SharkArchives.com

Source: timesonline.co.uk

A Royal Australian Navy clearance diver is in hospital after being mauled by a shark in Sydney Harbour on Wednesday morning.

Able Seaman Paul Degelder was taking part in an anti-terrorism exercise in waters alongside the Navy’s fleet base at Garden Island, near Woolloomooloo in Sydney’s inner-east, when he was attacked on the hand and thigh by what is believed to have been a 10ft bull shark.

The 31-year-old, who was in the water with a police diver, managed to punch the shark a few times and then swim to a safety boat nearby. The attack, which happened on the surface of the water and was over in a matter of seconds, occurred within sight of the popular harbourside tourist lookout at Mrs Macquarie’s Chair and the Sydney Opera House.

Medical sailors from a nearby ship came to his aid and immediately called emergency services who transferred him to a local hospital where he had emergency surgery.

Australian Fleet Commander Rear Admiral Nigel Coates told The Times that Able Seaman Degelder is still in a “very serious condition” but would not divulge his exact injuries, or confirm reports that he may lose his hand.

An ambulance spokesman confirmed his hand had been partially severed, and Admiral Coates admitted Able Seaman Degelder’s injuries could end his career.

“He’s not going to die, but he has got some serious injuries that will take some time to get over,” Admiral Coates told The Times.

The Navy immediately suspended the diving operation, which was part of an underwater trial to test new naval defence technology, while boats searched for the shark.

Admiral Coates said Able Seaman Degelder was a “very popular” member of the Navy and the attack had shaken up his fellow personnel, some of whom had received counselling.

“Some of his mates are with him in hospital, along with his family,” he told The Times.

Able Seaman Degelder has been a member of the Royal Australian Navy for eight years since transferring from the Army. He is a member of Australian Clearance Dive Team One, based at HMAS Penguin in Sydney’s northern suburbs and described by Admiral Coates as a “keen and enthusiastic diver”.

Today’s attack is the first time a shark has mauled a member of the Royal Australian Navy, which will hold an inquiry into the incident and review diving operational procedures.

Jacob Ruru told Sydney’s Daily Telegraph newspaper that on Tuesday evening he saw a “3.5 to 4 metre bull shark chasing and leaping out of the water after bait fish” while he was fishing in the harbour at Mort Bay near Leichhardt in Sydney’s inner-west.

While sharks are commonly sighted in Sydney Harbour, an attack is very rare and there have only been 43 shark attacks over the past 200 years.

The last shark attack in the harbour was at Atol Bay, near Taronga Zoo on Sydney’s north shore. The last fatal shark attack in the harbour occurred in 1963 when Martha Hathaway was killed by a bull shark at Middle Harbour.

Shark expert John West said Bull sharks, which can grow up to 12ft, are one of the more “aggressive” shark species.

He said while bull sharks are “quite capable of taking chunks out of people”, this attack probably occurred because Able Seaman Degelder had inadvertently entered the shark’s personal territory.

“It seems to me this shark probably reacted to a perceived threat by the diver,” Mr West said.

“But it’s a rare occurrence. Sharks are in the harbour, but they are not out there eating people left, right and centre.”

While there are no statistics on the shark population in Sydney Harbour, a spokesman for the NSW Department of Environment and Climate Change said regenerated sea life had most likely attracted more of the predators to the waters.

“As the harbour gets healthier and less polluted, the numbers of fish are likely to improve and so you may also have sharks attracted to the whole area,” department spokesman John Dengate said.

Shark Attack

Source: csmonitor.com

CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA - Like a predator stalking his prey, Patrick Davids’s eyes rarely stray from the choppy green sea, and his radio is always at the ready.

While the assortment of sunbathers, swimmers, and surfers may not know his name, they know what he does and that one day they may owe him their lives.

Mr. Davids, or “Rasta” as he is better known, is a shark spotter who helped set up one of the world’s only shark-monitoring units along beaches in Cape Town, South Africa.

From a cramped beach hut, Davids has helped build up a network of full-time shark spotters on nine beaches, watching over one of the world’s most shark-infested shorelines.

Nearly seven years ago, the former alcoholic and drug addict was chased out of his Cape Town suburb by vengeful gangsters after falling into debt from his drug habits. He fled to nearby Muizenberg Beach, where he scratched out a living as a car guard.

“My parents didn’t know where I was for two years – and they couldn’t know, because the gangsters were after me,” says Davids. “I was in big trouble, and I was drinking and smoking too much. I was homeless and looking in [garbage] bins for food.”

But after two years, his car-guarding career was about to change. In April 2004, a local teen, J.P. Andrews, was attacked by a great white shark while surfing off Muizenberg. Doctors pronounced him dead on the beach – but his life was saved, though he lost his right leg.

The effect on local businesses was profound as people stayed out of the water and off the beaches.

START OF DAVIDS’S SHARK-SPOTTING ‘CAREER’

Two weeks after the attack, a local surfer gave Davids some binoculars and asked him to scale a nearby mountain to keep a lookout.

