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Shark Attacks

ramonmercado

ramonmercado

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World Shark Attacks Dipped In 2005 Part Of Long Term Trend

Surfers were the most frequent victims, accounting for 29 incidents, followed by swimmers and waders, 20, and divers, four.

by Staff Writers
Gainesville FL (SPX) Feb 14, 2006
Assertive and even aggressive human behavior could explain why shark attacks worldwide dipped last year, continuing a five-year downward trend in close encounters with the oceanic predators, new University of Florida research suggests.
Greater safety precautions and in-your-face responses to confrontations with sharks went a long way in reducing the total number of attacks from 65 in 2004 to 58 in 2005 and fatalities from seven to four, said George Burgess, director of the International Shark Attack File housed at UF’s Florida Museum of Natural History.

In contrast, there were 78 shark attacks — 11 of them fatal — in 2000, the all-time high record year for attacks since statistics were kept, he said.

There also were simply fewer sharks to attack people, a result of a decline in populations caused by overfishing of the carnivorous creature, which generally is slow to reproduce, Burgess said.

“It appears that humans are doing a better job of avoiding being bitten, and on the rare occasion where they actually meet up with a shark, are doing the right thing to save their lives,” he said.

In one such case, a surfer bitten by a great white shark off the Oregon coast on Dec. 24 had the presence of mind to drive it away with a well-timed punch to the nose, he said.

“That gentleman did precisely what he should do under those circumstances,” Burgess said. “A person who is under attack should act aggressively toward the shark and not follow the advice given to women who are having their purses snatched in New York City, which is to lie on the ground, play dead and give up the purse.”

Despite the worldwide decline, the number of attacks in the United States rose slightly, from 30 in 2004 to 38 in 2005. But that is still considerably lower than the recorded high of 52 in 2000, he said.

The same pattern emerged in Florida, the U.S. shark attack capital, where the number of attacks increased from 12 to 18 but was still well below the 2000 record of 37, he said.

The 2004 numbers were the lowest in more than a decade, however, and were probably due to Florida’s unusually active hurricane season, which kept people out of the water, he said.

In addition to last year’s 38 U.S. attacks, Burgess tracked 10 in Australia, four in South Africa and one each in the Bahamas, St. Martin, Mexico, Fiji, Vanuatu and South Korea.

Compared with previous years, the number of attacks in Australia was relatively high last year and in 2004, when there were 12, prompting some people to call for the installation of nets to barricade sharks from beaches, Burgess said. But the per capita rate of shark attacks has not risen over the past century, with apparent increases coinciding with a rise in population and Australia’s growing attraction to tourists in recent decades, he said.

The number of shark attacks at any particular time depends on a variety of factors, including oceanographic and meteorological conditions, abundance of prey items, and very important, the amount of time people spend in the water, he said.

“We need to remember there have been huge changes in how humans use the water over the last 20 to 30 years,” Burgess said. “When our parents and grandparents went into the water, they maybe wiggled their toes, or if they were very daring, jumped in and swam. People of our generation are surfing, diving, sail boarding, scuba diving, skin diving and engaging in all kinds of activities.”

Of this year’s four fatalities, two were in Australia, one in the Indo-Pacific island of Vanuatu and one in the United States.

The U.S. attack occurred June 25 along Florida’s Gulf Coast, when 14-year-old Jamie Daigle was attacked by a bull shark while swimming off Sandestin. It was the state’s first death from a shark attack in four years. Two days later, also in the Florida Panhandle, 16-year-old Craig Hutto lost his right leg to a shark while fishing in waist-deep water off Cape San Blas.

Five of the state’s 18 shark attacks last year occurred along Florida’s Gulf Coast, which is a greater proportion to the Atlantic coast than previous years, Burgess said. “It’s unusual to have only 13 attacks on the state’s eastern coast,” he said.

Elsewhere in the United States, five attacks occurred in South Carolina, four each in Texas and Hawaii, three in California, two in North Carolina and one each in New Jersey and Oregon.

Surfers were the most frequent victims, accounting for 29 incidents, followed by swimmers and waders, 20, and divers, four.


Shark
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Edit to amend title.
 
