SharkArchives.com

Source: couriermail.com.au

SYDNEY beach goers have been warned for months now that swimming near baitfish increases your chance of being attacked by a shark.

A tourist in Malaysia obviously hasn’t been told of the advice. 

She jumped in the water to surround herself with little fish at Pulau Payar in Malaysia while friends attracted the minnows with bread crusts. 

See what happened when a baby shark turned up and decided there was something better than bread to be scoffed.

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,25202354-5013016,00.html

Shark Attack

Source: surftherenow.com

A 19-year-old French surfer was killed by a shark today as he surfed off New Caledonia in the southwest Pacific. The surfer’s arm was torn off and his leg bitten as he tried to board a boat with his friend. The man’s friend managed to get him to shore, but he was dead by the time emergency workers reached him.

The surfer, who was studying in the New Caledonia capital, Noumea, died shortly after being transported to shore. It is not known what type of shark was responsible.

The incident took place in an area popular with surfers and was the first fatal shark attack in the territory since September 2007, when a young nurse was killed.

Shark Attack

Source: The Sun

SHOCKED fishermen watched as a saltwater crocodile went head-to-head with a shark in Australia.

The 4.5 metre crocodile took on the bite-size shark in a brief, but dramatic battle on the Wildman River, east of Darwin.

The attack took place only metres from a boatload of surprised fishermen.

Craig Van Lawick was one of those aboard the vessel but was unsure about the type of shark involved — saying it was eaten too quickly to work it out.

Shark Death

Source: MailOnline

Plunging a knife in again and again, diver Craig Clasen grapples with a 12ft tiger shark to protect a friend.

For two hours he wrestled with the giant, spearing it seven times, even drowning the beast before eventually finishing it off with a knife.

Mr Clasen was hunting yellow fin tuna with fellow fisherman Cameron Kirkconnell, photographer D.J Struntz and film maker Ryan McInnis in the Gulf of Mexico when the encounter took place.

The group were about to leave the deep waters south of the Mississippi River’s mouth, when Mr McInnis found himself alone in the company of a tiger shark.

With no time to lose, Mr Clasen grabbed his speargun and swam to his stranded friend, who was being circled by the giant predator.

‘I positioned myself between Ryan and the shark and I tried to watch it for a second, hoping it would pass us by,’ explained 32-year-old Mr Clasen.

‘I noticed that the shark was getting tighter and tighter and just kept trying to get a back angle on us and behaving in an aggressive manner.

‘The shark made a roll and looked like it was going to charge us so I just went ahead and took the conservative route and put a shaft through its gills.

‘Cameron and I have been around sharks for years and we all have a lot of experience with them but this encounter had a different feel to it.

‘Down in my core I really felt the shark was there to feed. I didn’t want it to come to that.’

Mr Clasen spent nearly two hours wrestling with the giant 12ft shark, spearing it seven times and even attempting to drown the beast before eventually finishing it off with a long blade knife.

‘Once I shot it in the gills I felt a moral obligation to finish the job,’ says Mr Clasen.

‘I didn’t want it to go on any longer than it had to. I shot the fish like I would do any other fish and worked it up closer and did my best to kill it as humanely as possible.

‘I speared it in the gills which I knew would kill it and from that I tried to put a shaft into its brain as quickly as possible.

‘I shot it six times in the head with a spear and I wasn’t having much luck - it was a slow drawn out process.

‘Sharks are so resilient and so tough from millions of years of evolution they are just survivors.

‘The best way and quickest way to finish the job and kill the shark and recover it was to get a rope around its tail, drag it from the back of the boat and attempt to drown it.

‘In the end we had put a knife its skull once I got lose enough to it and use a long blade knife even after trying to drown it.’

Mr Clasen has been free diving and fishing since an early age. Hailing from Mississippi, he was brought up in a fishing family, and is an expert in all fishing disciplines. Despite his experience, Mr Clasen took no pleasure in disposing of the giant shark.

‘This was one of the most remorseful moments I have ever had in all of my years in hunting, gathering and fishing,’ explains Mr Clasen.

‘Personally I never shoot anything or kill anything that I am not going to eat.

‘We saved the tail and the head, cut a giant chunk out of it and ate a piece.

‘I wasn’t there to hunt the shark, it was a defensive move for me and I would do it again. Unfortunately it had to be done and its not something I was proud of. It was a situation that presented itself to us. This was one of those rare instances where we had to protect ourselves.

‘I have so much respect for sharks in general. With the amount of time that we spend out there we are exposed to so many potential risks.’

Spearfishing is a form of fishing that has been popular throughout the world for centuries. Considered to be the most selective way of fishing, the amount of fish taken by spearfishermen accounts for just 0.1 per cent of fishing globally.

