Shark attack!

[kaibo 开 博]

http://www.watoday.com.au/wa-news/shark-attack-witness-tells-of-mauling-horror-20110905-1jsz9.html
http://www.theage.com.au/wa-news/shark-attack-witness-tells-of-mauling-horror-20110905-1jsz9.html

These & other links reveal the horror of "great whites."

The thing is that humankind was given "dominion" over all the fish of the sea as well. Nevertheless, conservation was first a biblical principle under Levitical law. Yes they need conservation but not when they become a menace that threatens our dominion -- the sea -- it is time to take back the ascendency!

As a surfer, that surfed those same waters for twenty years -- in fact I once lived there in that same region -- a great white 'rogue' shark is a menace. I am of the opinion that a 'rogue' shark becomes 'blooded' after it kills not once but twice.

I surfed beaches totally alone. It was crazy because sometimes I was 200 metres from shore by myself, with nobody else on the beach at all. Sure I was always scared & felt uneasy because sharks are always in the back of your mind. But when the surf is pumping, the lure of the 'crystal cave' beckons you to take the chance. I was lucky, I sighted many sharks but never encountered a great white & was never menaced by any shark. We once surfed 3-4 metre swells at Kalbarri on an afternoon when a shark, or sharks, were sighted at least 3-4 times when we were in the water. We were alerted each time & returned to the rocks, but one by one we ventured back into the water each time.

With hunting dogs, 'pig dogs' as they are called -- that are used to hunt wild pigs in Australia -- they are blooded by being taught to maul an animal in order to be 'blood-thirsty' enough to pull the animal down. They become a menace & will kill livestock or even a child if they are released into the wrong environment. If they kill livestock once or bite a person once they will do it again. They must be destroyed if they do that.

WA waters are alive with sharks and our stupid fisheries legislators have now revoked shark fishing licenses & refuses the renewal of them. Since those days shark attacks are on the increase. I am of the opinion that the protection of the great white is increasing their numbers & not only that, they are being authorised as supreme dominionists over the seas. There is untold damage being done to the tourism industry, in respect to surfing culture in the region. An old football mate of mine was taken several hundred metres from my family home in Rockingham district, Perth. He was diving for 'blue manna' crabs with his son. His son witnessed his father being dragged away by the great white in its' jaws. These sharks are now becoming 'blooded.' The body was never recovered so he was doubtlessly eaten. Great whites generally bite once & realise human flesh is not their fare. Not now! They are coming back for more. Some are now 'blooded' & now realise that human flesh is 'good tucker.' The 'goody two shoes' have become like the dickheads who oppose the death penalty. They say stupid shit like we are in the shark's dominion. Well lower yourselves a little more & admit then that a rabid dog has dominion as well. And whilst your at it, admit that deadly plagues & viruses should be left to dominate & destroy as well. Admit that having parasitic worms in your body is their right. After all, just like a 'rogue' shark they have the right to live & destroy life as planet earth is their dominion.

Go ahead non surfers -- argue against my logic!

[Aussie Mike]

A creature to be respected, that's for sure.
It's interesting how you have many large swimmers of similar size but ttttotally different characters.

Turtle, dolphin, shark, dugong and human.

[Patrick]

I agree with Kaibo,

Great Whites need to be hunted down like the killers they are. In the U.S. if a pit bull attacks a human, it is immediately euthanized. No questions asked. Granted, oftentimes the attack is deliberately provoked by the person, but I do not think any of these recent shark attack victims provoked their killers. Population control, with extreme prejudice,  is in order here.

[kaibo 开 博]

Diving with sharks is awesome!

I have dived with sharks in Malaysia, at the Perhentian Islands -- off the east coast of Kota Bahru. The sharks there are only white tip reef sharks and are not considered dangerous unless in a frenzy.

I also went diving off the north-west coast of Western Australia where sharks are a dime a dozen. They are mostly whalers up there but there are some big tiger sharks as well. On one occasion we went about 30kms out to the back of an island to go snorkelling not with tanks as in SCUBA. The boat anchored about 100 mts from the back of the island and the water was black and slightly murky on that occasion. I hate it when the water is black. A lot of surfers won't surf the reef breaks because they only feel safe on sand breaks where you can generally see the bottom. It was scary but I thought here goes and jumped in regardless. As I got closer in and could see the bottom, guess what was there? Yep, that's right, sharks, little buggers about a metre to a metre and a half. It was nice to see them but the thought of a big hungry tiger shark or huge hammerhead was in the back of my mind the whole time.

