Shark attack, surfer kicking for his life?

Today's headlines of a few Australian newspapers scream "Shark Attack In Australia Had Pro Surfer Ryan Hunt Kicking For His Life",  "Top surfer who survives shark attack after kicking it in the head"
and Surfer undergoes surgery after shark attack near Old Bar, NSW. 

So what happened? Another surfer attacked by a great white shark? 

The reports are stating things like "A surfer survived a shark attack after kicking it in the head as he rode a wave. Ozzie Ryan Hunt, 20, was attacked by a shark while surfing at Wallabi Point in New South Wales. The beast went for his foot repeatedly during the terrifying incident at around 5.30pm, biting through the board."
and "A shark attack in Australia had a young professional surfer named Ryan Hunt kicking for his life when the shark kept coming back for him in the waves."

Wow, sounds like this guy was lucky and barely escaped with his life! Of course, after reading the reports a little more carefully, you get the real story. After writing the headline "Shark Attack in Australia Had Pro Surfer Ryan Hunt Kicking for his Life" the "Inquisitr" states  "The 20-year-old surfer says the shark attack occurred while he was surfing small waves at dusk. According to Hunt, he was “pretty unlucky to stand on the shark’s head” while at Wallabi Point, which is on the coast of New South Wales, Australia. Needless to say, the shark was not exactly pleased to have a human standing on its noggin."

So the guy actually stepped on the sharks head, OK, still, pretty lucky to get away with his life after being bit by this "beast".  How big was that beast?  Well, lets see what they say about the size. “I tried to kick it off and it bit down again and then it swam up between my legs. I had my hands trying to push down its head, it was about 10 inches wide.”

Wow, the head was 10 inches wide!!! Imagine a 10 inch wide shark coming at you, ....... well, never mind. Another typical hyped up headline. 

And how about the injuries sustained in this "terrifying" "attack"?

 

 

 

source

 
Granted, that's a pretty good gash, but by reading the headlines, you'd expect much worse. As to calling this a shark attack, seems to me that the shark was just reacting to being stepped on the head.
Surfer attacks shark, would have been a more appropriate headline.

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.

Man attacks shark! Sharks are demanding "man cull" to mitigate the danger!

According to an article in the Daily Telegraph, a man was attacked by a wobegong shark. The article states that "Mr Porter had no advance warning when he was attacked.
“I had no idea what was happening — it just clamped on and that was the first I knew about it,” Mr Porter told The Daily Telegraph today. “It sort of bit through the flipper and went through to my foot.”Shark diving is fun. Diving with Great white shark. Swimming with Bull sharks, cage diving with Tiger sharks

Wait a second, the shark "attacked" Mr. Porter? Wobegong sharks are carpet sharks, that usually rely on their camouflage to hide from prey, so they can ambush it. So most likely what happened is that Mr. Porter stepped on the shark, which bit him in return.

The headline read: Port Macquarie man threw punches in the air after shark attack

Wouldn't it be more accurate to have a headline that says "Port Macquarie shark bites man after being attacked by him"? Shark had no advanced warning, when Mr porter viciously stepped on it's head!

Injuries caused by shark bite

And the injuries to the man you ask?  Here is a picture of the "severe" wound the "shark attack" has left on the "victim"

Now this type of human/shark interaction is really what I call worthy of newspaper headlines. There are thousands of people who step on a stingray each year and get stung in return, in some cases causing injuries more severe than the ones caused by this shark bite.  Do you recall any newspaper headlines describing those incidents? As soon as a shark is involved, there are headlines, it's always characterized as an "attack" and it almost never states that it was provoked.

Where is the harm in having headlines like this? You may be aware of the shark cull that is going in Australia right now. It is mostly based on the public's fear of sharks and has very little to do with actually protecting the people. Headlines like these, perpetuate that fear and can cause real harm, not only to the sharks, but the entire ocean Eco system in turn.

I know I'm banging my head a against a wall, but had to get this off my chest.

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@sharkdivercom.

Monster Shark in China?

I came across a headline on the shanghaiist website. "JAWS NOW IN SHANDONG" Shandong fishermen haul in horrifically giant shark!

The article states: "Fishermen in Rizhao, Shandong Province, hauled in an utterly massive 10-meter-long (32 foot) whale shark on Sunday, and took plenty of photos as a friendly reminder that oceans are terrifying places full of monsters. The giant fish weighed some 10,000 kilograms and was dead on arrival, but the fishermen brought it back to land where, with the use of a crane, dropped it into a truck." 

The ocean is a terrifying place, full of monsters? Now just in case someone is not clear on this, whale sharks, while indeed massive animals, are feeding on plankton and are NOT a predatory shark! What is terrifying, is the fact that there are still "journalists" out there that write this utter rubbish, without having any understanding of what they are talking about and a newspaper publishing it, without checking any facts about these gentle giants.

The article concludes with:  "This shark, along with that terrifyingly massive beast a few years back, serve as steady reminders to never go into the ocean ever."

The "terrifyingly massive beast a few years back" was also a harmless whale shark, a fact the author actually alluded to a few times in that blog post. Is that journalist, Eric Crouch, actually as stupid as his article suggests or is he just looking to create controversy?

Idiots like these try to scare people, instead of informing them. They never let a good fact get into the way of a headline!

We at Shark Diver are trying to educate people and give them a first hand look at how sharks really are, by taking them to Guadalupe Island, Bahamas  or Bequa lagoon in Fij to dive with and experience sharks first hand. We also started shark free marinas to raise awareness of the declining shark populations. It is frustrating to see, that there are individual "journalists" out there who either don't take the time to research  the subject of their article, or worse, purposely spread misinformation, simply to be able to create a sensational headline.

