Is cage diving safe?

 

A lot of you have seen the news coverage of 2 recent cage diving incidents and are wondering, "Is cage diving really safe?"

First of all I want to point out that neither of these incidents happened involved our company. We have been operating safe and sane shark dives for 16 years, without any incidents.

In the latest video you can see that the shark is going after a hang bait that is just laying in front of the cage. This is mistake by the bait handler. The bait was too close to the cage and should have been removed. Excerpt from the regulations for Guadalupe: The permit holder shall ensure that the bait line is immediately removed from the water if the white shark following the bait approaches within 6.5 feet (2 m) of the vessel.



When the shark was going after a bait, it rolled it's eyes back and lunged for the bait. When it did that, it was essentially blind and it's momentum carried it into the cage. Since it can't swim backwards, it just started thrashing around blindly, eventually coming out of the top of the cage.

There is nothing wrong with using hang-baits. Responsible use of hang-baits actually enhances safety, as it allows us to direct the shark. The shark typically follows the bait and when it lunges for it, the follow through is in the same direction. Proper use allows us to lead the shark parallel to the cage instead of into it, as happened in the video above.

You don't have to have the bait close to the cage to get great shots.

In addition to adhering to all the established safety standards, our cages are made out of round tubing which is both stronger than the square one and safer for the sharks, since it doesn't have any sharp corners. We also only use surface cages with a redundant air supply, that are securely attached to our vessel.

Back to the general safety question. While nothing is ever 100% safe, so far in innumerable cage dives around the world, there have been zero fatalities, which is to say, it is far safer than recreational SCUBA diving.

Let's go shark diving!

Cheers,

Martin Graf
CEO
Shark Diver

About Shark Diver. As a global leader in commercial shark diving and conservation initiatives Shark Diver has spent the past decade engaged for sharks around the world. Our blog highlights all aspects of both of these dynamic and shifting worlds. You can reach us directly at staff@sharkdiver.com.

Goblin girl in a goblin shark accident!

Today blood was flowing in my office today. MY blood!




(If you look carefully, you will see blood stains on my dress!)

Three years ago I sent out the - for me - earth rocking news about a live goblin shark kept in captivity in Japan, to my fellow shark friends. I immediately got the reply from my friend Guzman in the Basque country "funny you write to me now about this, because only yesterday I got a specimen from a fisherman". The shark was a caught in the Bay of Biscay on the 9th of February 2007. It's an immature male, ca 115 cm long. I replied to Guzman and told him that the shark was mine! The shark was then put in a freezer and forgotten until last summer when Guzman found it again. He put it in formalin and we started to check for transportation. Yesterday he asked me to confirm the delivery address to my office and today I got an e-mail that I should confirm to him when it arrived. Only half an hour later I was called to the reception of my office, where a tube was waiting for me!




I was of course very eager to see it. Also, it is now wrapped in formalin drenched paper and plastic so I will soon have to find a suitable container and put it in alcohol. Because of the stench, I went out on a balcony and started to unwrap it. Suddenly I felt a sting in my finger and blood was flowing. My finger had got snugged on one of the needle sharp teeth. They are just like a fishing hook. I had to stop the bleeding before I was ruining the shark so I went to the bathroom to put my finger under cold water. When I pulled off the tight rubber glove I was wearing, blood and water sprayed over the whole room, over my nice dress, me... Everywhere! I felt like Carrie from the movie with the same name. I'm lucky my colleagues are used to me, but I've never looked like this in my office before. And it's usually fish blood.





Since it wouldn't stop bleeding my colleague put on a big bandage. I wonder if I will get a scar... Maybe a first inflicted from a goblin shark? Although dead...

Ok, you are allowed to laugh now!

Hammers in Love?

Swim at Your Own Risk blog got the scoop from Perth yesterday featuring a video shot from the air of Hammerheads schooling off the coast.

Local experts think this is high seas shark love in action.

We'll let you decide.

Video Here.

White Shark Projects-Tragedy Update

15 April 2008

White shark viewing and diving continues

You will, by now, have heard the tragic news of the accident in Gansbaai on Sunday, 13 April. Our shark diving and viewing boat was capsized by a freak wave during an otherwise ideal sea-going day. Thanks to the prompt and efficient reaction of local emergency services and our crew, the incident was contained. Sadly, three lives were lost, and our deepest sympathy goes to their next of kin.