Today spearfishermen use effective elastic- or pneumatic-powered spearguns and slings to strike the hunted fish using free-diving, snorkelling or scuba-diving techniques.

Regarded by many as two of the world’s best free diving spearfishermen, Mr Clasen and Cameron Kirkconnell have come into contact with thousands of sharks.

Watching from the boat, Mr Kirkconnell is sure Mr Clasen the right decision. ‘We had been in the water all day and had caught lots of tuna,’ he explained.

‘But every dive we do is a shark dive and at certain times of the year, especially in Louisiana, we expect to see between 50-100 sharks from 7-12 ft.

‘This encounter was so rare though. This shark might have been part of a feeding frenzy and still fired up and thought this was an easy kill.

‘Tiger sharks have no problem eating whole sea turtles, 150lb tuna and even dolphins. It wasn’t a split second decision on a whim, Mr Clasen has had hundreds of hours of experience.

‘There was no doubt that was what needed to be done.’

Uncategorized

Source: orangecountry.com

Two boaters cruising around about 1.5 miles off the coast of Newport Beach last night made a new friend.
A large shark about 18-feet in length came up to the side of their 29-foot boat, swimming about 5 knots alongside the vessel, said boater Steve Lockhart.
Lockhart and friend Aaron Hix just had some engine work done on their 1985 29-foot Carver and were burning off fuel offshore with plans to go fishing - when they got a bit distracted by the massive shark hanging out with them.
“The shark was a beast,” he said. “It was definitely curious.”

Great White

Source: MailOnline

A shark badly injured a 15-year-old boy while he was surfing with his father off a Sydney beach yesterday.

Andrew Lindop was surfing with his father Charles at North Avalon beach when he became the third shark attack victim in the area in as many weeks. In one of the previous attacks a navy diver lost an arm and a leg. 

Marine experts believe environmental protection in the Sydney harbour area has created a cleaner environment which is attracting sharks closer to shore as they chase fish.

The teenager was flown by helicopter to hospital to be treated for leg injuries.

Police said the bites ‘cut through to the bone’ but the teenager did not appear to have sustained any fractures.

Doctors at the Royal North Shore Hospital operated on Andrew and was said to be recovering well from surgery.

‘Doctors are very happy with the results,’ a hospital spokesman said. ‘He’s resting comfortably in a satisfactory condition.’

Andrew and his father were in the waters off Avalon beach on Sydney’s popular northern beaches at 6.45am when he was attacked.

‘The father heard a scream and turned to see his son thrashing about in the water,’ a police spokesman said. ‘Fortunately the shark swam away and the boy was helped to shore by his father.’

Back on the beach Mr Lindop, an Avalon Beach Surf Life Saving Club senior patrol captain, tied a tourniquet around his son’s leg before paramedics arrived.

Police closed several beaches after the attack. Officers and lifeguards were searching for the shark, hoping to identify its species by the shape of the bite marks.

Many shark species live in the waters off Sydney’s beaches, but attacks on humans are still relatively rare.

However, there were two attacks on successive days last month, one on a Navy diver in Sydney harbour and another on a surfer at the city’s world-famous Bondi beach.

Fishermen say shark numbers are on the rise. Many shark species, including the Great White, are protected in Australian waters.

Shark Attack

Source: winknews.com

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) - Shark attacks worldwide dipped last year to their lowest level in five years.

University of Florida shark researcher George Burgess says there were 59 attacks in 2008, compared to 71 in 2007. He attributes the decline to economy and fewer people going to the beach.

There were four fatal attacks last year, an average number, compared with only one in 2007, which marked a two-decade low. Two of the deaths were in Mexico, one was in Australia and one was in the United States.

Burgess is an ichthyologist and director of the International Shark Attack File, which is housed at the University of Florida.

Shark Attack

Source: telegraph.co.uk

Nari the dolphin, who was popular with tourists, sustained deep bite marks to his head and back during a shark attack on Friday. The injuries could have proved fatal had he not received medical attention.

A regular at a nightly hand-feeding event at Moreton Island off Brisbane, Nari had disappeared after being spotted with severe injuries.

Sea World vets feared he had died when he did not appear at feeding time for days.

However, on Tuesday night Nari reappeared at the beach, looking tired and frail. He was led in to shore by his mate Echo, where he was captured by waiting vets and volunteers without a struggle.

Nari, one of a pod of 11 wild dolphins who regularly attend the feeding event at Tangalooma Resort, was transferred to Sea World on the Gold Coast where he underwent surgery for his deep wounds and was given antibiotics to prevent infection.

