An Introduction to the Bull Shark

An Introduction to the Bull Shark #2

Top 10 most infamous shark attacks

Top ten most infamous shark attacks

After a shark killed one tourist and injured several more in a spate of five attacks at Sharm el Sheikh, the Red Sea resort, here is a list of ten of the most infamous shark attacks in history.

#1 Jersey shore, 1916 (The mighty Bull Shark)

Arguably the most famous shark attacks in history resulted in four dead and one injured, probably at the hands of a great white or bull shark, over a ten-day period. Why the notoriety? The spate of attacks is thought to have inspired the film Jaws.

#2 Matawan Creek, New Jersey, 1916

Just a week after the Jersey shore attacks a 12-year-old boy was killed by a great white in Matawan Creek, prompting a shark hunt by local men. It claimed another victim and wounded a third before being caught, and when cut open the shark was found to contain 15lb (7kg) of human flesh and bone.

#3 U.S.S. Indianapolis, 1945

Oceanic whitetip sharks are held to be responsible for the deaths of hundreds of sailors stranded at sea after the U.S.S. Indianapolis was torpedoed. Between 600 and 800 sailors lost their lives but it is not known how many died from exposure and how many from shark attacks.

#4 Brook Watson, 1749

The first known survivor of a shark attack was 14-year-old Brook Watson, a crew member of a trading ship who was twice attacked while swimming in the harbour of Havana, Cuba. His shipmates saved his life, but the shark took his foot and he later had his leg amputated.

Watson went on to become an MP, the Lord Mayor of London, and to be featured in one of the most enduring images of a shark attack, Watson and the Shark by John Singleton Copley, who witnessed the event.

#5 Rodney Fox, 1953

Fox, an Australian spearfishing champion, was defending his title when he was attacked by a great white which took him around his waist in its jaws. After an epic struggle he was released. He is the best-known survivor of a shark attack simply because of the extent of his injuries, which required four hours of surgery and 360 stitches, and his miraculous survival.

#6 Bethany Hamilton, 2003

One of America’s highest-ranked surfers, 13-year-old Bethany Hamilton, lost her arm in an attack by a tiger shark in Hawaii in 2003. She was undeterred by her injury and defied the effect it had on her balance to win a national surfing title in 2005.


#7 Barry Wilson, 1952

Another case that surely influenced the makers of Jaws, 17-year-old Barry Wilson was killed as he swam with a friend off the shore of Pacific Grove, California, in front of scores of witnesses. One saw him jerk suddenly before being pulled from side to side. The shark then lifted him completely out of the water before dragging him under.

#8 Lloyd Skinner, 2010

A shark described as “dinosaur huge” and “longer than a minibus” killed tourist Lloyd Skinner as he swam neck-deep just yards from the shore of a beach in Cape Town, South Africa. The shark, thought to be a great white, twice pulled him under water, leaving behind no trace of the victim except a pool of blood and his swimming goggles.

#9 Henri Bource, 1964

In one of the first attacks captured on film, Henri Bource was swimming with two other divers off the coast of Australia when a great white pounced and bit off his leg. His colleagues saved his life by dragging him to safety and giving first aid. Bource later claimed he tried to free himself by gouging the shark’s eyes and ramming his arm down its throat.

#10 Sharm el Sheikh, 2010 (To be continued....)

A spate of attacks at the Red Sea resort was thought to have ended when two sharks were captured, and the beaches were reopened. The following day a 70-year-old German woman was killed as she snorkelled close to the shore. The attacks were thought to have been prompted by the dumping of a dead sheep from a ship.

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A safe place for a swim!!!

Actual Location of Shark Attack!

Most people wouldn't think twice before jumping in here!

Residents of Boca Ciega Drive say they're less tempted to swim from their backyards after Wednesday's shark attack. The briny water in the little cove nestled into the corner of Boca Ciega Drive and Bay Street was glass calm today, a day after a swirl of teeth and fins left a frantic teenager screaming and bleeding.

For residents along this quiet waterfront neighborhood, the shark bite was somewhat unsettling, but it would do little to change their habits. Jenna James, a graduate of Admiral Farragut Academy who now attends New York University, was lounging on an inflatable raft just a few yards from her dock around 3 p.m. Wednesday, July 23. The 19-year-old was spotted by her neighbor, Frank McMillan, just before it happened.

He and a friend were working in the backyard of McMillan's mother's home and saw James on the raft, he said. 'I had just talked to her,' McMillan said. He walked inside to get something to drink and in the span of about five minutes, he heard a commotion and walked out to see James' sister attending to the teen on the dock. 'It looked pretty bad,' McMillan said.

James was bitten in the lower right leg. She was taken to Bayfront Medical Center where she was treated and held overnight. Emergency medical officials said the injuries were not life threatening. A hospital spokeswoman this morning said the family did not wish to talk to the media and asked that the hospital not release condition updates.

McMillan said he occasionally jumps into the bay behind his mother's home. 'I was swimming out there on Mother's Day,' he said. James and her sister go swimming out there all the time, he said. 'They have a ladder on the dock for that.' He said his mother, Loretta, has lived in the home for about 10 years and he has fished from the dock behind the home more than he has jumped in. 'All I've ever caught is pinfish and catfish,' he said. No sharks.

Nine years ago, on a dock not far from here, 69-year-old Thadeus Kubinski jumped into the water, right in front of a large bull shark that took one bite and killed the man.

Bob Hueter, director of the center for shark research at Mote Marine in Sarasota, said it's not unusual for sharks to be in that area this time of year. The most dangerous may be bull sharks, he said. 'They grow to be fairly large and they do come up into the brackish areas and will go after large prey.'

It would only be speculation about the type of shark that attacked James, he said. 'It could have been one of several different species,' Hueter said. 'It could even be a juvenile bull. 'Little sharks still have sharp teeth and if they come up, grab and twist, they can do some damage. No shark bite is trivial.'

He recalled the attack in the same area nine years ago. 'Two attacks is not exactly a trend,' he said. 'I wouldn't start worrying about that area.' Concern would rise when more than one bite is recorded during a single season, he said. Two shark bites in the same area nine years apart are not beyond the norm. 'Over the past nine years,' he said, 'probably thousands of people have been swimming in there.'

Jumping the shark

Jumping the shark - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jumping the shark is an idiom used to denote the point in a television program's history where the plot spins off into absurd storylines or unlikely characterizations. These changes were often the result of efforts to revive interest in a show whose audience had begun to decline.

The phrase jump the shark refers to the climactic scene in 'Hollywood', of the American TV series Happy Days in September 1977. In this story, the central characters visit Los Angeles, where Fonzie (Henry Winkler), wearing swimming trunks and his leather jacket, jumps over a confined shark on water skis, answering a challenge to demonstrate his bravery. The series continued for nearly seven years after that, with a number of changes in cast and situations.

