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Sharks

AngryAnt

Tiger Legend
Nov 25, 2004
27,017
14,792
As I keep saying, the sharks need to lift their game. 57 unprovoked bites last year.

Course, there is the argument that all those hundreds of thousands of deaths by drowning each year are really secret shark attacks.
 

josey

Tiger Superstar
Mar 17, 2008
1,662
367
Melbourne
This is a funny thread I reckon. It makes me wonder how many of people who post on it spend any time in the ocean.

For people who are in the ocean week in week out in remote and sometimes sharky places, the shark attack kits are a pretty good investment.
Two hundred odd dollars to potentially save a mate or family member is a pretty good investment IMO.
 

AngryAnt

Tiger Legend
Nov 25, 2004
27,017
14,792
This is a funny thread I reckon. It makes me wonder how many of people who post on it spend any time in the ocean.

For people who are in the ocean week in week out in remote and sometimes sharky places, the shark attack kits are a pretty good investment.
Two hundred odd dollars to potentially save a mate or family member is a pretty good investment IMO.

Used to surf every day for 20 years of my life, too far from the water now these days.
 

LeeToRainesToRoach

Tiger Legend
Jun 4, 2006
33,186
11,546
Melbourne
Last week's news

NSW shark attack leaves woman in hospital and beaches closed around South Coast town of Merimbula


A woman is in hospital after being bitten by a shark while swimming at Merimbula on the far South Coast of NSW.

The 63-year-old was attacked by a shark at Main Beach at about 7:00am and received lacerations to her hip, back and buttocks, according to paramedics.

She was taken to South East Regional Hospital and is in a stable condition.

Bystanders had reported seeing fins and a large animal, Inspector Robert Whitney from NSW ambulance said, but there was uncertainty initially if the attack had been caused by a shark.

"It was pretty clear that it had been a shark attack as paramedics arrived on scene," he said.

Merimbula beach closed

Beaches around the South Coast town of Merimbula are closed for 24 hours after a shark attack.(ABC News: Kate Aubrey)

"What we could see is that the patient suffered multiple wounds in what would have been a terrifying event, paramedics did a fantastic job in treating the patient down at the beach before transporting to hospital."

Surf lifesavers said the woman had been swimming with a friend close to shore when she was "bumped" in the back by the shark.

Her friend assisted her to shore and called emergency services.

Local Jake Romano was getting ready for his early morning swim when he was warned about the shark attack.

"I had a lady run up to me and she goes 'I've just seeing someone get attacked by a shark, we've called an ambulance so don't go into the water,' and it made sense because I saw some commotion in the water a bit earlier but I didn't think about it," he said.

"I got out, I wasn't in that deep, but it was just a full on morning. I hope everyone is alright, that's the main thing …as long as no one gets hurt it's a smart decision to close the beach."

Thirty kilometres of beaches surrounding Merimbula and Pambula will be closed for 24 hours while investigations continue to confirm the size and type of shark.

Surf lifesaving drones will be launched to conduct surveillance of the waters off Merimbula, with the Department of Primary Industries also monitoring marine activity.
 

LeeToRainesToRoach

Tiger Legend
Jun 4, 2006
33,186
11,546
Melbourne
SECOND FATAL SHARK ATTACK IN TWO MONTHS ROCKS IDYLLIC SOUTH PACIFIC ISLAND AND POPULAR TOURIST DESTINATION

Sharks are gettin’ real feisty again in New Caledonia, a pretty-ish archipelago in Melanesia seized by the French in 1843 and which has been maintained as a French-administered territory ever since.

Yesterday, a fifty-three-year-old man was found dead on his SUP by a passing yachtsman, the man’s leg wound consistent with a shark attack.

Swimming and all water sports in the area have been banned for a week.

The attack follows a government cull of protected sharks only four weeks ago which had been made in response to the death of a fifty-seven-year-old swimmer killed in February by a thirteen-foot tiger shark fifty metres off a popular beach.

Authorities nailed twenty-four sharks in the cull, which included nineteen tigers.

Two years ago, after a ten-year-old kid lost his leg to a bull shark followed by the death of a fisherman a few days later, also by a bull shark, authorities got out the bait and hooks and iced twenty sharks. The decision raised a few hackles at the time, a petition against the cull was circulated etc, but this time no one seemed real concerned by the cull.