Could be also that the meat is getting too fatty for the Shark's palate? ;)
 
Tourists in Australia warned of 6m 'monster' shark
Tourists holidaying in the Australian state of Queensland have been warned to stay out of the water by authorities who fear a giant six metre-long shark might be prowling the coast.
Published: 7:00AM GMT 27 Oct 2009

Concerns were raised after a 3m great white shark was found dead with two huge bites taken out of its body. :shock: Experts believe the bites were made by an even larger predatory fish.

Swimmers have been warned to stay out of the waters off Stradbroke Island, north of Brisbane.

"It certainly opened up my eyes. I mean the shark that was caught is a substantial shark in itself," Jeff Krause of Queensland Fisheries told the Sydney Daily Telegraph.

Surfers have reacted to the news of the shark attack with shock.

"Whatever attacked and took chunks out of this big shark must be massive," said Ashton Smith, 19. "I've heard about the big one that's lurking out there somewhere.

"We're all being very, very cautious."

Australia is entering summer, a period of the year when shark attacks on humans increase because of the higher number of swimmers in the ocean.

The country's most popular beaches are protected by nets and what are known as drumlines - a series of baited hooks that hang from buoys placed in a line about 500 yards from the shore. However, neither guarantee that sharks cannot get through.

Since the net and drumline programme was introduced in Queensland there has been only one fatal attack on a protected beach.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... shark.html
 
The mammoth shark images...

Do people think it was shark-on-shark crime or could it have been a boat propeller? Photoshop shenanigans?

Have to say the images looked pretty convincing.
 
If it is real, and not photoshopped, i take it as a good sign that shark conservation (white shark at least) is working. 6m white sharks maybe a rarity nowadays but not in the past. Hunting has seen the average adult shark size been dramatically reduced over the past 50 years. 20 or 30 years ago a magnificant shark like this 6m one would probably have been killed.
 
McAvennie_ said:
Do people think it was shark-on-shark crime...
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Tough on Shark; Tough on the causes of Shark.
 
Sharks kills surfer in Florida
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8499132.stm

Generic image of shark
Officials in Florida say the attack is the first fatal one in five years

A man has been killed by sharks while kite-surfing off Florida's southern Atlantic coast, local officials say.

A lifeguard found Stephen Schafer, 38, surrounded by sharks about 500m out from shore, Martin County Sheriff's Office was quoted as saying by AP.

The lifeguard "saw blood in the water and heard the male screaming that a shark had bit him", the sheriff's office told Reuters.

The lifeguard put Mr Schafer on his rescue board and paddled back to shore.

Mr Schafer was taken to hospital, where he later died.

While swimmers and surfers often receive minor bites in Florida, officials say fatal shark attacks are extremely rare.

The fatality, at Stuart Beach, about 90 miles (145km) north of Miami, is Florida's first shark bite death in five years.

Kite-surfers use a large kite to pull themselves across the water.
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Go Granny Go!

Australian grandmother beats off attacking shark
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8515009.stm

Advertisement

Paddy Trumbull: "I turned around and saw this huge shark"

An Australian grandmother has survived a shark attack by repeatedly punching and kicking the animal after it "ripped off" part of her body.

Paddy Trumbull, 60, suffered deep bite wounds and lost a huge amount of blood in the incident while snorkelling near the Whitsunday Islands, Queensland.

Doctors say Mrs Trumbull is fortunate to be alive after suffering such a ferocious mauling.

At hospital, she joked about now having to get a "remodelled bottom".

Speaking from her hospital bed to local media, she said that while snorkelling from a chartered boat with her husband and others, she felt "the most almighty huge tug" and "knew immediately what it was".

Injured Paddy Trumbull lying on her stomach on a stretcher
Paddy Trumbull, lying on her stomach, lost 40% of her blood in the attack

"I turned around and I saw this huge shark."

Mrs Trumbull said: "I then thought 'this shark's not going to get the better of me' and I started punching it on the nose, punching, punching, punching.

"And then it got me under the water, but not much because I started kicking at its neck."

She said she had "a bit of a tug of war" with the 1.5m (5ft) shark, knowing that it had ripped her flesh as she could see blood, but she felt no pain.

She was pulled on board the boat and given first aid, before being airlifted to Mackay Base Hospital where she underwent surgery.