Jon Hein explained the concept as follows: 'It's a moment. A defining moment when you know that your favorite television program has reached its peak. That instant that you know from now on...it's all downhill. Some call it the climax. We call it 'Jumping the Shark.' From that moment on, the program will simply never be the same.'

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I AM PRAYING FOR A SHARK ATTACK!

Gordon Ramsay Is Getting Thrown to the Sharks - Slashfood:

No doubt there are plenty of chewed-out former contenders from Hell's Kitchen that would like nothing better than to send Gordon Ramsay swimming with the fishes. Well, Britain's Channel 4 is going one better: They're sending the famously ill-tempered chef to swim with the sharks.

And not just any sharks -- bull sharks, perhaps the most aggressive species of shark, prone to unprovoked attacks on humans. (Hey Gordon, sound familiar?)

What might otherwise seem a desperate publicity stunt designed to showcase another side of an overexposed celebrity (presumably Ramsay won't be able to launch into an expletive-laden tirade underwater) is ostensibly for a good cause: It's part of Channel 4's series of programs called 'The Big Fish Fight,' aimed at educating viewers about the impact of overfishing.

According to The Guardian, Ramsay's dramatic contribution will be part of a larger investigation into the controversy over shark-fin soup, which leads to the killing of nearly 100 million sharks per year and had caused significant declines in the population of the ocean-going predator.

And from.... Gordon Ramsay swims with sharks on new Channel 4 program

In the kitchen Gordon Ramsay makes it crystal clear that he is at the very top of the food chain, but on his new Channel 4 program “Gordon’s Shark Bait” the foul mouthed chef will find himself in a new position, potentially as dinner.

On the show Ramsay tackles his “scariest challenge to date” when he swims with bull sharks to coincide with his investigation into the impact of shark fin soup—a delicacy that results in nearly 100 million shark deaths per year.

The program is part of a Channel 4 series airing in January called “The Big Fish Fight” that features celebrity chefs Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Jamie Oliver, Heston Blumenthal and Ramsay.

The aim of the series is to educate viewers on the diminishing stocks of fish worldwide and how the depletion of ocean life impacts everyday life.

Hopefully the chefs learn along with the audience.

One thing is certain, Ramsay better pray that his bull shark counterparts hold the “Hell’s Kitchen” chef in higher regards than he does vegetarians.

Scientists fear mass extinction as oceans choke

Scientists fear mass extinction as oceans choke - ABC News
Updated Wed Dec 1, 2010 12:20am AEDT

Australian scientists fear the planet is on the brink of another mass extinction as ocean dead zones continue to grow in size and number.

More than 400 ocean dead zones - areas so low in oxygen that sea life cannot survive - have been reported by oceanographers around the world between 2000 and 2008.

That is compared with 300 in the 1990s and 120 in the 1980s.

Professor Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies (CoECRS) and from the University of Queensland, says there is growing evidence that declining oxygen levels in the ocean have played a major role in at least four of the planet's five mass extinctions.

'Until recently the best hypothesis for them was a meteor strike,' he said.

'So 65 million years ago they've got very good evidence of the cretaceous exctinction event.

'But with the four other mass extinction events, one of the best explanations now is that these periods were preceded by an increase of volcanic activity, and that volcanic activity caused a change in ocean circulation.

'Just as we are seeing at a smaller scale today, huge parts of the ocean became anoxic at depth.

'The consequence of that is that you had increased amounts of rotten egg gas, hydrogen sulfide, going up into the atmosphere, and that is thought to be what may have caused some of these other extinction events.'

Professor Hoegh-Guldberg says up to 90 per cent of life has perished in previous mass extinctions and that a similar loss of life could occur in the next 100 years.

'We're already having another mass extinction due to humans wiping out life and so on, but it looks like it could get as high as those previous events,' he said.

'So it's the combination of this alteration to coastlines, climate change and everything, that has a lot of us worried we are going to drive the sixth extinction event and it will happen over the next 100 years because we are interfering with the things that keep species alive.

'Ocean ecosystems are in a lot of trouble and it all bears the hallmarks of human interference.

'We are changing the way the Earth's oceans work, shifting them to entirely new states, which we have not seen before.'

He says while it is impossible to predict the future, in a century from now the world will be vastly different.

'A world without the Great Barrier Reef, where you don't have the pleasure of going to see wild places any more,' he said.

'We might be able to struggle on with much lower population densities, but ultimately it won't be the world we have today.

'The idea of walking in the Daintree will be a forgotten concept because these changes have occurred.'

Hearts and lungs

Scientists say ocean dead zones, which vary in size from one square kilometre to 70,000 square kilometres, have been found all over the world.

Particular hotspots include the Gulf of Mexico, off Namibia in the South Atlantic, in the Bay of Bengal, in the Baltic, the Black Sea, the tropical South Pacific, off China and south-eastern Australia.

'We're seeing an expansion of areas of the ocean which are very low in oxygen and also very low in nutrients,' Professor Hoegh-Guldberg said.

'Climate change is driving changes to water circulation - so winds, strange weather patterns, have a consequence for how the ocean turns over and aerates and so on, and it's the winds which are delivering a lot of organic compounds into the deep sea.

'At the same time we are putting a lot of fertiliser off coastlines, those sorts of things are incubating these deep water anoxic zones.

'So it's the combination of those two things that are having a big change on how the ocean works.'

He says organic matter building up in the sea is a huge problem.

'You get enormous amounts of organic carbon building up at depth, bacteria then likes to break down that organic matter and bacteria uses up the oxygen,' he said.

'So then what you get is a substantial drop in oxygen - that then has the consequences for fishers, for the productivity of coastlines and so on.'

Destructive path

Associate Professor Mark McCormick, also of CoECRS and from James Cook University, says low oxygen levels increase stress on fish.

'We know from our recent work that increases in stress result in deformities, leading to poorer survival of fish larvae,' he said.

'It has also been found they can cause fish to have smaller ovaries, produce fewer eggs, so larvae are also smaller and less likely to survive.'

Professor Hoegh-Guldberg says the problem is not as significant in Australia as other parts of the world, but that it is heading along the same, destructive path.

'We've been altering coastal areas, delivering nutrients into the ocean, and of course you see the Great Barrier Reef, which has been quite damaged due to nutrient run-off,' he said.

'But the point is that our activities on land have a big influence on what goes on in the oceans and now we are starting to reap the harvest of those changes.'

He says the heart and lungs of the planet are being tampered with.

'We are starting to see changes in the ocean's ability to produce oxygen and to produce food and produce all of the ecosystem's services that are so important to not only us, but all of the other organisms on the planet,' he said.

'It's mucking around with the heart and lungs of the planet - that's essentially what the oceans are, a huge respiratory system.

'We damage them, the consequences could be very serious.'

Professor Hoegh-Guldberg says while the dead zones may only exist in pockets of ocean today, it will affect a far greater area in the future unless steps are taken to reduce the impact of human activities on the world's oceans and their life.

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Fisherman investigated after illegal shark catch

Fisherman investigated after illegal shark catch - ABC News

The Department of Fisheries is investigating a Sunshine Coast fisherman who breached new shark laws.