One thing about being a surfer is you seldom look down into the black water because you know what can be there in the murky depths - large beastly 'Noahs' or 'the man in the grey suit' as they call them. I once saw one flash under me and that my friends was scary as hell. I first thought it to be a dolphin but there were no dolphins sighted that day.

During the many occasions I fished up north, both onshore and offshore, the sharks were menaces. They will tackle your hooked fish but they can't even bite through a 5 kg black schnapper without a tug of war that might last 20-30 minutes. They eventually bite it in half as they shake it like a dog shakes a rag doll as if killing it. Even though the water was teaming with whalers the little Aussie native kids would go 30 metres from shore to go swimming in the tidal creeks I fished in. I used to go swimming there as well but not while I was burleying the water to attract queen fish and trevally. I caught so many sharks up there it was annoying. A live bait under a balloon always ended up with a pesky whaler taking the bait. My best land based capture could have been a record. I hooked and landed a two metre whaler on 10lb line. For the uninitiated I guess that is about a 35kg plus shark on a line about 4.3kg.

Here was another link to the story with different content. The witnesses said they saw a bronze whaler but I checked out the facts and of 33 confirmed attacks by bronzies in Australia none were fatal. They do not have the jaw structure or the physical size to take a man in half. It had to be a great white! Also an earlier fatal attack just a couple of years ago in the same region said that two sharks attacked a surfer, one was a bronzie and the other a great white. So it appears that sometimes a bronzie will tail a great white to take advantage of a free feed.

http://www.perthnow.com.au/news/national/shark-attack-claims-life-at-bunker-bay/story-e6frg15u-1226129963050

[kaibo 开 博]

Here is another little 'sharkey' story I am quite proud of. I was at Kalbarri again, 412 miles north of Perth in West Aust. There were a couple of guys, Italian Aussies, who were gawking at two sharks stranded in a tidal pool at low tide at a famous surfing spot called 'Jake's Point. I didn't hesitate, I waded into the pool, grabbed one at a time by their tails, and dragged them out. They are called wobbegong sharks or carpet sharks.

Now before you say they are harmless, think again! They are relatively harmless but have been known to be quite aggressive. In fact a mate of mine (now deceased) was snorkelling off Cottosloe beach in Perth in mid summer. He told me there were plenty of others snorkelling in the same location. One guy apparently tried to spear a large wobbegong and failed to set the spear. The shark terrorised all the snorkellers by charging at them defensively. He even stated that it left the ocean floor and charged at them as they were swimming off in fright. Wobbegongs are well known for biting the flippers, legs or hands of divers but I have never heard of one inflicting a wound deep enough for a death to occur.

Here is another story for those interested. I was at Kalbarri again. There was no surf and I was about 70 to 80 mts from shore by myself snorkelling. All my mates were on the beach revelling about and getting tanned. When you are in the water snorkelling you can still hear shouts; even under water it is amazing what you can hear. I heard the shouts so I stuck my head up.
I heard them shouting, "Shark, shark!"
Man that was all I needed. I was off as fast as I could go. I had a home-made spear but foollishly dumped it. How crazy can you be! That could have been the one defense I could have used against the beast.
Nevertheless, "man breaking swimming speed record" was the main aim. I even dumped my mask and threw it off.
What an idiot!
Panic is not good in those circumstances but I was only about 15 yrs old at the time. I was a hot surfer even back then and rode 4 metre Jake's that year. That was the same year we continued to surf even though sharks were sighted throughout the afternoon.
Have you ever seen a cartoon where a character swims out of the water onto land and keeps going?
Well, believe it! I did it!
I swam all the way up the rocks and never missed a beat. My whole body projected itself up those rocks which is impossible unless you are supercharged on adrenaline like I was. Fear is an amazing tool sometimes.
Well guess what? My mates were in hysterics pissing themselves with laughter.
The two metre monster I envisioned that was after me was nothing but a 3ft wobbegong that they wanted me to spear. One of the guys had waded in after it and had straightened the prongs on another home-made spear on its' head.
I was shaken and needed some time before I ventured back into the deep with a mate to find my mask and spear.

One more story. Mandurah -- crabbing 3-400mts out in the estuary at night with a torch, a bucket and a scoop net. My mates disappeared and left me out there all alone. Every time I have been out there at night I have been charged by bull sharks as they crash the crabs you stir up as you walk through the water. Large bull sharks are killers. This can be verified as two fellas in Queensland were killed by the buggers in Surfer's Paradise in the canals. I have seen them and witnessed their curious antics as they are said to be particularly attracted to movement and can detect the electrical impulses we emit. These days I would be very reluctant to venture back out there as a professional fisherman in that estuary has reported on several occasions sighting a great white in that same region.

Anyone else got some 'sharkey' tales? I believe Miami in Florida is known as the 'shark bite' capital of the world.

[Aussie Mike]

The longest time I ever held my breath was in Queensland.

I was snorkeling around some wrecks off Brisbane with some friends who had scuba gear and 2 others in the boat. A 3 metre noah's ark came cruising through so we took cover behind some rocks. The problem was, I was too far from friends to get air from and they weren’t enticed to venture out from their hidey holes. After another minute or hour so it seemed, my lungs were bursting, the shark had turned away from me and was about 10 meters away, the white belly of the boat was only 4. I pointed my hands toward the surface, kicked off from the bottom fueled with desperation, fear and certainty that this bugger was going to grab my flipper before I could gasp breath. I had those fins performing at maximum efficiency. I broke the surface, grabbed the railing on the boat and propelled myself with the same fluid motion which catapulted me over the gunnel, flopping about on the deck gasping like a captured seal.

The two friends in the boat were engrossed watching the shark on the other side so had no idea I was on my way. I'm not sure who got the biggest surprise but they shat a 10 lb brick each, believing I was another shark.

[kaibo 开 博]

I knew that I would eventually draw you out of the woodwork on this issue. Having spent a large proportion of your life in and around the sub-tropical spheres of coastal Queensland, it was inevitable that a sharkey tale would surface. I recall you told me that once but I had forgotten it. That is something I wish will never occur to me -- a face to face encounter with great white on the prowl.

A mate of mine in West Aust. had a similar experience with a great white on the middle bank whilst diving for crays. He was tanked up but was almost out of air. He was holed up in an undersea ledge after having been driven there by a hungry 'noah.' Although he had a 'smokie' -- an explosive headed spear destined to save a life from a shark attack (now illegal) - fortunately the 'noah' disappeared long enough after circling around peering at him several times under the ledge. Great whites are one of the few sharks that have jointed eyes that can turn in their sockets. He had no choice but to make a 10mt dash to the surface into his father's 13ft bondwood boat. He told me of other encounters where he was forced to use 'smokies' on other species of shark. The smokie literally blows their brains out but you must get a direct hit or you are cactus. My old man and uncles always had a rifle on-board their boats to kill any shark before they brought them into the boat up around Cervantes. As we know they thrash like crazy. In a boat all I do if they are not favourable varieties to eat is cut the trace and release them. They are dangerous to mess with.

For the uninitiated also, great whites have on many occasions attacked boats off local West Aussie beaches -- usually the outboard. Even thumping into one as the boat cruised along I am told on a very rare occasion. Some boats have incurred damaged or even a broken prop. Awesome power to snap cast marine grade aluminium. I am sure also you remember the guys who had a deep sea encounter when a Mako became airborne and landed in their boat off Bunbury. The guys jumped overboard to escape the thrashing monster. Mako sharks are fearless and very aggressive but are usually only encountered well offshore. The interior of the vessel was all but decimated with the seats smashed up and all. A very scary thing to have to jump over board when as the shark commandeered their vessel.

I had another little adventure one day, again in the Nth West. I had caught a one metre bronzie; I had a super strong ganged hook rigged up to a live bait under a balloon, when -- "whirzzzzztttzzzz" -- it took off at a rate of knots peeling line off the Penn reel. I fought the little bronzie in and landed him on the reef. As I was taking the hook from his mouth - catch and release of course - he flexed his muscles and threw his head. You guessed it, one of the large hooks embedded itself deep into my hand. I jumped on the bugger with my knee and hit him on the head in frustrated shock, anger and pain. My thumping 91kg training weight made sure he was not gonna do that again in a hurry. Needless to say I had no choice but to cut the linked hook from the other hooks in his mouth, carefully extract the remaining hooks from him, and then pack up and head to the local hospital at Karratha. I was amazed just how much force is required to get a hook out of your hand. The female nurse needed my strength to get the embedded hook out through the skin. As the barb can't be pulled back out, we had to thread it back through after cutting the eye off the hook.

