LiveToFly said...

ezza06 said...

What ever it is we may never know but as there has been 5 fatalities in W.A. in the past twelve months and there has been 97 car fatalities in W.A alone this year,so do you worry about getting in your car I think not..

Not a good season to be a body dragging noob in the ocean! Maybe we should all start wearing scuba knifes, if that would help at all?

Condolences to family and friends. Such a traffic event. Reading bens FB wall was heart wrenching.
It's funny u mention the scuba knife. Although shark activity seems reduced in summer I actually considered this too as a serious option this coming windy season. And I'm sure having a knife on me would do absolutely sweet FA if something like this happened but I reckon it'd make me feel slightly safer in the water. Strange ow the mind works like that.

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

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?

Beelzebub said...

Saffer said...

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.

How could culling a small number of dangerous and destructive carnivores be a sad day for humanity when millions of animals (domesticated and wild) are slaughtered each day for human consumption?
How do surf skis, outboard engines or someone on a jet-ski look like natural shark food? Why does humanity have to be on the brink of extinction before protective measures are implemented? Obesity -as in "thick in the head"- can, however be a real problem for some.

How would you know the consequences of culling?

Be politically correct, start than with "Eye for an Eye", but than not even Martin Bryant got this kind of justice (that's for your humanity or extinction, yes?).

This is more a question of lifestyle you are protecting, not a humanity. Your lifestyle is in danger and I agree with you on that! You're scared, me too! But life goes on.

R.I.P. and condolences to family and friends.

PS

My avatar says a lot. Long time ago ppl killed almost all native wolfs back in old country. What they've got were diseases and other nasties without a predator...
Remember Tassy Tiger?

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!!!

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.

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.

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.

blueprint said...

alverstone said...

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.

The difference is there is an element of choice in how we choose to operate a vehicle, from that 180 remove the ones that result from speeding, driving tired, driving under the influsence, not driving to the road conditions, on the phone etc. and how many are left? my guess is that what is left is those killed in acidents resulting from someone else doing the above

Taken by a shark is not the same, only choice we make there is to go in the ocean. Never been a fan of killing them as I make the choice to go in but I'm finding myself feeling less moderate on the issue lately and certainly (regretably) asking myself if I'm comfortable going in the water.

Blueprint You counter your own comments by saying many people are victims of road crashes through the choices and driving of others. ie they are the innocent party and are only killed/injured because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time.

How is that different from a shark attack? the victims are ultimately in the wrong spot at the wrong time too, the shark is doing nothing wrong but mistaking a diver/surfer for a seal and looking for a feed.

Sure you can counter that by saying most people die on the roads from pissy driving, reckless and hoon activities which are wilful and dangerous acts but you'd be surprised howe many are killed/injured from the little oopsies someone else did - and we all do every day when driving - rolling through stop signs, not having a proper look before pulling out, fatigue, mobile phones etc etc.

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.

kitelooper1 said...

But if the sales of surfwear fall we better do something about it.

Not that simple mate