The man caught a 2.8 metre bull shark at Eenie Creek in Noosa last month and failed to release it. The amazing thing about this catch is that the location was 14km from the ocean and the creek was estimated at only 3m wide and 5m deep where it was caught!

Under a state law brought in six months ago, the giant shark was almost twice the legal size of 1.5 metres.

Greg Bowness from Fisheries Queensland says if found guilty, the man faces a maximum penalty of up to $100,000.

'There are a number of options open to the department in relation to these issues so we'll look at the evidence before us and make a decision based on that,' he said.

'There has been a whole raft of changes made to fisheries legislation.

'It is really important for people who are going fishing that they are aware of the specific rules that apply to catching fish and that includes size and bag limits, closed areas and apparatus restriction.'

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Shark attacks don't warrant increased cull

Shark attacks don't warrant increased cull - ABC News

Australia is not alone in having large sharks near populated beaches or for having a reputation for shark attacks.

South Africa is the world's hotspot for great white sharks. It is where documentary makers come to film the dramatic scenes of white sharks breaching in the chase for Cape fur seals and it is the centre of the great white shark cage diving tourism industry where, on a daily basis, fleets of boats head out of the tourism centres packed with people wanting to view a great white shark from the safety of a cage.

In terms of documented attacks, there were six in the period from 1951 to 1970, 25 incidents between 1981 and 1990, 23 incidents reported from 1991 to 2000, and 11 reported great white attacks in the first half of this decade.

In some years, there were anomalously high numbers of attacks, such as Black December in 1957 when five people were bitten by sharks south of Durban, or 1998 when a total of 18 attacks were recorded in South Africa.

The longer term trend of rising incidents since the 50s and 60s mirrors an increase in beach use but cannot explain the year-to-year variations. To date, science cannot conclusively say why there are higher numbers of shark incidents in some years compared to others. It is likely that an array of oceanographic, ecological or behavioural factors are to blame for bringing more or fewer sharks in contact with people in any particular year, but the specific causes remain unknown.

Already it looks like 2009 will go down in the record books as having an anomalously high number of shark attacks in Australia and in the Sydney region in particular. Just as with South Africa, more people in the water increases the chance of an interaction. A cleaner Sydney harbour also increases the chance of finding sharks as well as fish, but it is not clear what other biological, environmental or behavioural factors, if any, are adding to the high recent number of attacks.

There is no doubt that any shark attack is a terribly unfortunate and traumatic incident. Our sympathies are with the victims and their families. On a global scale, elephants, bees, crocodiles and lightning strikes kill more people each year than shark attacks, and beachgoers are at a far greater risk of death by drowning from rips or surf, yet the thought of being attacked by a shark remains a terrifying prospect.

Actions that can help ensure bather safety include increased investment in education and awareness program so that people understand basic rules. Some of these include avoid swimming alone, avoid being in the water when there are low light levels or reduced visibility, don't swim in waters with known effluents or sewage and stay away from fish or gull feeding areas.

Increased investment is needed in research and development, and testing of options such as observer programs, use of electromagnetic field technology and new shark repellent advances in concert with research into sharks, so that we understand more about the behaviour, ecology and environmental cues that affect these species. Together these will allow bather safety programs to be designed to be as targeted and effective as possible without also causing the deaths of marine creatures such as dolphins and turtles that also call the ocean home.

Of the more than 300 species of shark found in Australian waters, there are only a couple of species, most notably the great white shark and bull shark, that are recorded as attacking humans. The vast majority of sharks are shy elusive creatures that appear in a range of often bizarre shapes and sizes, patrolling reefs and open oceans where they fulfil a critically important role at the top of the food chain.

In terms of their reproduction, sharks are long-lived, slow growing and produce relatively few young, which gives them a population dynamic that is more similar to whales and dolphins than to fish. This makes shark populations vulnerable to over-fishing.

The history of shark fisheries the world over is one of 'boom and bust' where excessive fishing pressure causes populations to crash.

The result is that shark species are increasingly finding their way onto the lists of at-risk or endangered species, almost as quickly as new species are being described.

The high price being paid for shark fin in the Asian marketplace appears to be driving a gold rush type mentality around shark fisheries in Queensland and New South Wales. Opportunistic fishers push fisheries managers to increase shark catches and create new shark fishing licences, despite there being no scientific basis that such levels of take are within safe limits for the large numbers of species involved.

With sharks very much in the spotlight, cool heads need to prevail.

The calls for an increase to the shark fishing quota in NSW are driven by this opportunism. Some fishers are using the current media feeding frenzy around sharks to call for an increase in shark hunting levels and are making claims that have no scientific basis. They should be ignored.

Many of the sharks they already catch are docile creatures that are not involved in attacks on bathers. Some of the populations of shark species that these fishers pull out of the water for their fins and flesh are in steep decline.

This is not to deny that we need to find ways to ease the interaction between sharks and humans along our beaches. There needs to be an investment in education, awareness and research and development, so that bather safety programs can be as effective as possible.

But equally, we need to protect the dwindling populations of sharks that have lived in our planet's seas for millions of years. There is no justification for increasing a fishing quota that could see these ancient creatures disappear from our oceans.

Dr Gilly Llewellyn is World Wildlife Fund-Australia's oceans program leader

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NSW releases shark attack proposals

NSW releases shark attack proposals - ABC News

The New South Wales Government has released a number of new proposals to prevent shark attacks, as it defends itself against claims it is failing to protect swimmers after three attacks in Sydney in as many weeks.

The measures include a new shark tagging program, the use of GPS to monitor shark nets and a list of shark attacks by beach since 1900.

The Government is also considering upgrading shark fishing gear and researching shark movements, attacks and population trends to try to identify hotspots and high-risk periods.

The proposals are part of the first review of the long-standing shark net program since 1972. They also include publishing an annual report about the nets' performance.

Primary Industries Minister Ian Macdonald says the Government will also consult with surf lifesavers.

'The Government in the past has provided a number of jet skis to surf lifesavers that have helped them monitor and deter sharks and we'll be discussing these on Thursday,' he said.

The Opposition says the Government has not done enough to protect swimmers and surfers. It says shark nets are deteriorating, the shark fishing quota should be increased and beaches need more aerial patrols.

But Mr Macdonald says aerial patrols do not spot sharks at dawn and dusk, the high-risk periods when the three latest shark attacks occurred. He says the patrols sometimes confuse big fish with sharks.

The Minister also says only 4.2 per cent of sharks caught in the fishing quota are dangerous.

In the latest shark attack, 15-year-old Andrew Lindop was bitten on the leg while surfing with his father, a veteran lifesaver, at Sydney's Avalon Beach at dawn on Sunday.

The boy is recovering in a stable condition in hospital after being rescued by his father.

This year's first Sydney victim, elite Navy diver Paul de Gelder, lost a hand and a leg after being attacked by a bull shark at dawn off Garden Island in Sydney Harbour on February 11.

The following day, surfer Glenn Orgias was mauled by a great white shark at the southern end of Bondi Beach at dusk.

His hand was hanging off his wrist by a three-centimetre piece of skin but doctors have managed to save it in what they have described as a 'minor miracle'.

The proposals will be made open to public consultation next month.

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Mexican Shark Decline

Shark Diver Magazine Blog

Holbox Island was once a shark fisherman's paradise. Everyone on the island used to fish for sharks. In the 50's and 60's, they would sell the shark oil, in the 70's, it was their skin and oil, the vendors were after, in the mid 80's and above, it was the fins. Now the vendors want the entire shark. The 'coyote', that is the name of the guy who purchases sharks on the island. He takes the sharks and the sharks ultimately end up getting cut up and sold to different countries in Florida. Nice! Of course the islanders are not fishing for sharks anymore. They decimated the entire population of local and migratory sharks, to the point that the island can only sustain 3 to 4 shark fishermen now.

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SHARK ATTACK -on dry land -WTF!

Why Study Shark Attacks

Because they provide a glimpse - a window - into the world of sharks and their behaviors. By understanding when and why sharks sometimes bite humans it is possible to lessen the likelihood of such accidents. Humans are familiar with predators found on land; we know enough not to walk into a pride of lions and we don't try to pet a growling dog that is baring its teeth. Similarly, we need to recognize and avoid potentially dangerous situations in the water. The individual case histories provide insights about specific geographical areas and their indigenous species of sharks. However, when all known case histories are examined, much is revealed about species behavior, and specific patterns emerge.

Most of the incidents in the Global Shark Attack File have nothing to do with predation. Some incidents are motivated by displacement or are a territorial behavior, or when the shark feels threatened; still others are the result of the shark responding to sensory predatory input (i.e., overwhelmed by the presence of many fishes) and environmental conditions (murky water) which may cause the animal to respond in a reflexive response to stimuli. Sharks also exhibit curiosity and may investigate unknown or unfamiliar objects; they learn by exploring their environment, and - lacking hands - they use their mouths and teeth to examine unfamiliar objects.

A very small percentage of shark species, about two dozen, are considered potentially dangerous to humans because of their size and dentition. Yet each year, for every human killed by a shark, our species slaughters more than 10 million sharks - about 100 million sharks last year. We are stripping the world's oceans of one of its most valuable predators - animals that play a critical role in maintaining the health of the world's oceans. An unreasonable fear of sharks has been implanted in our minds by the hype that surrounds the rare shark attack and by movies that exploit our primal fears. It is the mission of the Global Shark Attack File to present facts about these events, thus enabling them to be put in perspective. Sharks are necessary and vital to the ocean ecosystem. Without sharks our planet's ocean could eventually become a watery graveyard, with little sustainable life. This is not the legacy the Global Shark Attack File and the Shark Research Institute wishes to leave our children and our children's children.

The Global Shark Attack File was created to provide medical personnel, shark behaviorists, lifesavers, and the media with meaningful information resulting from the scientific forensic examination of shark accidents. Whenever possible, GSAF investigators conduct personal interviews with patients and witnesses, medical personnel and other professionals, and conduct examinations of the incident site. Weather and sea conditions and environmental data are evaluated in an attempt to identify factors that contributed to the incident.

Early on, we became aware that the word "attack" was usually a misnomer. An "attack" by a shark is an extremely rare event, even less likely than statistics suggest. When a shark bites a surfboard, leaving the surfer unharmed, it was historically recorded as an "attack". Collisions between humans and sharks in low visibility water were also recorded as "attacks".

When a shark grabs a person by the hand/wrist and tows them along the surface, tosses a surfboard (or a Frisbee as in case 1968.08.24) it is probably "play behavior", not aggression. How can case 1971.04.11 which the swimmer was repeatedly bitten by a large shark and case 1985.01.04 in which the diver's injury necessitated a Band-aid be compared? It is akin to comparing a head-on high-speed vehicular collision with a shopping cart ding on the door of a parked car. Global Shark Attack File believes the only way to sort fact from hype is by forensic examination of each incident.

Although incidents that occur in remote areas may go unrecorded, the Global Shark Attack File is a compilation of a number of data sources, and we have a team of qualified researchers throughout the world that actively investigate these incidents. One of our objectives is to provide a clear picture of the actual threat presented by sharks to humans. In this regard, we remind our visitors that more people drown in a single year in the United States than have been killed by sharks throughout the entire world in the last two centuries. 

Source: Global Shark Attack File

Website: http://www.sharkattackfile.net

How to Avoid Shark Attacks

Recommendations to avoid and survive a shark attack:

"Seek advice of local people before swimming, surfing or diving in areas where shark attacks have occurred.
Reason: Locals know the area.

Remain aware of your surroundings and the behavior of marine life nearby.
Reason: Their actions may alert you to the presence of marine predators.

If you suddenly become uneasy, leave the water immediately.
Reason: Your instincts may be providing a warning of impending danger.

Do not harass or touch any shark, even a small one.
Reason: Any shark is capable of inflicting injury.

If swimming or surfing do not enter the water when sharks are present, and leave the water the water slowly and quietly if they are sighted or you are requested to do so by a lifeguard.
Reason: If sharks are in the immediate area, the risk of injury is increased.

Do not swim, surf or dive alone
Reason: Sharks may be more likely to bite solitary individuals, and if you are injured there is nobody to help you.

Do not stray far from shore
Reason: You are farther from assistance, should you need it.

Avoid swimming at night.
Reason: There is strong evidence to suggest that sharks move in closer to a land mass (island or shore) following sunset.

Avoid murky or turbid water.
Reason: Some species of sharks hunt in murky or turbid water, others may bite because of stress, and others may simply fail to recognize an object and bite to find out what it is. It is also difficult to defend yourself from something you cannot see.

Avoid swimming close to river mouths.
Reason: Freshwater plankton dies and attracts fish, some species of fish spawn at river mouths, and carcasses of dead animals are carried downstream. All these conditions attract predators such as sharks.

Be cautious when swimming in the breakers.
Reason: Sharks may become stressed due to the low visibility and sudden presence of humans..

Don't swim close to sandbars.
Reason: Any natural structure attracts a variety of marine animals and may be a feeding area for sharks.


Be cautious crossing channels between sandbars or on the edge of steep drop offs.
Reason: These are often feeding areas for sharks.

Avoid swimming or surfing near jetties.
Reason: These are often feeding areas for sharks.

Do not corner a shark or cut off its path to open water.
Reason: It may feel threatened and react defensively.

Avoid swimming in areas where birds are diving into the water.
Reason: Diving birds indicate schools of fish are in the area and the likelihood that sharks in the area is increased.

If schools of fish are milling nearby, do not attempt to chase them from the area.
Reason: Frightened, darting fish create distinctive sounds that are very attractive to sharks.

If baitfish are leaping at or above the surface, leave the water immediately.
Reason: Predator fish, possibly sharks, are feeding on the baitfish.

If spearfishing or collecting shellfish, do not attach your catch to a stringer at your waist, and stay alert when removing a fish from your spear. If wade-fishing, do not carry bait on your person.
Reason: A shark attempting to snatch your catch or the bait, could inadvertently injure you.

If spearfishing, change your location frequently.
Reason: The vibrations of speared fish attract sharks.

Avoid areas where any type of fishing activity is taking place or offal is dumped into the sea.
Reason: These areas attract sharks.

The presence of porpoises and dolphins may indicate sharks are hunting in the area.
Reason: These species often feed with sharks.

Leave the water when pods of dolphin cluster or head inshore
Reason: This behavior is often associated with the proximity of sharks.

Avoid swimming, surfing or diving in the vicinity of pinniped haul-outs or rookeries.
Reason: These animals are the prey of large sharks, including white sharks.


Avoid high contrast swim suits
Reason: It is thought sharks are attracted to high-contrast objects.

Refrain from excess splashing or making quick, abrupt movements in the water.
Reason: It suggests an animal in distress.

Do not swim with dogs or horses.
Reason: Their splashing may attract a predator.


If a shark approaches uncomfortably close, keep it at bay with your speargun or a shark “billy”.
Do not attempt to spear the shark unless you think an attack is imminent.
Reason: The shark may simply be curious, but if you respond with aggression the shark may react in the same way.


If you are bitten by a shark and you are wearing a wetsuit, don't remove the wetsuit except to control arterial bleeding.
Reason: A wetsuit acts as a pressure bandage and restricts the loss of blood.

Take both a CPR course and an advanced first aid course.
Reason: Many fatalities in the GSAF file could have been avoided if arterial bleeding had been recognized and stopped, and basic life support provided until professional medical assistance arrived. The life you save could be your own or that of a loved one.

Police dog braves shark infested river

Anything to do with Bull Sharks is big news on Queenslands Gold Coast (Australia), even if it has nothing to really do with sharks at all:

Police dog braves shark infested river to catch criminal | Dream Dogs Stud Dogs News
by Mark Glenning on November 26, 2010

In an amazing climax to a police chase, a fearless police dog sank his teeth into a fleeing criminal and refused to let go, even though they were swimming in a shark infested stretch of water.

The Hollywood style pursuit began at 3 AM in Ashmore Plaza, on the Gold Coast, when police were called to an incident involving a break-in at a shop. Officers arrived to disturb two men, one of whom fled on foot whilst the other leapt into a car and drove off. One officer opened fire on the vehicle, but the thief made good his escape.

Half an hour later, police spotted the vehicle again and gave chase. The driver crashed into a roundabout, blowing out a tyre before reversing into a police car. He decided to make a run for it, and officers released a police dog – a police dog who had no intention of letting the criminal evade him.

After a chase through the backstreets, the dog caught up with the fleeing criminal and sank its teeth into his leg, refusing to let its quarry go. In desperation, the thief tried to swim across the Nerang River, which is renowned as a hotspot for Bull sharks, which are notorious for attacking humans and whose bite is often mistaken for a Great White – the shark from the film Jaws.

As the wanted man was struggling to cross the river, with the dog still attached, police commandeered a passing jet ski, and headed out into the water to make an arrest.

Two men aged 33 and 30 are now in custody.

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Is the Ocean Dying?

Scientists fear mass extinction as oceans choke - ABC News

Low oxygen levels, which have been found along south-eastern Australia, are known to increase stress on fish. (Reuters: Ho New)

Australian scientists fear the planet is on the brink of another mass extinction as ocean dead zones continue to grow in size and number.

More than 400 ocean dead zones - areas so low in oxygen that sea life cannot survive - have been reported by oceanographers around the world between 2000 and 2008.

That is compared with 300 in the 1990s and 120 in the 1980s.

Professor Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies (CoECRS) and from the University of Queensland, says there is growing evidence that declining oxygen levels in the ocean have played a major role in at least four of the planet's five mass extinctions.

'Until recently the best hypothesis for them was a meteor strike,' he said.

'So 65 million years ago they've got very good evidence ... all the dinosaurs died because of smoke and stuff in the atmosphere from a meteor strike.

'But with the four other mass extinction events, one of the best explanations now is that these periods were preceded by an increase of volcanic activity, and that volcanic activity caused a change in ocean circulation.

'Just as we are seeing at a smaller scale today, huge parts of the ocean became anoxic at depth.

'The consequence of that is that you had increased amounts of rotten egg gas, hydrogen sulfide, going up into the atmosphere, and that is thought to be what may have caused some of these other extinction events.'

Professor Hoegh-Guldberg says up to 90 per cent of life has perished in previous mass extinctions and that a similar loss of life could occur in the next 100 years.

'We're already having another mass extinction due to humans wiping out life and so on, but it looks like it could get as high as those previous events,' he said.

'So it's the combination of this alteration to coastlines, climate change and everything, that has a lot of us worried we are going to drive the sixth extinction event and it will happen over the next 100 years because we are interfering with the things that keep species alive.

'Ocean ecosystems are in a lot of trouble and it all bears the hallmarks of human interference.

'We are changing the way the Earth's oceans work, shifting them to entirely new states, which we have not seen before.'

He says while it is impossible to predict the future, in a century from now the world will be vastly different.

'A world without the Great Barrier Reef, where you don't have the pleasure of going to see wild places any more,' he said.

'We might be able to struggle on with much lower population densities, but ultimately it won't be the world we have today.

'The idea of walking in the Daintree will be a forgotten concept because these changes have occurred.'

Hearts and lungs

Scientists say ocean dead zones, which vary in size from one square kilometre to 70,000 square kilometres, have been found all over the world.

Particular hotspots include the Gulf of Mexico, off Namibia in the South Atlantic, in the Bay of Bengal, in the Baltic, the Black Sea, the tropical South Pacific, off China and south-eastern Australia.

'We're seeing an expansion of areas of the ocean which are very low in oxygen and also very low in nutrients,' Professor Hoegh-Guldberg said.

'Climate change is driving changes to water circulation - so winds, strange weather patterns, have a consequence for how the ocean turns over and aerates and so on, and it's the winds which are delivering a lot of organic compounds into the deep sea.

'At the same time we are putting a lot of fertiliser off coastlines, those sorts of things are incubating these deep water anoxic zones.

'So it's the combination of those two things that are having a big change on how the ocean works.'

He says organic matter building up in the sea is a huge problem.

'You get enormous amounts of organic carbon building up at depth, bacteria then likes to break down that organic matter and bacteria uses up the oxygen,' he said.

'So then what you get is a substantial drop in oxygen - that then has the consequences for fishers, for the productivity of coastlines and so on.'

Destructive path

Associate Professor Mark McCormick, also of CoECRS and from James Cook University, says low oxygen levels increase stress on fish.

'We know from our recent work that increases in stress result in deformities, leading to poorer survival of fish larvae,' he said.

'It has also been found they can cause fish to have smaller ovaries, produce fewer eggs, so larvae are also smaller and less likely to survive.'

Professor Hoegh-Guldberg says the problem is not as significant in Australia as other parts of the world, but that it is heading along the same, destructive path.

'We've been altering coastal areas, delivering nutrients into the ocean, and of course you see the Great Barrier Reef, which has been quite damaged due to nutrient run-off,' he said.

'But the point is that our activities on land have a big influence on what goes on in the oceans and now we are starting to reap the harvest of those changes.'

He says the heart and lungs of the planet are being tampered with.

'We are starting to see changes in the ocean's ability to produce oxygen and to produce food and produce all of the ecosystem's services that are so important to not only us, but all of the other organisms on the planet,' he said.

'It's mucking around with the heart and lungs of the planet - that's essentially what the oceans are, a huge respiratory system.

'We damage them, the consequences could be very serious.'

Professor Hoegh-Guldberg says while the dead zones may only exist in pockets of ocean today, it will affect a far greater area in the future unless steps are taken to reduce the impact of human activities on the world's oceans and their life.

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Bull Shark Facts

Bull Shark Facts - National Geographic:

A bull shark (Carcharhinus leucas) Photograph by Brian J. Skerry

Among the most likely sharks to attack humans, bull sharks favor shallow coastal waters—the same places humans prefer to swim. 

Bull Shark Range

Bullshark Facts
Type: Fish
Diet: Carnivore
Average life span in the wild:16 years
Size: 7 to 11.5 ft (2.1 to 3.4 m)
Weight: 200 to 500 lbs (90 to 230 kg)
Group name: School or shoal

Did you know?
Bull sharks have been found thousands of miles up the Amazon River, and in Nicaragua have been seen leaping up river rapids, salmon-like, to reach inland Lake Nicaragua.

Size relative to a 6-ft (2-m) man:

Illustration: Bull shark compared with adult man

Bull sharks are aggressive, common, and usually live near high-population areas like tropical shorelines. They are not bothered by brackish and freshwater, and even venture far inland via rivers and tributaries.

Because of these characteristics, many experts consider bull sharks to be the most dangerous sharks in the world. Historically, they are joined by their more famous cousins, great whites and tiger sharks, as the three species most likely to attack humans.

Bull sharks get their name from their short, blunt snout, as well as their pugnacious disposition and a tendency to head-butt their prey before attacking. They are medium-size sharks, with thick, stout bodies and long pectoral fins. They are gray on top and white below, and the fins have dark tips, particularly on young bull sharks.

They are found cruising the shallow, warm waters of all the world’s oceans. Fast, agile predators, they will eat almost anything they see, including fish, dolphins, and even other sharks. Humans are not, per se, on their menus. However, they frequent the turbid waters of estuaries and bays, and often attack people inadvertently or out of curiosity.

Bull sharks currently are not threatened or endangered. However, they are fished widely for their meat, hides, and oils, and their numbers are likely shrinking. One study has found that their average lengths have declined significantly

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Freak Bull Shark?

Bizarre Bull Shark Record:
Wednesday 28 January 2009

Cape Town: In a bizarre twist, the day before a lifeguard lost his life to a Zambezi shark on the Wild Coast, the world's largest was caught 5.5 kms up a river in the Western Cape, reports Wavescape

Yes, the Western Cape! International and local records tumbled as a team of shark conservationists hooked the largest Zambezi shark known to science - a massive pregnant female four metres in length and weighing almost half a ton. But wait for it. This awesome creature was found 5.5 kms up the Breede River, a large river that comes out near the southernmost tip of Africa, Cape Agulhas. It is the furthest south a bull shark has been found in Africa.

Visitors, holidaymakers and home owners who have frolicked in the river over the years, expressed stunned surprise at the news.

But for conservationist Meaghen McCord, managing director of the SA Shark Conservancy, this is a ground-breaking realisation of carefully planned scientific research. For a while now, fishermen have spoken about huge Zambezi sharks interfering with their lines in the river. More than a few have laughed at this claim. Well, the second expedition by McCord and her team has proved it to be true.

Joining them were representatives from Marine and Coastal Management, officers from the Lower Breede River Conservancy, a marine biologist from Marine Dynamics, and professional anglers from Big Fish Safari, said McCord. Running from 19 to 25 January, the first three days of their reserach yielded nothing, despite a gruelling regimen fishing with live bait for 16 hours a day.

However, on the fourth day, Friday January 23, a female they affectionately named Nyami Nyami after the Zambezi river God, was hooked by professional angler Hennie Papenfuss. According to McCord, 'Hennie gently handled the shark, letting her tow him a further 2.5km (say what? - ed), tiring her out before we brought her close to shore and landed her on a mud bank'.

'One can only imagine how excited we were to finally see such a magnificent animal in the river, but our excitement did not prevent us from gathering all the necessary scientific data and attaching two acoustic tags to track her movements during the following days.'

Over the next few days, the team discovered three amazing facts:

1 Nyami Nyami is the largest Zambezi shark known to science (four metres long and weighing between 400 and 500 kilos). The previous known maximum length is about 3.5m

2 The furthest south Zambezis have been found is Cape St Francis in the Eastern Cape. Nyami Nyami is the only animal ever observed in the Western Cape, and she is the biggest ever!

3 Nyami Nyami looked heavily pregnant, suggesting the Breede River could be an important nursery

 

Nyami Nyami was subsequently tracked for 43 consecutive hours. 'As far as we know, this is the longest time this species has been tracked. She moved up and down the estuary, following fishing boats and looking for an easy source of food, swimming as far as 15km upriver,' McCord said.

Bru, put that in your pipe and smoke it. How weird is that? I mean, this is a river that flows through the Cape winelands, passing Tulbagh and Swellendam on its way to the waters east of Cape Agulhas. Classic!

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Shark Tattoos #1

Some tattoos are definitely more than skin deep!

The Card Shark

 "Everybody wants to be a shark at the poker tables. We all want to have that ability to just take out other players at just the right time, either by leaping out of the water and then diving onto your prey.

Or, by waiting just under the surface, knowing that if you’re patient, something will happen and then you can strike.

By the way, this is how I lost $1,500 in a single hand thanks to a guy whose name I don’t remember. He watched each player at the tabe, hand after hand after hand and played very slow. It must have gone on for about thirty or forty hands that way, just very methodical. Then, in the span of ten hands, he’d taken out six of us, leaving two others, who he then devastated over the course of another five.

There’s other kinds of sharks, of course. There’s whale sharks, who take the long route over a series of games, barely getting by and sucking in enough financial plankton to wheeze through things for a while, but they get left behind by the rest of the players. They’ll usually limp out of a tournament early, but occasionally, an unwary player or will get slapped by their tail and find themselves wondering what happened.

Source: The Ultimate: Sharks. - UB Blog:

Shark protection industry at work?

Lurking beyond our fatal shores | The Australian: "Lurking beyond our fatal shores

SHARKS are a summer certainty, but how afraid should we be?

IT'S summer in Australia and, as always, the crowds flock to our golden beaches to paddle, swim and surf. It's our heritage and nothing can keep us away. Not even sharks.

Not even the brutal savagery of a shark attack that can dismember and kill. After all, statistics tell us only one person a year dies from a shark attack in Australia. That's on average.

Not bad odds, we tell ourselves. Tens of thousands of us frolic in our coastal waters every day without fear of sharks. Indeed, most Australians have never seen a shark. The risk of attack is not worth worrying about. It's more likely we'll get run over by a truck.

Yet that risk is a reality, even though the bell tolls slowly.

On August 17 this year, father of two Nicholas Edwards was the most recent to die from a shark attack in Australian waters. He was attacked by a great white shark while surfing at Gracetown, near Margaret River 280km south of Perth, the same location where Bradley Adrian Smith was mauled to death six years earlier.

Dive tour guide Elyse Frankcom, 19, was luckier late last month when she survived a great white attack near Rockingham, 50km south of Perth, not far from where Brian Guest was fatally mauled in December 2008.

Sharks do bite. The prevailing opinion, however, is that most attacks are the result of mistaken identity. In the water, from below, humans can resemble seals or turtles. Or it may be a case of simple curiosity. The shark will bite and quickly let go when it realises this is not its natural food.

During months of research for my book Shark! Killer Tales from the Dangerous Depths, I interviewed a wide range of experts from former shark hunters to marine scientists and researchers.

The overwhelming opinion is that fear of sharks is unwarranted and the danger factor almost zero. That fear, they say, is a result of fictitious accounts of monster sharks such as that portrayed in Peter Benchley's book Jaws and the Steven Spielberg movie of the same name that became a worldwide hit in 1975.

Mass killing of sharks followed, leading to several species becoming endangered. Environmentalists claim the killing mood and fear of sharks is exacerbated by sensationalist reports in the media, a trend they say continues whenever an attack occurs.

But there are those who disagree vehemently and warn that the soft attitude to sharks gives people a false and dangerous sense of security.

Fritz Herscheid is one of them. Herscheid, a former salvage diver who operated a lucrative business recovering scrap metal and shipwreck treasures in Papua New Guinea waters during the 1960s and 70s, had to share his encounters with sharks, including tigers and hammerheads, and he didn't like it.

'I would like to see every dangerous shark dead,' Herscheid insists. 'If I could find a genetic way of killing all whites, tigers and bull sharks, I'd kill all of them.'

Bold words, but Herscheid, who owns a broker business in Cairns, refuses to back off.

'Humans come first and animals come second. We have as much right in the water as them and if they can't be kept away from people, then get rid of them.

'My son is a keen surfer, and if he was killed by a shark I'd be a Vic Hislop, all my life killing sharks.'

Hislop's name is known to most Australians. Think sharks, think Hislop, shark hunter.

Hislop hasn't changed his attitude towards sharks in four decades. He maintains hardcore greenies cover up the truth about shark attacks and that many people presumed missing and drowned at sea have in fact been taken by sharks.

He is mocked in scientific circles as a shark killer with no real knowledge of the creatures he hunts. To others, however, he is a valiant sea warrior ridding our coastline of man-eating predators.

Prominent underwater photographers and documentary filmmakers Ron and Valerie Taylor summed up the prevailing conservation attitude to Hislop when Ron Taylor told me in 1991 that they refused to discuss the man or his claims.

'Hislop is the only person in the world we don't want to be associated with,' he said.

'No wonder!' Hislop replied. 'They won't front me on television to debate this issue. I've challenged them, but they're not game because they know I can back up what I'm saying.'

After a spate of shark attacks around the Australian coast early last year, Hislop was adamant in his long-held belief that bureaucrats and government officials, aided and abetted by conservation groups and tourism dive operators, lead a conspiracy to cover up the true figures relating to shark attack fatalities.

'The shark protection industry doesn't like me because I tell the truth,' Hislop says.

'I won't change. I've been right all along. Shark fatalities around Australia and the world are continually manipulated to suit the shark industry.'

Hislop continues to hunt sharks from his base at Hervey Bay, Queensland, where his popular shark show continues to attract enthusiastic crowds.

'The people who are hiding the truth about great white sharks are the ones who will stay out of the water and die in bed. They have no worries, but what about their children and grandchildren?

'Some of them are sure to be taken because I predict the coming years will see a great increase in fatal attacks, all because of blatant lies and bureaucratic stupidity.'

One of the issues that intrigues me is the question of so-called rogue sharks - sometimes referred to as serial killers of the sea - those that attack and kill humans in numbers, at the same time, in the same place.

Do rogue sharks exist or are multiple attacks merely coincidental and random? That such attacks sometimes occur is a fact, but the reasons why are in dispute.

In one little-known but terrifying incident, a tiger shark attacked three people in one day in Madang Harbour in PNG, killing two.

Nine days later it struck again, claiming its third human life.

The killing spree began on February 7, 1996. On that day, the calm waters of this peaceful town were turned into a bloody slaughterhouse as the shark stalked the harbour. In little more than a week, three lives were lost in four attacks.

Tim Rowland, an expatriate Australian who has operated adventure dive tours in PNG and Solomon Islands for the past four decades, said it wasn't until the next day that the attacks became general knowledge.

'Very few people would have known on the day they happened,' Rowland told me. 'The two who went in after the first wouldn't have known.

'That shark basically had breakfast, lunch and dinner.'

A week later, Rowland was scuba diving with a student when they were confronted by a 4m tiger shark. Rowland had entered the water knowing the risk, but experience and common sense ensured he was alert to danger.

'We were supposed to do a surface swim but because I thought the shark might still be around I decided we'd go underwater,' Rowland says.

'I'm glad we did because that's when we ran into him. We were in a little alcove when the shark came in over the top and brushed against me.

'I heard the student scream through his regulator, so I grabbed him and pulled him down to the bottom. I was certain this was the shark that had killed those people.'

Rowland punched the shark as it made several passes before moving off.

'I was amazed at how slow the shark was moving. It was like slow motion, and I was thinking when is he going to open his mouth and take a chomp at us. He was a big shark.'

Rowland and the student made it to safety. A 4m tiger shark was caught 11 days after the first attacks. He has no doubt it was Madang's killer shark.

Australian surgeon V. M. Coppleson was one of the first modern scientists to develop the rogue shark theory in his attempt to understand and explain why sharks occasionally attack humans in numbers.

In his 1958 book Shark Attack, Coppleson used the term rogue many times as he documented multiple attacks across the world, including several serial fatal attack patterns on Sydney's beaches in the 20s and 30s.

He also recorded a series of five fatal shark attacks in four years on the sparsely populated beaches north of Cairns in the 40s.

In an article published in the Medical Journal of Australia, Coppleson wrote: 'A rogue shark, if the theory is correct, and evidence appears to prove it to the hilt - like the man-eating tiger - is a killer which, having experienced the deadly sport of killing or mauling a human, goes in search of similar game. The theory is supported by the pattern and frequency of many attacks.'

The most famous example of multiple shark attacks took place on the New Jersey coast of the US during the summer of 1916, when four people were killed in 12 days. Such a series of attacks was unknown at the time.

Disbelief, fear and confusion reigned until a great white shark was caught in Raritan Bay with human bones and flesh in its stomach.

In December 1957, the South African city of Durban was the focal point for what is believed to be a world record for the most shark attacks in a single place in a short time.

Beginning in what became known as Black December and continuing for 107 days, seven attacks took place at unprotected beaches south of the city, claiming five lives.

But the rogue shark concept is almost universally dismissed in contemporary scientific thought.

John West, who collates statistics for Sydney's Taronga Zoo's Australian Shark Attack File, rejects the notion of rogue sharks that specifically target humans.

He points out that Coppleson's rogue shark theory, while credible at the time, is discredited.

'Modern analysis of shark attack data does not support the theory of a rogue shark as a viable explanation for the vast majority of shark attacks, whether clustered or not,' West says.

'Some of the clusters of attacks he noted were many kilometres apart, or months or even years apart, and could not realistically relate to a single rogue shark.'

John Stevens, a senior principal research scientist at CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research in Hobart who has 30 years' experience studying sharks, agrees that Coppleson's rogue shark theory is just that, a theory.

'There is no scientific basis for it. It's more likely that favourable conditions for sharks at the time of an attack just brought several into the area around the same time,' Stevens says.

'There is no evidence for one individual being responsible for a chain of attacks.'

Shark attack survivor Rodney Fox, the diver who was almost bitten in half by a great white in 1963 and now owns and operates the Rodney Fox Great White Shark Expeditions at Port Lincoln in South Australia, agrees.

'There is no evidence that a rogue shark, a killer with a taste for human blood, has ever existed in the past or exists now,' he says.

But it's hard to deny the evidence of some multiple attacks being the deadly work of a single shark, and that day of horror in Madang Harbour comes to mind.

Three attacks in one day. Two people dead. One shark.

Robert Reid is the author of Shark! Killer Tales from the Dangerous Depths published by Allen & Unwin and available next Tuesday.

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CALL ME PUSSY

To all of you that think Bull Sharks are pussies: This is what you get when you feed your kitten too much fish. Let's see you sit this pussy on your lap!

Bull Sharks Jump Out Of Water In Brisbane River

Bull Sharks Jump Out Of Water In Brisbane River:

"Leaping sharks are no bull"
Sean Baumgart
September 6, 2010

Bull sharks' behaviour baffles scientists.

It's a phenomenon with which Brisbane River boaties are familiar, but scientists are at a loss to explain.

Every year as temperatures rise, bull sharks can be seen leaping from the water and spinning through the air, sparking wonder among spectators and researchers alike.

University of Queensland professor in zoology Craig Franklin says despite up to a thousand bull sharks living in the river winding its way through the state capital, much of their behaviour is a mystery.
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Particularly confounding is the sight of the sharks getting air time during warmer months.

It is a spectacle ferry drivers say they catch sight of up to four times a week.

Craig Wilkins, who has spent years on the river as a City Cat master and at the helm of the Kookaburra Queen, says the wide stretch of river at Bulimba is a common spot for the behaviour.

“The warmer the water, the more times you will see them jumping,” he said. As the sun gets up, that's when you will see them jumping.

“About two years ago the river was a little bit cleaner than usual and everybody was seeing them. You ask any City Cat master, they'll say the same thing. They see them jumping all the time.”

As well, their aerials show the sharks are also more active underwater as the river at this time of year.

Sharks found upstream are normally less than 1.5m long and pose little threat to people.

However, dog owners have been warned to keep their pets out of the river at dusk and dawn, when sharks are most active.

There have been numerous reports of dogs being taken from the river's edge and even instances of more ambitious sharks taking on larger prey.

In 2005, Ipswich locals were shocked after a bull shark attacked a race horse being put through its paces in the Brisbane River at Kholo.

The attack came just weeks after a teenager was bitten on the head and finger at Karalee.

One ferry driver recently told of seeing a Chihuahua snapped up in shallow water at the edge of the river and Professor Franklin said small dogs would be attractive to sharks.

“Small snacks like [Chihuahuas] could be within the size range of prey items that a bull shark would take,” he said.

“You wouldn't want to let your dog go for a swim around dusk and dawn. That's when they are most likely to be feeding.”

A “cosmopolitan” creature found in tropical and sub-tropical waterways around the world, the bull shark has long baffled scientists with its behaviour in Indonesia, Thailand, Fiji and Florida.

In some cases they have been observed leaping for bats, but by and large their motive is a mystery, according to Professor Franklin.

“I've got no idea to tell you the truth,” he said. “Whether it's to scare prey out, I've got no idea why they do that.

“I've seen it and it tends to be the small ones.”

City Cat and ferry drivers say they often see it during the long hours they spend on the waterway.

They have even ventured theories on why it happens.

Mr Wilkins said the manoeuvre could be a type of housekeeping.

“My belief is, and I don't know if it is accurate, but my belief is that they are getting rid of parasites and that's why they spin around so fast,” he said.

“That's what we see as we are driving along occasionally is them jumping up and doing a bit of a spin and hitting the water again. They're usually about four foot long and the biggest I've ever seen was about six foot, I guess.”

His theory was echoed by another ferry driver who spoke to brisbanetimes.com.au, but Professor Franklin wasn't sold on the idea.

“I doubt that,” he said. “There are external parasites that they can have, but I've never heard that it's a successful strategy to remove parasites.”

Professor Franklin said it was possible bull sharks were among those filmed feeding on a school of bait fish off Teewah Beach north of Noosa on Friday and were often found in the open ocean.

But he said what set them apart from other species was their ability to survive in fresh water thanks to being able to retain salt in their bodies.

He said the sharks give birth near the mouth of the river, with the 50cm pups heading upstream, where they would live for up to four years until they venture into the ocean in search of larger prey.

“I think to be in a state capital city and to have bull sharks in our waterways is a wonderful thing. They are undoubtedly an incredible animal to have in our waterways,” he said.

Around the world, more fatalities are attributed to bull sharks than any other species.

In the past decade bull sharks have been blamed for deaths in the Gold Coast canal system, and an attack which killed a teenage girl at North Stradbroke Island in 2006.

“You could almost say they are a cosmopolitan shark in that most capital cities are built around river systems, they are circum-global, so right around the globe, so the likelihood of people being injured or killed is higher,” said Professor Franklin.

“But they don't target humans. People need to realise that. They are opportunistic feeders. All we have to do is modify our behaviour and be careful where we swim and the time at which we swim.

“You look at the unfortunate incidents on the Gold Coast in the canals where people were taken and they were swimming around at night time or dusk or dawn.”

4 the wall!

ULTIMATE PET?