He was initially force-fed but is now eating voluntarily again and is recovering in a recuperation tank. Nari is expected to make a full recovery and rejoin the pod within eight weeks.

Trevor Long, Director of Marine Sciences, said the Sea World team used anaesthetic to remove dead flesh from Nari’s gaping wound.

“We are extremely pleased with Nari’s progress and are feeling very positive about his recovery.

“Nari has begun eating voluntarily and is exhibiting encouraging behaviour which is a very good sign,” Mr Long told Australian Associated Press.

“He may also require further surgery to remove more dead skin as he heals.”

Dolphins

Source: dailymail.co.uk

A surfer’s arm was shredded by a shark off Australia’s Bondi Beach - the first attack at the popular tourist spot for 80 years.

The 33-year-old man, whose name was not released, suffered severe arm injuries, police said. Other surfers helped him to shore, where volunteers helped to stop his bleeding.

The man underwent a 10-hour surgery at St. Vincent’s Hospital, and was in serious but stable condition, hospital spokesman David Faktor said.

‘We could see all of his bones cut like with a big knife. It was very clear,’ French tourist Mikael Thomas, 21, said.

Lifeguards sounded the beach’s shark alarm and cleared the water. Surfer James McIntosh, 29, said he tied a leg rope around the victim’s arm as a tourniquet.

‘I just kept pulling that leg rope as hard as I could. As soon as we put the tourniquet on there wasn’t any bleeding,’ he added.

On Wednesday, a Navy diver lost his hand after fighting off a shark in Sydney Harbour, not far from the Opera House. His leg was also badly mauled.

A recent string of shark attacks across Australia has left some swimmers jittery. 

In December, 51-year-old Brian Guest vanished while snorkeling with his son off a beach in Western Australia. A piece of his wet suit was later found, and officials said he was almost certainly eaten by a shark.

Last month, a 13-year-old surfer in the island state of Tasmania was dragged under water by a 16-foot great white shark, and a 31-year-old surfer was bitten while surfing at a remote beach in New South Wales state the same day. Both survived.

The following day, a shark latched onto the leg of a snorkeler in southern New South Wales. The man survived after pummeling the creature with his fists until the shark let go.

Most experts agree the cluster of attacks is a freak coincidence and say there is no evidence of an increase in the country’s shark population. 

Nevertheless, some have argued that cleaner, nutrient-rich waters have boosted the animals’ reproduction and drawn them into shallow waters.

Although sharks are often spotted off Australia’s beaches, fatal attacks are rare. 

On average, just one person is killed by a shark in Australia each year, according to the Australian Shark Attack File database.

Shark Attack

Source: sbs.com.au

A Navy diver who lost his hand after being attacked by a shark in Sydney Harbour says he is about to have his leg amputated, but is looking forward to rebuilding his life and career.

Navy clearance diver Able Seaman Paul de Gelder was mauled while working between HMAS Kuttabul navy base at Garden Island and Mrs Macquarie’s Chair about dawn last Wednesday. 

The 31-year-old was taking part in an underwater trial to test new naval defence technology when what is believed to have been a bull shark attacked him.

“I will today have my right leg amputated,” Mr de Gelder said in a statement released through the defence department on Wednesday.

He said the past week had been overwhelming, and he would not have survived without the support of numerous people.

Mr de Gelder described his colleagues and mates Leading Seaman Clearance Diver Jeremy Thomas, Able Seaman Clearance Diver Ryan Dart and Seaman Clearance Diver Arthur McLachlin as “a couple of heroes”.

Hopes for career

“(They) pulled me out of the water and saved me from what I understand was a three metre Bull Shark,” he said.

He also offered his thanks to the paramedics “who got me to the hospital within an inch of my life”, as well as the doctors and staff of St Vincent’s Hospital.

He said that his family, friends and workmates had shown him limitless support since the attack.

“During this stressful time, they are keeping a smile on my face and love in my heart.

“I’m looking forward to rebuilding my life and taking on the new challenges I have to face.

“Ultimately I would like to return to what I love - Navy diving.”

Thanks for support

He praised the Royal Australian Navy for its support, and said there were too many others to thank them by name.

“There are so many people who have sent their best wishes and support that I couldn’t possibly name them all, but each of them have helped me to rise above this potentially life shattering situation and I thank them all.”

A spokesman for St Vincents Hospital said Mr de Gelder remained in a stable condition in the hospital’s Naval ward.

The shark attack was the first of two in Sydney last week.

A 33-year-old man, named in the media as Glenn Orgias, was savaged by a shark while surfing at the iconic Bondi Beach at dusk last Thursday.

His hand was almost severed in an attack and he also remains in a stable condition in St Vincent’s Hospital.

Shark Attack