Be assured that all safety measures were in place. As always, White Shark Projects operates to the strictest standards as laid out by the shark cage diving and viewing industry and the South African Government's Marine and Coastal Management. Indeed, these are the basic requirements of an operator’s exemption and/or permit.

We would also like to assure you that our diving and viewing continues as usual. Existing and future bookings are not affected by the accident and visitors are assured, as always, of a wonderful experience.

Yours sincerely

Charmaine Beukes

Sales and Marketing

Email: charmaine@whitesharkprojects.co.za

Mobile : +27 (0) 83 728 4833

Reservations: +27 (21) 405 4537

S.Africa White Shark Boat Capsizes, 3 Killed

S.Africa Boat Capsizes, 3 Killed

37 minutes ago

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — Two Americans and one Norwegian tourist on a South African shark cage diving adventure drowned Sunday when their boat was hit by a freak wave, tourism and rescue officials said.

The 10 passengers and nine crew members onboard were flung into the water when the boat capsized under the wave. Nearby boats rescued 16 people who were taken to a hospital with minor injuries, officials said.

The two Americans and one Norwegian were pronounced dead at the scene, said the head of the Great White Shark Protection Foundation, Mariette Hopley.

The accident happened in Gansbaai, which calls itself the Great White capital of the world because its waters are teeming with sharks. The small town, about two hours from Cape Town, attracts thousands of tourists each year who are lowered into the water in metal cages to view the sharks.

Hopley said the boat had just anchored around 10 a.m. and was preparing to lower the first cage into the water when the freak wave hit. She said there were no sharks in the immediate vicinity at the time.

She said it was the first accident since the advent of shark cage diving in Gansbaai in 1991.

Eagle Ray Kills Boater-Florida

Karma has a few things to say about this latest and very bizarre accident in Florida. Expect to see George Burgess quoted somewhere in the next 24hrs.

MIAMI (Reuters) - An eagle ray leaped onto a boat off the Florida Keys on Thursday and stabbed a woman with its barb, knocking her to the deck and killing her, a Florida wildlife investigator said.

"It's a bizarre accident," said Jorge Pino, an agent with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

The woman and her family were aboard a boat in the Atlantic Ocean, off the city of Marathon in the Florida Keys, he said.

"A large ray jumped out of the water and collided with the victim and somehow the barb penetrated some part of her body, which caused her to fall back and hit her head on some portion of the vessel," Pino said. "We don't know exactly which one of those things caused her death."

Local media said the animal's barb had impaled the woman through the neck.

Eagle rays are common in warm or tropical waters and are often seen near coral reefs. The spotted creatures can grow to more than 8 feet across and have two to six short, venomous barbs near the base of their whip-like tails, according to the Florida Museum of Natural History's Web site.

The rays often swim near the water's surface and can leap out, especially when pursued, but are generally shy of humans.

"All rays leap out of the water from time to time but certainly to see one collide with a vessel is extremely unusual,"

Never Piss Off A Mako Shark

There are several reasons you might consider not pissing off a Mako Shark.

Number One: These critters are less than forgiving when it comes to those who add baits to hooks for the express purpose of killing them.

Enter a young fisherman from Australia this week (where else). Seems that he, along with his jolly crew of fellow beer fueled miscreants, failed the "How to Handle a Pissed-Off Mako 101 Class".

Shark Attacks Australian Fisherman on Boat Deck

BRISBANE, Australia – A 200 pound 10 foot- mako shark attacked a fisherman on his boat deck, biting him on the leg after the man reeled it in while fishing off Australia's east coast Sunday, an official said.

Witnesses say the shark immediately "whipped around" and bit into his right calf after he stepped on its tail. "They could not release the shark from the leg at all until they had cut the shark's head off".

As huge shark fans ourselves we cannot help but point out the obvious here. For those of you who need it spelled out here's the 1-2-3:

1. Don't fish for sharks
2. Don't drink beer and fish for sharks
3. Never step on a 10 foot Mako

When Angel Sharks Attack!

O.K people, how many times do we have to tell you?

They may look all "cuddly" and live most of their lives on the ocean floor, but pound for pound Angel Sharks are just plain vicious, vicious we tells ya!

This was what a team of crack divers discovered when one of the team got a little too close to natures Wild Child of the deep.

Underwater Thrills Lesson #2 here, if you're going to mess with an Angel Shark, ensure that you're not the guy off camera who gets nailed: