Condolences to the family, he died too young, thats so sad.
As the number of fatalities goes up Im asking myself, if nature realy needs 5m killing machines prowling along our coast line.
Bigger sharks go for bigger victims, which is seals, dolphins and us.
So this is as good a time as any to ask for a cull of anything over 3m and protect the smaller animals from over fishing and crewel shark finning practices
RIP
I have the deepest condolences for the victim and his family but I think its a sad day for humanity when we asking for culling of animals when we're going into their natural habitat, looking like their natural food and then blaming it on the animals when we get eaten. We're talking 5 deaths a year if its a bad year, humanity is not on the brink of extinction. Try looking at the obesity if you want to attack something that will make a difference.
Chilling and tragic news.
Condolances to the family and friends of the victim.
Just a point about those who think that sharks are eating people because the ocean has been overfished. There is a definite correlation with the increase in sightings of and near misses involving WHite pointers , with the resurgence of whale numbers. Whale are just a shark magnet . As the old die they become this banquet for sharks and attract big sharks. THe big sharks also target the juveniles whales.
As an old and crusty salt water fiend it was the exception to see whales 25-30 years ago. In the late 80's it was very rare to see whales up north. by the mid 90s it was quite common and now places like exmouth gulf are just packed with whales.
Sharks now trail the whale migration and seals dead and dying thing and unfortunatly humans (and yes we do look a bit like a seal from underneath while surfing).
I think we might find that the plentiful (and easy) source of BIG shark food (lots of Whales) has actually created the conditions (helped by the protected status 1997 in W.A/1998 in S.A) for a very healthy population of great whites.
SO we have a lot more big whites traversing the coast and we have a lot more water users.
It would be interesting if there was a way to work out the total number of "IN The Indian Ocean Water hours" that are put in in a year in W.A. Obvoiusly there are more water users than there were in the past but the fatalities/ hours would give you a real idea of exactly how much the frequency of fatal attacks has increased .
The unfortunate thing is that this is only going to get worse. We all Love the water and surfing ,diving , kiting is what makes W.A such a great place to live.
Now it the time to take stock of ways to try and manage the risk.
My dawn patrol and sunset sessions are well behind me now.
Spot on Old jenkins... I live at horrocks, and the humpback whale migration is just going off now, whale pods everywhere, the last couple of weeks 10 times more whales than June.
And the big sharks go after the sick, old and wounded, no doubt.
But so sad, when we lose one of our kin to them.
I suspect the white shark population has grown in proportion to the humpbacks. A local here was suggesting its time to start culling whales, but I'm not sure that is a good idea!
Went for a surf on my own this morning, with a good 2 meter swell, but did not stay out too long. I'm a bit rattled too.
Dave
RIP to a fellow surfer.
Little surprised that so many people want some sharks killed. Cull all sharks over 3m as someone said, seriously? How many sharks should be culled? Where should it be done? They are known to travel great distances, Australia could cull some, what is stopping any more swimming over from other places. Or do we cull them too?
I'm glad the government has some sense and is putting some money into research. Maybe a cull is the answer. Who's knows at the moment. But I think learning more about them and maybe providing a factual reason and some understanding as to why more attacks are occurring would be invaluable to solving the problem.
Or we could just cull them, what if there's still attacks? Finish them off then? For all we know it is just one that has learnt to attack people and only 1 needs removing.
The ocean is the lifeblood of this planet (yes, this little rock we live on, that's floating around in the universe somewhere).
Ocean creatures have never come on to land to attack us mammals, but we relentlesly attack theirs. And now that another of our friends has been taken by a creature of the ocean, which is their enviroment, everyone is screaming KILL AND CULL.
We are wiping enough off our planet as it is with, deforestation, damming, mining, overpopulating and now you'd be pushed at the supermarket to find something to eat that isn't geneticly altered.
Yeah f-ck it, let's take out the ecosystem of the ocean (and Sharkies are a big part of that) and then we won't have to cry about a few of us taken by oceanic creatures.
Once again. My condolences
But if we were to lose our oceans, due once again to human f-ckup, we'll all be f-cked.
Thirty people died in a bus crash in Bangladesh yesterday. What's your perspective?
If they are culled what effect will it have on the oceans ecosystem? Most normal people never want to see a great white so if they are all gone I'll be happy. We have enough video footage on these beasts, that's enough. Kill them all and leave the footage for the people who love them
Surely it's alright to allow fishermen to catch whitey's like they have for centuries before. This is Darwinism at it's best. Natural selection of two apex predators acting to preserve their own species. I don't condone hunting till extinction but being able to control numbers would be nice.
I also think the recent tagging system in WA is an awesome project. I hope the government invests more beans and gets a heap more beacons and tags out there.
stop saying we are in their home everyone.
This is our home to.
Man is the apex predator on the planet and just like sharks have a right to kill us, we have the right (and the ability) to kill them as well.
If their numbers are too high (or they are coming too close to shore because the fish stocks have been over fished) I do not see why they need more protection than all the other cute little fish we catch to eat!
I say redirect the jap whalers to come and harpoon a few hundred large whites!!!
With due respect to the family..
Perhaps we are the apex predator but we were also not made to enter the ocean.
And in any food chain, a (natural) predator (with no external influences) will not hunt it's prey to extinction.
So are we an apex predator or are we trying to play God?
Whether the government leaves them on the protected species list, orders a cull, destroys the shark responsible for the death of a surfer - we're still playing God and we're ****ing with mother nature.
180 people died on WA roads last year and we didn't have 180 press conferences where the WA transport minister said maybe we should investagted culling rogue drivers. More whales = Great Whites following a regular food source.
ok so there were over 30 times more road tragedies but hour for hour surfers got it worse!
Condolences to the grieving family, that's what this thread is about , one of our ocean brothers
Start another thread if you all think you know how to solve this , it's complex problem and I'm sure this debate willgo on , sad day
That incadent sounds horrifying. i say full credit to the jet ski dude who tried to retreive the guy. that took balls.
I often wonder whats lurking bellow when i stuff up and crash quite a way off shore and have to body drag for a while. Wierdly i am more worried in remote locations. which is really quite silly because its all the same water.
perhaps when your kiting in a "shark" locations a board leash is a good idea? though i hate board leashes.
What he said ^
I think the occasional shark attack, we have to accept, but the frequency is now at the point where it's a genuine risk. And because of the randomness of the attacks, location, time etc it's impossible to mitigate the risks, swimmers off Cott, snorkeler off Rocky, surfers up and down the coast, diver off Rotto, kayaker off Mullaloo. It's not like they are all in one location or at a certain time of the year.
Mywisdom, I don't think my opinion can be compared to al queda's philosophy's, but I do know people are being terrorized and eaten by great whites
I dont see the issue as man playing God.
If we choose to tinker with the food chain then it is also our responsibility to monitor a balance.
IF our pillage of the edible species has created an imbalance - I dont know but it sounds logical - then surely we should work at maintaining a balance.
But maybe its not the pillage of the edible pelagic & reef fish?
Maybe the root cause is not the depletion of the fish stocks at all.
Maybe the cause comes from the banning of whaling = more GW food = increase in GW nos. ? It certainly looks like it would fit with the time scale involved.
Not advocating for or against culling - just reckon we need to know a lot of 'stuff' before thinking we have a solution.
Like many here Ive never given sharks more than the odd fleeting thought but admit that I am becoming a little concerned now.
And of course condolences to family & friends. Unbelievably tragic for them. But the debate should be taken as a positive. Surely it would be far worse for those effected if nobody said or did anything.
Debate with respect.
My Empathy goes to the family and friends that have suffered from the attacks in the past 10 years. They are the ones that have to relive it on a regular basis, they never get a break from it due to the frequency now.
Below is a link to a thread I started back in 2009, It goes on and on. The second page I come under some serious attack from evil panda and Handi to mention a few for my comments. Handi has changed his profile pic now (check his profile pics), but back then he was holding up a 16kg dewie. Ironic how these guys rape and pillage the ocean of other fish species, but we can't take out a rogue shark which at the end of the day just another fish, just higher in the food chain.
www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/General-Discussion/Chat/More-shark-attacks-today/?page=1
^ agreed that was the intent, the intent was also to point out that the 180 number is not the number for comparison, the actual number for comparison WILL be much smaller and likely very similar to the recent 5 number. That being said in the cases where the injured victim is a bystander or innocent then discipline is applied to the guilty. Just think the comparison to road accidents is a s..t one.
My real (personal) concern is the acceleration of the rate of attack, I think that is something we should all be concerned about (where does this end up without change? will it continue to grow at the current rate? etc.) and be asking why and in the mean time ask ourselves whether that acceleration is acceptable and what interim measures need consideration.
2c I'm sure there is more at play I guess the realisation for me is that I wasn't considering these types of actions but am finding myself asking the question more so I wonder how many more "moderate" thinkers are starting to do the same.
I never thought I'd see the day where popping down the beach for a paddle/surf/kite/dive could almost be considered an extreme sport again.
Bit ironic, the peak surfing bodies are the biggest greeno, pinko, commo, atheo, animal rights preachers. Gay rights for Great Whites they would say.
More now believe we are just a random event from a BIg Bang and that when we die that is it - so really what does it matter if a man or a shark dies- it dont mean **** before or after.
But if the sales of surfwear fall we better do something about it.