In 2016, four kitesurfers were hit by sharks, two of ‘em fatal.

Theories for all the attacks include rising water temperatures caused by climate change making sharks change their habits, the El Nino weather pattern and so on.

French islands and their sharks, eh?

https://beachgrit.com/2021/04/secon...cific-island-and-popular-tourist-destination/
 

AngryAnt

Tiger Legend
Nov 25, 2004
27,017
14,792
Aussies sharks not pulling their weight cf New Caledonian sharks
 
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LeeToRainesToRoach

Tiger Legend
Jun 4, 2006
33,186
11,546
Melbourne

Northern beaches surfer who died in shark attack ‘tried to warn others’


A male surfer from Sydney’s northern beaches has died after being bitten by a 4½-metre shark on the NSW Mid North Coast.
NSW Ambulance paramedics were called to Tuncurry Beach near Forster about 11.15am.

Four ambulance crews treated the man, aged 59, who was bitten on his upper thigh while he was surfing.

The man, who was holidaying with friends, lost a significant amount of blood and went into cardiac arrest.

“It’s believed that when the attack occurred the man did actually see the shark and called out to try and warn others,” Superintendent Christopher Schilt told reporters on Tuesday.

“And very heroically his friends were able to bring him back into shore after he had been attacked.”

His friends dragged him out of the water and onto the beach where a retired paramedic performed CPR until further help arrived.
A specialist medical team flew up in a helicopter from Sydney, but by 12.40pm the man had died.

NSW Ambulance Inspector Joshua Smyth extended his sympathies to the man’s family and said paramedics were faced with “a confronting scene in difficult terrain”.

“Bystanders, including a retired paramedic, did a valiant job pulling the patient from the water and commencing CPR before paramedics arrived. These people should be commended for their brave actions,” he said.

The NSW Department of Primary Industries (DPI) extended its condolences to the man’s family and said it had deployed drumlines and drones at the beach.

“Any target sharks [including] white, tiger or bull sharks that are caught will be relocated about 1.5 kilometres offshore before being tagged and released,” the department said.

“NSW DPI shark scientists have analysed photographs of the bite and determined a white shark of approximately 4.5 metres in length is likely responsible for the bite.”

Two other sharks were detected in the area in the hours before and after the attack.

On Monday night, a 2½-metre great white shark was detected at Main Beach in Forster, about two kilometres south of Tuncurry Beach.

On Tuesday afternoon, a different white shark measuring between 2.5 and 2.8 metres in length was pinged by the same shark detector.

Macquarie University behavioural ecologist Culum Brown said there was nothing unusual about three white sharks being detected in the same area in a short period of time because they are known to cover great distances.

“These guys are cruising up and down the coast all the time,” Professor Brown said.

“There’s a lot of hysteria about the shark population getting out of control – they’re definitely not. White sharks are listed as vulnerable for a reason: their numbers are declining.”

Taronga Conservation Society keeps a log of shark attacks in Australia each year.

According to its database, this attack marks the first fatality in Australia this year, although a Victorian man disappeared in South Australia in January and was suspected to have died from a shark attack when his damaged wetsuit and flippers were found nearby.

Eight people died from shark attacks in Australia last year, the deadliest since 1929.

There were no deaths nationally in 2019 and just one each in 2017 and 2018.

Forster resident Billy Fenton, who was walking along the Tuncurry breakwall 90 minutes before the attack, said “sharks are always out there”.

“It’s a tragedy because a fatality in the ocean is the last thing we’re thinking about, otherwise we wouldn’t be out there,” he said.
Following the attack, beaches between Blackhead Beach and Burgess Beach were closed for 24 hours.

- - - - -

Bit irresponsible of the university researcher to claim that GWS numbers are declining after the "guys" have been protected for 25 years, and most signs point to the opposite. But then they're a special breed.
 

LeeToRainesToRoach

Tiger Legend
Jun 4, 2006
33,186
11,546
Melbourne
Fisherman dies after shark attack

It took fishermen more than half an hour to free Donovan Haywood from the mouth of a shark that attacked and bit him while he was fishing in the Salmon Point area, located off the coast of Little London in Westmoreland, on Saturday.

Haywood, otherwise called 'Doggie', of Darling Street in Savanna-la-Mar, Westmoreland, died as a result of the injuries. The shark escaped with one of his arms and inflicted several wounds to his upper body.

