Catalina Shark Nibbles and Good Media?

Fortunately when occasional shark attacks occur in Southern California there's a few solid voices out there with ready quotes for the media.

This week was no exception and the quotes given were without the typical "re-branding effort" of top order predators that we are beginning to see in the conservation space.

Sharks are sharks, occasionally they attack things and sometimes those things happen to have a human element to them.

Sharks are not misunderstood, they are not soft and cuddly, and they are toothy.

Accepting the basic tenants of sharks does not make them less viable for conservation, but it does allow people to make "informed decisions" about where they should be when sharks are present.

More from RTSea Blog here.

Catalina Shark Nibbles, Whoa Nelly!

A young paddle boarder was lucky this week after a hair raising encounter with what most likely was a juvenile white shark at Catalina Island.

Pete Thomas has the scoop:

The shark reportedly bit the paddleboard more than once about 200 yards offshore, beyond a remote stretch of coast a mile from Avalon.

The size or type of shark is not known, but great whites have been known to mistake surfboards as prey, and are ambush hunters that strike marine mammals from below.

Catalina has been the stage for numerous shark/seal predations over the years many of which caught on tape. A paddleboard underwater tends to look like a seal and younger white sharks are known to be "frisky" with seal shaped objects on the surface.

Welcome to the start of Shark Summer in California. This video is purported to be a Mako shark and seal at Catalina in 2010: