own power, theres not much you can do. Luckily my encounter didnt reach that stage, as the shark changed angle and in the low visibility and rush of adrenalin came past my spear tip without me even seeing it, and I was saved by our skipper running over the shark in its dorsal fin area and that sent it packing, if we werent hunting from a boat and our skipper didnt see the shark before me well... :crutch I always dive with a shark sheild sinse then, allthough I havent even seen a shark since I got it so I wont know if its efective.
Chris do you scrub tanks in CPT or PE, with who do you need to get in toutch to go help out there?

 

[chris the vis]

Hi Deepthinker
I'm currently in PE so that's where I do most of my diving, including dives for the oceanarium, well at least for the moment . The best thing to do would be to get in touch with the head honcho/chief aquarist at the oceanarium. I'm sure that if you inquire at 2oceans information desk they'll be able to point you in the right direction-don't take no for an answer.
the best is to speak to someone in charge not the lackeys manning the front entrance. Also if you want to dive for them you'll need a minimum of a classIV diving ticket as stipulated by the DOL, although there's rumours that this might change soon and sport divers will be allowed in on the action?
Good luck

 

[deep thinker]

Thanx mate

 

[cdavis]

Question for those of you fortunate (or unfortunate?) enough to have encountered a GW or a mako. Does keeping the spear pointed out toward them keep'em from coming past it? Any attempts to bite the spear?

That works very well for the types of sharks I've encountered, assuming you see them quick enough, but I always wondered about the two biggies.

Thanks

Connor

 

[deep thinker]

Well in my encounter the shark came rite past my spear tip but they normally turn away from the spear or after a bit of a jab, last year there was a guy who broke off his spear tip in a GW and after that it decided to go look for better food, something that doesnt bite back probably. Thing with the bigger guys is like miles said, if you spot them and they know it, they disappear and come back from a different direction so you find yourself doing 360 turns in the water trying to follow it or find it after youve lost it.