Nice huh!

Anyone else got some close encounters with a noah?

Oh, just briefly; I have sat in the water whilst surfing when baby sharks about 30cm were spinning in circles only metres from me also. They are so cute and not scary at all.

[大枪]

Going back a few years now, but... I was at south Straddie with some friends for a weekend during new year. We were camping on the calm side, not even the surf side. There's a spot that heaps of people swim at, next to a jetty at the campground. It's pretty well known. Anyhoo, spent a whole afternoon paddling around out there, a splashin' and a clownin'. Floated on my back in the sunshine and looked up at the folks on the jetty who had their lines out, catching fish. It didn't occur to me that it must have been like cho tofu to a Hefei ren--irresistable.

We left the next day. When I got home I switched on the news. Around sunset of the same day we left, they had pulled a girl out of the water in the exact same spot we'd been swimming. She'd gone in with arms and legs but when they dragged her up onto the beach, she was nothin' but torso. It was a bull shark apparently.      

The girl had been part of a christian youth camping excursion. Hadn't she learnt about Noah's ark??

Paul

[Aussie Mike]

This thread is bringing back some interesting memories.

Joke:
2 sharks swimming below and spotted a couple of scuba divers.

One asked, "I wonder what they taste like?"

The other replied, "The inside is delicious but they're a bugger to peel".

End of joke, you can laugh now

Not a joke
A fisherman I used to go big fishing with lost his toes to a dead shark in his boat.

He hooked a small 4-5 footer, dragged it over the gunnel, administered its last rights with the cut off oar handle and dropped it into the boat. The swell rocked the boat about and the dead shark slid across the deck, as the fisherman tried to leap aside the sharks mouth went over his shoe and trapped his foot in its jaws. As the boat rocked the shark slide across the boat again but took the end of his shoe and shredded his toes. He lost the three smaller toes of his left foot.

From then on, I've always wired the mouth of any big fish shut.

[Patrick]

I had shark fin soup the other night at a Mid-Autumn Festival dinner. I enjoyed it to the very last drop. Watch out sharks, because I've developed an appetite for you!

[kaibo 开 博]

Went to the Hefei Ocean Park yesterday for my Chinese daughters 3rd birthday. It was pretty good actually and somewhat worth the 180 yuan for me and missus, little kids are free.

 A diver was in a large tank feeding the sharks rays and fish. (I missed the naked mermaid show) The rays, sharks and a large turtle were harassing him for the feed; sorry but it reminded me of the time when I punched that pesky bronzie on the nose, I would no doubt have gotten so pissed off at the way they fought for the morsels and got in his face in that tank that I probably would have thumped them also. Not my idea of an enjoyable swim in a tank with crazed fish rubbing me up the wrong way for a treat. I don't mind looking at fish but I prefer to eat them. As a result of that I had sea shrimp for dinner.

The best tasting shark I ever ate was a school shark (known variety) my mate caught off a Perth beach whilst we were fishing at night in his boat. He passed it on to me because he thought they were crap. When I gave him some to try on the barbie he had great regrets. Schoolies are delicious and just about as nice a fish as any you could possibly ever hope to eat. I never told him that before he passed it on!

[Andy72]

brilliant thread guys!

haven't seen many sharks on my shores, but the idea scare the crap out of me.. but from now i will keep that all inside, at least i will taste awful to them!
 

great to read aussies stories!

[kaibo 开 博]

Maybe eating lots of garlic repels them!

[Aussie Mike]

No, garlic attracts fish, we put it in burly.
I try using an Italian as shark bait but the bugger was too quick. 
Shark couldn't catch him.

[kaibo 开 博]

Colloquially, we used to call the Italians from immigrant families 'garlic munchers.' I love the stuff raw sliced up in a salad sandwich. Also the boys at high-school used to say they were slippery skinned cause they ate too much oil. It made them hard to tackle on the football field. Mind you, the girls are kinda cute but hairy! "They gotta da bigga mamas too!"

"Gotta be a da careful-la Sonny. Da God-a-fadas a gonna getcha if-a ya say-a shit-a like-a dat!"  "Watcha outa fa dat blo-ke Andy-a too, he's da Italiano, comprende! They saya he has a da connections -ah, if ya know wad I mean!"