Cheers,
Martin Graf
CEO

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 sharkoperations@gmail.com.

Is Shark Finning OK?

Finned Reef Shark

According to an article in "Forbes":
  
Just this week, four of the five largest Chinese-language newspapers in shark fin capital Hong Kong rolled out a high-profile ad campaign that blasts the global anti-shark fin campaign as groundless, and intended “to incite the public to discriminate our own eating culture.”  It claims Western conservation groups “use the shark issue as a fund-raising gimmick.  We now we made a vow to voice out and unveil those lies.”


I have to admit that I've become a bit cynical with the media when it comes to how they portray anything to do with sharks. It seems that they're mostly interested in shocking headlines and have very little substance in the article themselves. So that's why today's article in Forbes came as a pleasant surprise. It is very informative, doesn't use hype and is well written.

In 10 years of working with Great White Sharks this is one of the best articles I've read on the complex subject of shark finning.

Well done Forbes.


Cheers,

Martin Graf
Dive Operations Manager
Shark Diver/Horizon
Isla Guadalupe, Mexico

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 sharkcrew@gmail.com.

Disturbing Great White Shark Video?

"Shredder" picture by Cary Humphries

An article in the Herald Sun (Australia) described a video that shows a Great White Shark, eating a blue shark hooked by a fisherman,as:

"A Disturbing Video"

What I find disturbing  is the fact that a newspaper describes the natural behavior of a wild animal in this manner.

Of course a shark will not refuse an easy meal but there is hardly anything disturbing about it.

In 10 years of observing Great White Sharks at Isla Guadalupe, I have learned that sharks are actually more attracted to a hooked fish than any chum that cage diving operators are using. One day in 2005 there was a time we had great difficulty attracting the sharks, while a tuna fishing boat, less than 1/2 mile away, complained that most the tuna they were catching, were being eaten by the very sharks we were waiting to see.

Sharks will be sharks. The mainstream media will describe incidents like this as “disturbing” and will try to get you to buy into it. You can believe the unsubstantiated nonsense or you can be amazed by the truth about sharks. If you are truly interested in sharks and their behavior and/or if you are an enthusiastic shark observer as I am, take time to find reliable sources and get to know the facts.

Cheers,

Martin Graf
Dive Operations Manager
Shark Diver/Horizon
Isla Guadalupe, Mexico


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 sharkcrew@gmail.com.

Titanic P. pristis Caught in India

Local villagers in Devabhaga of Karwar Taluk, India caught a sizable Sawfish on Monday.

Local fishermen measured the animal at 300 to 400 kg and about 18 feet long.

Apparently fins of these animals are a delicacy in China.

P. pristis can grow as large as 23 feet in length and 5,410 lb and are rare in the waters in and around Karwar Taluk.

The Problem With "Shark Identities"

A post over at Da Sharks blog about Eric Ritter caused me to think out loud about Sharkitarianism.

Distilled down to its simplest form Eric Ritter's entire raison d'être is sharks. Not necessarily such a bad thing as many fine folks identify with sharks and use that passion to ultimately do fantastic things for the species in one form or another.

What Ritter and far too many others, as far as I am concerned, suffer from is what Da Shark has aptly coined Sharkitarianism, a complete shark identity.

Without it, these people who are in every facet of our industry, would be just "regular folks" with job descriptions ranging from welders, to bank clerks.

With Sharkitarianism people interact with sharks to heighten an identity, or to become someone new, more exciting, more interesting.

These people use sharks, they do not interact with sharks. Sharks are a conduit for media attention, industry attention, and attention at dive shows. Sharks are the unwilling silent partner to grander ego ambitions, a dangerous stage set by which those who suffer from Sharkitarianism perform stunts with sharks calling these stunts shark awareness, or worse shark conservation and research.

Sharkitarianism is a bane to our industry.

To be a self styled sharkman or professional shark diver (unless you're Christin Zenato who is a complete professional) is the highest point of conceit in a relationship with these animals that should always have a moment where the dive gear is rinsed, put away, and you go back to your life, not take that life back into the terrestrial world seeking gratification for deeds done, days, weeks, months and even years ago.

This deep identity attachment to sharks clouds judgement, shuts down rational thought, and causes the individual to pursue sharks in ever more creative means to fill and build their ego, maintaining the identity.

Sharkitarianism.

As an industry member take a step back today consider your shark identity, are you Sharkitarian?

Shark Week -- Education or Just Entertainment?

Chris Palmer and Peter Kimball just hit a home run over at Huff Post today talking Shark Week and the ongoing debate about wildlife television.

Many years ago I wrote an Op Ed for a local San Diego paper titled "When Filmmakers Attack."

The article, written five years ago, was way ahead of its time looking into the the ongoing production slide at Isla Guadalupe, Mexico.

In the ensuing 5 years since then at Guadalupe many productions have sought lowest common denominator anti-shark programming with no end in sight. Note to the underwater cameraman who shot this garbage, and you call yourself pro-shark? Waddaya, new?

Chris Palmer knows of what he speaks as the author of the book "Shooting in the Wild: An Insider's Account of Making Movies in the Animal Kingdom" he has the insiders eye to wild animal productions.

With the obvious value of these productions to behemoths like Discovery Networks there's little chance we'll see substantial changes anytime soon, but its nice to have voices like Chris Palmer adding weight and mainstream media to the discussion.


Kudos.