Surgeon Mark Flanagan said: "We can estimate that she lost about 40 per cent of her blood volume from the degree of shock that she had when she came in, and the fact that we required to give her several units of blood."

Mrs Trumbull said she was happy to be alive. "I think they're going to get me a counsellor on Monday, to sort of sort it out, and I have to have a new, remodelled bottom, so that's a positive."
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The Tasselled Wobbegong Shark sounds vaguely phallic, too.

Wikipedia tells me it's a 'carpet shark'!
 
Sailor's body found inside shark at Jaws Beach
The body of a sailor who disappeared off Jaws Beach – on an island where one of the "Jaws" movies was filmed – has been found inside the stomach of a shark.
Published: 11:20PM BST 15 Sep 2010

Police in the Bahamas used fingerprints to identify Judson Newton, although they are still waiting for DNA test results.

It is unclear if the 43-year-old Mr Newton was alive when he was eaten.

Mr Newton went on a boating trip with friends off Jaws Beach, where Jaws: The Revenge was filmed, on August 29.

The group, who were fishing off New Providence Island, encountered engine trouble and called for help.

Rescuers found three men aboard who said that Mr Newton and a friend jumped into the water to try to swim back to shore. Officials launched a search for them, but neither was found.

On September 4, a local investment banker caught the 12-foot tiger shark while on a deep-sea fishing trip and he said a left leg popped out of its mouth as they hauled it in. :shock:

When officers cut the shark open, they found the right leg, two severed arms and a severed torso.

One of Newton's friends, Samuel Woodside, 37, said that he was surprised when he heard police say Mr Newton probably drowned.

"To me, he was always a strong swimmer," Mr Woodside said. "I don't know what happened."

Mr Woodside said he and Mr Newton were childhood friends and would go fishing almost every weekend when Mr Newton wasn't working as a sailor on cargo boats or as a chef at local restaurants.

"He was a sailor, you see," he said. "Anywhere where he could get a fishing line, he would go there."

The beach near where Mr Newton was last seen is located on the small island where the 1987 Jaws film was partially filmed.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... Beach.html
 
Poacher killed by great white shark
A poacher in South Africa has been eaten by a great white shark during an illegal fishing trip.
By Stewart Maclean
Published: 11:47AM BST 25 Sep 2010

Khanyisile Momoza, 29, was attacked as he harvested valuable perlemoen shells in the waters near Gansbaai in South Africa.

The fisherman was among a group of 12 poachers who had tried to swim to safety after spotting the shark in shallow waters.

A friend of Mr Momoza, who witnessed the attack, said: "There was screaming and crying. We just swam, we didn't look back.
"We were swimming in a group but he was a bit behind us.
"It jumped out of the water with him and then it took him down." :(

The attack took place on Tuesday between Dyer Island and Pearly Beach, east of Cape Town.

In an interview with the Weekend Argus local newspaper, the victim's friend told how the poaching group had left the beach at 6am and swum for two hours before reaching the island three miles offshore, where they began hunting for perlemoen shellfish.

The men were swimming back to shore with their catch when the great white approached.

The survivors admitted they had been too scared for their own lives to help the stricken swimmer and raced back to dry land.

Once ashore the group alerted authorities to the tragedy.

Illegal harvesting of perlemoen is big business in South Africa, where the valuable shellfish are common along coastal areas.
The molluscs' fleshy insides are considered a delicacy similar to oysters, and either served raw or cooked in seafood dishes.

But widespread farming of the shells has sparked fears the population could plummet.
In 2007 South African authorities listed the species, also known as abalone, as endangered with the global wildlife protection body CITES.

The restrictions were loosened in July this year, although it remains illegal to harvest perlemeon without a licence.

However hundreds of local fishermen are believed to continue to work in the illegal trade.

Many poor workers risk arrest or injury to hunt for the wild shells, whose meat can be worth up to £25 a kilo.

The shark attack victim's friend told the Argus his group went perlemoen fishing around once a week and needed the money to provide food for their families.

Gans Bay, known in Afrikaans as Gansbaai, is famously the centre of South Africa's great white shark population.

In recent years some experts have warned the increase in commercial "shark dive tourism" has encouraged great whites to inhabit shallower waters.

Every day hundreds of tourists pay to experience a close encounter with the creatures, which are enticed with food to come close to boats.

Some fear the sharks are now commonly inhabiting waters where humans are more likely to be swimming or working.

The poacher is the second person this year to be killed by a shark in South Africa.

In January tourist Lloyd Skinner was killed by a great white as he swam a few metres off the beach in Fish Hoek near Cape Town.

Shocked holiday-makers watched from the shore as the 47-year-old was pulled underwater.

Rescuers later searched for the Zimbabwean's body but found only his goggles.


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... shark.html

I read a crime novel recently which centred on abalone smuggling, but in California, not RSA.
 
First hand account:

Experience: A great white shark ate my leg'
For some reason, my right leg wouldn't move. I looked down and saw why: everything below my knee was in the shark's mouth'
Achmat Hassiem
The Guardian, Saturday 16 October 2010
By now I was dangling against the side of the shark's body, out of breath and in shock. Then it took me underwater, still shaking me with my leg in its mouth. I took a gulp and my lungs felt as if they were on fire.

Then I got so angry, I thought, "I'm not going down without a fight." I started attacking the shark with all my remaining strength, grabbing its eye and punching its nose – I was hitting it so much that when I reached hospital, there was no skin left on my knuckles.

I could feel my body moving farther from its mouth as its teeth slid down the bone towards my ankle. I gave one last enormous push and heard a great snapping sound. Suddenly, I was free. I had been dragged about 50m under water and when I broke the surface I was close to blacking out.
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/ ... aralympian
 
Egypt closes beaches over shark attacks
Hunt under way for shark responsible for maiming three Russian tourists at Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh
Jack Shenker in Cairo guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 1 December 2010

A hunt is under way to track down a shark responsible for maiming three Russian tourists in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, one of whom remains in a critical condition.

Tonight Egyptian officials closed Sharm el-Sheikh's famous beaches and suspended nearly all diving and watersports activities, which attract more than 3 million holidaymakers every year.

Two of the attacks took place within minutes of each other yesterday afternoon, when an oceanic whitetip shark moved close to shore and began snapping at a couple swimming in the Red Sea. The man's legs were torn by the shark and the woman sustained injuries to her legs and back and had to be resuscitated after rescue.

This morning a further attack, believed to be by the same shark, was made on a woman snorkelling on a reef north of the city's Na'ama Bay. Her arms were bitten off, and she was flown to Cairo for emergency treatment. "We are monitoring the situation very closely and working together with all authorities to ensure the safety of all members and visitors in the Red Sea," said Hesham Gabr, chairman of Egypt's chamber of diving and watersports. "Our thoughts are with the victims and their families."

The oceanic whitetip is a common species of shark that can grow up to four metres long, but as its name suggests it is mainly found in deep water. "This event is absolutely extraordinary," Richard Peirce, chairman of the UK-based Shark Trust, told the Guardian. "Since records began in the late 16th century there have been only nine recorded attacks on humans by an oceanic whitetip. It's abnormal behaviour; this shark hasn't just decided to be in the wrong place at the wrong time – there must have been a specific activity or event that brought it there."

Sharks can be sighted frequently in the Red Sea waters around Sharm el-Sheikh, but attacks on humans are rare. There have been some suggestions that fishing vessels have recently started coming closer to the shore.

"Something has brought this animal to the area and made it think dinner, and it's likely that it involves something being put in or on the water," said Peirce. "If fishing vessels have started coming near the beaches and they're discarding unwanted fish over the side, then that's a powerful shark attractant. It could also be camping sites or hotels dumping rubbish, although until further investigations are done none of us can comment intelligently on what the trigger was."

Today a team from the South Sinai national park launched a search for the shark, which they plan to trap and then release in the Gulf of Suez at a safe distance from the shoreline. The Egyptian government will be watching nervously to see whether the incident has any long-term impact on tourism levels, an important source of revenue for the country.

"It won't be just a bump – this is a catastrophe for the local tourism industry," said Ramy Francis, a veteran diver with close knowledge of the area. "Three attacks so swiftly in succession and all of them that aggressive – it will certainly take some time for the hotel and watersports trade to recover."