Clive Campbell, captain of the 18-foot boat on which Haywood and 11 other fishermen set out to sea on Saturday, was almost in tears as he told a most horrific story. He said they were spearfishing in the water when the shark attacked.

"The shark cum up from underneath him and grab on pon him entire left side and have him a flash him all bout inna di water," Campbell said.

"Every minute the shark go down wid 'Doggie' then him cum back up, all a wi have fi form a circle because the water full a blood an wi don't want him grab nobody else," the fisherman added.

He told The Star that one of his brothers used a speargun to shoot di shark, and it was at that point that it released Haywood.

Kemesha Titus, a sister of the deceased, said that Haywood, who is the father of four children, has been a fisherman ever since he was a teenager. She said her brother was an expert at deep sea spearfishing.

"Up to now mi caah believe seh shark kill him because him always a tell mi all kind a story bout wen him a shoot fish, and how wen dem si shark dem haffi tek off di fish dem off a di string one by one, and feed the shark until dem reach safety," she said.

"Although all a wi a grieve, wi still glad fi know seh wi get him body fi bury," the sister said.

Chrisona Haywood, the deceased's eldest daughter, is struggling to come to terms with his sudden loss.

"Him tell me before seh 'Daughter, shark attack me nuff time out a sea already, and me affi be skill to get weh from them'. But me really never know say shark would attack in this way now and to see him go like that it really hard," she told THE STAR.

Recalling that her dad last words in a video that was sent to her from the scene were "Me nuh dead man, me a guh be alright."

A video of the fisherman in distress has been making its way around social media. Chrisona says its circulation is adding to the family's pain.

"I would really appreciate if people stop circulating it because I don't want to remember him in that way. I want to close my eyes and see him always referring to me as his daughter, and smiling," she said.
 

LeeToRainesToRoach

Tiger Legend
Jun 4, 2006
33,186
11,546
Melbourne
Surfer badly injured in NSW shark attack

A man has sustained a serious injury after a shark took a "significant bite" out of his arm while he was surfing on the NSW mid north coast.

The man, believed to be aged in his 20s, was surfing at Crescent Head Beach on Monday 4:30pm when he was attacked.

He was helped out of the water, treated by paramedics and later airlifted to John Hunter Hospital in a serious but stable condition.

NSW Ambulance Inspector Andrew Beverley said the bystanders who helped the man from the water and provided "crucial initial first aid" should be praised.

"It was a significant bite and the man suffered serious injuries to his arm as a result," Mr Beverley said.

"It might be cold at the moment but it's important to always be aware of your surrounding in the water, even in winter."

Officers will contact the Department of Primary Industry to investigate the circumstances surrounding the incident.
The beach has been closed by Surf Life Saving NSW.

3ef5227d8b4a68f11e115bae4183b35e

A chunk was taken out of the surfboard. Picture: Facebook/Port Macquarie ALS Lifeguards
 
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LeeToRainesToRoach

Tiger Legend
Jun 4, 2006
33,186
11,546
Melbourne
Archaeologists Uncover a 3,000-Year-Old Shark Attack Victim

Marine biologists have long tried to dispel the myth that sharks are vicious predators that target humans. Nonetheless, fatal shark assaults do occasionally happen. According to University of Florida's Museum of Natural History, 57 unprovoked shark bites occurred worldwide in 2020, with 13 of those being fatal. Now experts have unearthed the skeletal remains of the oldest known shark attack victim, reports Sophie Wingate for the Independent.

University of Oxford researchers J. Alyssa White and Rick Schulting recently uncovered an adult male skeleton known as Tsukumo No. 24 at the Tsukumo burial site, a prehistoric hunter-gatherer cemetery in Japan's Okayama Prefecture, while researching violent trauma on human remains of prehistoric hunter-gatherers, according to a statement. The victim displayed nearly 790 traumatic injuries including incisions, punctures and fractures that showed no signs of healing, which suggest that the incident was fatal. The researchers published their findings in the August 2021 issue of the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports.

Per the statement, the team used a combination of scientific and forensic methods to determine what wounded the man. While analyzing the skeleton, archaeologists concluded that the man probably died between 1370 B.C. and 1010 B.C. and that his injuries were primarily concentrated on his arms, legs, chest and stomach.

Experts used this information and other evidence to determine that a tiger shark or a great white shark most likely ambushed the victim. The injuries resembled those made with metal weapons, but scientists used radiocarbon dating to determine that the attack occurred at a time in Japan when people didn’t have those, notes Haaretz’s Ruth Schuster. The team considered other possible assailants—like crabs, bears and boars—but the types of lesions on the remains didn't fit the bill, so researchers ruled those out.

“Given the injuries, he was clearly the victim of a shark attack,” say White and Schulting in the statement. “The man may well have been fishing with companions at the time, since he was recovered quickly. And, based on the character and distribution of the tooth marks, the most likely species responsible was either a tiger or white shark.”

As Mindy Weisberger writes for Live Science, tiger sharks and great white sharks inhabit Japan's Seto Inland Sea near the burial site. Both species have previously mauled humans, though they don’t usually attack people unless they’re provoked.

“Many victims of shark attacks in the past may not have been recovered for burial,” Schulting tells Haaretz. “But there are two other factors at play. One is that evidence of the injuries to bone caused by sharks may not always be recognized.”

Since archaeological discoveries of shark attacks are relatively uncommon, the team decided to consult George Burgess, director emeritus of the Florida Program for Shark Research. Together, the international team was able to reconstruct the assault using X-ray computed tomography (CT), which allowed experts to see and map the person’s wounds, per Live Science.

These scans showed that most of the victim's ribs were fractured and bitten and that his chest cavity and abdomen were probably eviscerated. The wounds were also concentrated on his left hip and leg, and he may have lost his left hand while trying to protect his body from the attack.

Scholars also speculate that the victim lived during the Jomon period in Japan, about 2,300 to 14,000 years ago, according to Haaretz. People of the Jomon culture likely hunted and fished to survive, and Tsukumo No. 24 may have perished during such a fishing expedition. Prior to this find, the oldest known shark attack victim was almost 1,000 years younger, per Live Science.

Construction workers initially uncovered the Tsukumo site in 1860, and the first archaeological digs occurred in 1915. Since then, archaeologists have found more than 170 human remains there. However, only one skeleton had such gruesome and widespread injuries.

“Humans have a long, shared history with sharks,” the scientists write in the study. “This is one of the relatively rare instances when humans were on their menu, and not the reverse.”

268778_web.jpeg

Though researchers recovered most of the person's remains, experts were unable to find some portions of his skeleton. (Courtesy of Kyoto University)
 

LeeToRainesToRoach

Tiger Legend
Jun 4, 2006
33,186
11,546
Melbourne
Man killed in horror shallow water shark attack

A man cooling off in knee-deep water after an afternoon boozing with pals at an obscure Brazilian beach has died after being bitten multiple times by a shark, likely a bull or tiger.

Brazilian media is showing graphic footage of a man in his fifties, dead, face down on the sand, a large bite on the back of his right thigh and with his right hand gone. You can find it if you search hard enough but, warning, I wish I’d never seen it.

Glazier Ademir Sebastião da Silva was in the water having a p!ss next to the man. He said he saw him staggering and the water red with blood.

“Since the beach doesn’t have a bathroom, I went into the sea to pee. It was right next to him, in waist-deep water,” he said.
The man fell unconscious on the sand.

“It could be me. It was God’s deliverance. If I had been diving or lingered in the water, I could have been attacked,”said da Silva.
The joint where he got hit, Piedade beach, is in Recife, a large city on the eastern tip of Brazil. Heaviest joint for sharks. Tourists regularly lose limbs.

A few years ago, after a tourist was hit in waist-deep water there. A beach snack seller, Maria Lourenço, shook his head, said, yeah, messed up, but “I’ve been working on this beach for 25 years and during this time I have witnessed a number of ferocious attacks. It was horrible to see. Each time it is very frightening and sad.”

On the beach is a large sign that don’t pull punches. Danger. Risk of Shark Attack.

ap504350037207.jpg


Turns out the problem is, likely, man-made.

In the early nineties, the port of Suape was built to attract large ships.

According to Quartz, the construction and this ship traffic disrupted two significant shark populations in the waters surrounding Recife: tiger sharks and bull sharks. The trails of garbage left behind by shipping vessels en route to the port attract these migratory creatures, drawing them dangerously close to popular beaches.

As we all know, tigers and bulls, like their big brother the Great White, don’t *smile* around.