But Amr Aboulfatah, the owner of a Sharm el-Sheikh dive centre and former chairman of the South Sinai Association for Diving and Marine Activities, disagreed. "Everyone is scared to get in the water right now, but there are concerted efforts going on to resolve the situation and I really don't think we will see any lasting consequences in terms of the tourism industry."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/de ... rk-attacks
 
I was in Sh El Sh in 2004 and remember my then girlfriend going scuba diving on one of these boat trips when, with them at the furthest point from the boat, the diving guide shouted 'Shark!'. I assumed it was a joke but nope, there was a reef shark circling beneath them.

Luckily nothing happened and everyone made it back on the boat limbs intact. This recent news though reaffirms exactly why I never go in sea water deeper than my waist. It's not our territory!
 
McAvennie_ said:
This recent news though reaffirms exactly why I never go in sea water deeper than my waist. It's not our territory!
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There have been plenty of reports of sharks still attacking in waist deep water..... :twisted:
 
Heckler20 said:
McAvennie_ said:
This recent news though reaffirms exactly why I never go in sea water deeper than my waist. It's not our territory!
Click to expand...

There have been plenty of reports of sharks still attacking in waist deep water..... :twisted:
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yeh, I normally get to about chest height and then panic and have to make a mad dash bak to shore.

My main argument is that whether or not the water I am in specifically has large sharks or not they ARE in that water somewhere. All it needs is a slightly dim one to get lost and Aberdeen beach could easily witness it's first shark attack.

Tho granted I've not been in Aberdeen seas since I was about 5 so...
 
Just heard on TV that a German woman has been killed by a shark at Sharm el-Sheikh.

No link online yet.
 
Shark attack kills German tourist at resort in Egypt
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-11922032

A man holds the shark which was identified by environment ministry officials as the shark which attacked tourists off Sharm el-Sheikh. Photo: 2 December 2010 Egyptian officials produced a picture of one of the captured sharks on Thursday
Continue reading the main story
Related stories

* Confusion over Egypt shark claim

A German woman has been killed in a shark attack while snorkelling off the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, officials say.

The death comes after four people were injured in similar attacks at the resort earlier in the week.

Egyptian authorities had re-opened the waters after saying they captured the sharks involved in the earlier attacks.

But some experts said the shark responsible was still loose in one of the world's most popular diving areas.

Egyptian officials said the German woman had died immediately after the attack. There were reports that either one arm or both legs had been torn off.

Egypt's environment ministry had displayed a photo of one the two captured sharks, an Oceanic White Tip.

But divers and conservationists said it was not the same species thought to have carried out the previous attacks, on three Russians and a Ukrainian.

Once again the waters off Sharm el-Sheikh have been closed to watersports.
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ramonmercado said:
Shark attack kills German tourist at resort in Egypt
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-11922032

A man holds the shark which was identified by environment ministry officials as the shark which attacked tourists off Sharm el-Sheikh. Photo: 2 December 2010 Egyptian officials produced a picture of one of the captured sharks on Thursday
Continue reading the main story
Related stories

* Confusion over Egypt shark claim

A German woman has been killed in a shark attack while snorkelling off the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, officials say.

The death comes after four people were injured in similar attacks at the resort earlier in the week.

Egyptian authorities had re-opened the waters after saying they captured the sharks involved in the earlier attacks.

But some experts said the shark responsible was still loose in one of the world's most popular diving areas.

Egyptian officials said the German woman had died immediately after the attack. There were reports that either one arm or both legs had been torn off.

Egypt's environment ministry had displayed a photo of one the two captured sharks, an Oceanic White Tip.

But divers and conservationists said it was not the same species thought to have carried out the previous attacks, on three Russians and a Ukrainian.

Once again the waters off Sharm el-Sheikh have been closed to watersports.
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Responsible for what? Living and eating?

It's like an anthropomorphic cream cake climbing onto a chubby person's plate, getting eaten and then all his cream cake friends demanding an arbitrary fat person be killed as some twisted form of vengeance.
 
Well, if they eat humans then they have a problem. Theres only room for one species at the top of the food chain.
 
Steve Connor: Bite marks key to identifying species responsible for death
Tuesday, 7 December 2010

One of the first tasks of the experts sent into Sharm el-Sheikh will be to identify the species of shark responsible for the attacks on tourists, which led to the death of an elderly German woman.

Reports have suggested that the killer may have been an oceanic whitetip but the specialists in shark attacks will want a positive identification, possibly from studying the bite marks or teeth left in the flesh of its victims. "Sometimes sharks leave teeth behind because they are growing new ones and the older ones are easily dislodged in an attack. If teeth are left that will give a 100 per cent positive identification," said Bethan Gillett of the Florida Museum of Natural History in Gainsville. "We can also look at the bite marks because that gives us some idea of the morphology of the teeth, which can also lead to a positive identification. Different sharks have different teeth morphology," Ms Gillett said.

Oceanic whitetips, a tropical and subtropical species, are not known to be aggressive to humans unless provoked, according to Ali Hood, the director of conservation at the Shark Alliance, a charity aimed at preserving shark numbers.

"Thousands of divers have dived with them and photographed them without being attacked. For sharks to behave in this way there must be a causal factor, and the Egyptians are doing the right thing by trying to assess what this factor is," Ms Hood said.

One report suggested that a ship carrying livestock had jettisoned the carcasses of dead animals, while other reports said that some illegal fishing boats had dumped dead bycatch close to shore. Either activity could have brought the sharks closer to the beach and then into contact with humans.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/scien ... 53033.html
 
Shark attacks not linked to Mossad says Israel
By Yolande Knell BBC News, Jerusalem
South Sinai governor Mohamed Abdul Fadil Shousha (6 December) The South Sinai governor reportedly said Mossad's involvement was "not out of the question"

Israel has dismissed Egyptian claims that a series of shark attacks in the Red Sea could have been the result of a plot carried out by its foreign intelligence agency, Mossad.

The reports - apparently quoting the South Sinai governor - have been picked up by the Israeli media.

An elderly woman was killed by a shark in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh on Sunday.

Several other swimmers have been mauled in the past week.

Conspiracy theories are always popular in the Middle East, with unlikely suggestions often made that troubles in Arab countries could be caused by Mossad agents.

Rumours had circulated in Egypt that there could be an Israeli connection to this unusual spate of Red Sea shark attacks.

However, it was comments attributed to the South Sinai governor, Mohamed Abdul Fadil Shousha, carried on an official Egyptian news site that drew attention.

"What is being said about the Mossad throwing the deadly shark [in the sea] to hit tourism in Egypt is not out of the question, but it needs time to confirm," he is reported to have said.

The Jerusalem Post picked up on the story - quoting Israeli officials who rejected the notion as "ludicrous".

Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Igal Palmor then told the BBC: "The man must have seen Jaws one time too many, and confuses fact and fiction."

It has also been pointed out that visitors to Israel as well as Egypt might be alarmed by the shark attacks.

Israel has its own holiday resorts on the Red Sea coast, and Sharm el-Sheikh is popular with its citizens.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-11937285
 
I saw on the Beeb news this morning a discussion with some 'shark expert' and I think the travel correspondant that's been subbing as the 'snow watch reporter'. (It was early!) The expert suggested that as the water sports in SES are one of the major tourist attractions, a lot of the boat owners that run glass bottomed boat trips are known for 'baiting' the waters to attract sharks. I guess if this practice has been going on for long enough, there will be lots of sharks that see this as a reliable/convenient food source, and so may be in areas that they wouldn't normally inhabit, were there not easy pickings.
 
Egypt facing 'worst case scenario': more than one killer shark in the waters
Scientists scouring the waters off Egypt's premier Red Sea resort have admitted that they are facing a "worst case scenario" after concluding that a spate of attacks on swimmers in the area was the work of at least two sharks.
By Adrian Blomfield, Sharm el-Sheikh 7:18PM GMT 07 Dec 2010

Conservationists and marine biologists had hoped that a lone rogue shark was responsible for the death of a German woman and the mauling of four other tourists in Sharm el-Sheikh over the past week.

But Egyptian officials in the Sinai peninsula yesterday disclosed that a shortfin mako shark captured last week had been forensically identified as the culprit behind last Wednesday's attack on two swimmers from Russia and Ukraine.

"The bite on one of the victims has been matched with the teeth of the Mako," said Ahmed el-Edkawy, the deputy secretary general of South Sinai governorate.
"We are confident that this shark was responsible for the second incident."

That one of the culprits responsible for the mysterious terror visited on Sharm el-Sheikh's beaches may have seemed like good news.

But with witnesses saying that the latest attack, was carried out by a whitetip, scientists are being forced to confront the likelihood that sharks from two different species have suddenly developed man-killing tendencies.

More worryingly, scientists now have no idea how many sharks may have developed a taste for human flesh – making both the hunt for the killers and a search for the explanation of their bizarre behaviour far more complicated.

"Our best case scenario was of a single shark that would move out of the area, solving the problem" said Elke Bojanowski, a German expert on Red Sea sharks involved in the international hunt for rogue predators.
"But if there was more than one then we have to look for a trigger that is influencing the sharks' behaviour and it may be impossible to find.
"If we don't have a clue what the trigger is then what are we to do?" Three international shark experts from the United States flew into Sharm el-Sheikh yesterday to join the investigation.

George Burgess, the Florida-based director of the International Shark Attack File, said the team was examining whether changes in underwater ecology or the illegal practice of baiting the sharks with meat could be responsible for the crisis.
Scientists on the team said they had heard reports of tour guides throwing chickens overboard to attract the sharks.
The attacks have been confined to a three-mile stretch of shore and at similar times indicating that the sharks may be gathering at an area where they are used to being fed.

Egyptian authorities, already facing criticism for reopening beaches prematurely over the weekend, yesterday allowed swimming and snorkelling to go ahead outside the danger zone.

Gen el-Edkawy of the South Sinai governorate yesterday insisted that no tourists had cancelled their trips to Sharm el-Sheikh.
In an apparent attempt to prove the waters safe, he donned a wet suit and jumped into the water just yards from the spot where the German woman was killed.
Emerging 20 minutes later, he pulled his mask to one side and proclaimed: "I saw a lot of beautiful marine life. It was wonderful. Everything is wonderful. This city is a gift from God and I'm sure everything is safe." :roll:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... aters.html
 
Have they not seen the Jaws sequels, there's always another shark.
 
Well, if they eat humans then they have a problem.
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It's not like they have a big enough brain to ever realise that, and those funny looking seals taste good.

Have they not seen the Jaws sequels, there's always another shark.
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Then there's The Beast too :shock:
 
Shark attacks rose in 2010 to highest in decade
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-12399958

A great white shark off the coast of South Africa Getting even? Humans kill 30 million to 70 million sharks per year, the researchers said

Related Stories

* Shark nations failing on pledges
* Egypt lifts Red Sea diving ban
* Egypt Red Sea beaches to reopen

Sharks launched 79 unprovoked attacks on humans in 2010, the highest number in a decade, US researchers have found.

Six people died from unprovoked attacks, up from an average of 4.3 over the past 10 years, University of Florida scientists said.

Thirty-two attacks occurred in North American waters, 14 off Australia and eight in South African waters.

Scientists say reported attacks have risen over the past century as humans spend more leisure time in the water.

The 2010 figure was up from 63 in 2009, and above the yearly average over the past decade of 63.5.

"But the rate of attacks is not necessarily going up - population is rising and the interest in aquatic recreation grows," University of Florida ichthyologist George Burgess said in a statement announcing the university's international shark attack report.

"That will continue as population rises."
Size and power

Vietnam and Egypt each suffered six unprovoked shark attacks. The situation in Egypt was unusual in that five attacks, one of them fatal, occurred within five days, researchers said.

In the US, the state of Florida again had the most attacks, with 13, but that represented a fourth straight year of decline from a high of 31 for the state in 2007.

The researchers recommend that if a person is attacked by a shark, he or she should strike the shark on the nose, distracting the creature, then flee the water.

"If this is not possible, repeat bangs to the snout may offer temporary restraint, but the result likely become increasingly less effective," Mr Burgess reported.

"If a shark actually bites, we suggest clawing at its eyes and gills, two sensitive areas. One should not act passively if under attack - sharks respect size and power."

Humans kill 30 million to 70 million sharks per year in fisheries, the researchers said.
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