“If I saw a shark, I was to phone a local surf shop, who’d [send someone to] the beach and warn people to get out of the water,” Davids says. “Some of the surfers and businesses would pay me.”

Dressed in a white T-shirt with a shark emblazoned on the back, shorts, dark sunglasses, his dreadlocks sticking out under a well-worn cap, Davids now oversees a much larger operation.

Since 2004, staff numbers have grown to around 36 in the summer – 16 in winter – boosted by increased sponsorship, including an annual 1.5 million rand ($154,000) budget for the next four years from the City Council.

But while Davids is confident in his ability to protect people from sharks, he’s not complacent.

THE ‘MCDONALD’S OF THE SEA’

Davids says it’s not surprising that sharks visit the area. “There is Seal Island, which has 78,000 seals and a lot of baby seals that stray from their mothers,” he says, pointing to a small outcrop in the bay. “There are penguins in [nearby] Simon’s Town. Dolphins, yellowtail [a fish] and birds come here to breed – plenty of feeding opportunities. I call it the McDonald’s of the sea.

“They’ve been coming here for millions of years, but now humans use the sea more and more: surfing, surfing with parachutes, swimming.”

Davids is well-respected on the beach. Surfers and swimmers are given reassurance; beach bums nod and say hello.

In a country racked by poverty and crime, he’s a welcome sight – even if in a previous life he stole to feed his habits.

But his main priority is spotting sharks. Officials at the local Save Our Seas Shark Center have tagged 78 great whites in False Bay that migrate to Australia and Mexico in the winter.

Center marine biologist Alison Kock, who also carries out research for Shark Spotters, says the network has been invaluable.

“When we had the attacks in 2004, it became critical for businesses and Cape Town,” says Ms. Kock. “People didn’t want to go in the water, they were scared. It’s very difficult to change people’s perceptions of the shark, but they’re not the threat they think they are.

“That’s why [Davids] and the spotters are terrific. Yes, they keep watch on shark movements but they also help educate people about great whites.

“[Davids] is absolutely fantastic – he almost owns the beach at Muizenberg. He’s central to what happens, but also deals with general inquiries, safety, and people look out for him. People love him down there.”

The shark spotters have assigned names for some of their more regular visitors: Charlize, a 4.5-meter-long female named after South African actress Charlize Theron; Speedy, who dives in the waves like a surfer; Nosey, who spends her time swimming in and out of shore; and Rosy, who has a roselike pattern on her dorsal fin.

Spotters work a five-hour morning or afternoon shift and get paid 90 rand ($9.25). They are equipped with whistles, binoculars, and foghorns, and are in constant touch via radio.

On the beach, the spotters employ four warning flags, including a white banner with the silhouette of a black shark warning swimmers to leave the ocean. Since helping set up the network, there have been 476 recorded sightings, but no attacks on humans.

“We try and minimize the risk of attack, but we can’t say 100 percent there will never be another one,” says Davids.

“There are more scary, two-legged sharks on land who come into your house…. I’d rather take my chances in the ocean than land,” he adds, before his walkie-talkie crackles into life and he heads off along the shoreline.

Shark Sighting

Source: iol.co.za

A lifeguard watched in horror as his friend was torn apart by a giant shark off Port St Johns in Port Elizabeth at the weekend.

Sikhanyiso Bangilizwe, 25, of Port St Johns, was bitten in half by what is suspected to be atiger shark while he was catching waves off Second Beach with a friend on Saturday.

He was a member of the Wild Coast Guards and was off-duty. 

He is the second lifeguard in two years to have been killed by a shark at the Eastern Cape resort. 

Police station commissioner Morgan Naicker said the shark had bitten off Bangilizwe’s right arm, shoulder, part of his back and buttock.

“This is a relatively safe beach. This is a sad incident.” 

Lifeguard Sibulele Masiza was killed by a shark in January 2007.

“We assume that Masiza was bitten by a tiger shark, his flippers were found with shark teeth marks, but his body was not recovered,” Naicker said.

Bangilizwe was his family’s breadwinner, said Tshintshekile Nduve, a fellow lifeguard.

Nduve said he and Bangilizwe were swimming at a familiar spot on Saturday.

“He was catching waves in the water further from where I was and when we passed the waves, I heard his cries.

“I saw he was in trouble and the shark on him, I saw blood and I went out of the water to get help.” 

When lifeguards got a boat into the sea, it was too late, Nduve said.

He said he had had trouble sleeping since seeing his friend being savaged by the shark.

“To see him die has made it difficult for me to sleep. I wish I could get pills so that I don’t get troubled. 

“I am not well, but I will continue to go into the water as a lifeguard.” 

Vuyo Maza, one of the lifeguards who sped to the scene by boat, said he was at the tower when the attack took place.

Maza said he had not seen such horror before.

“When we went out to the water Bangilizwe was dead, his body was badly injured, we could see his insides - it was the scariest thing I have ever seen.”

The shark ripped Bangilizwe’s body into three pieces.

Wild Coast Guards managing director Khaya Mjo said the beach had been closed for swimming after the attack.

Tiger Shark

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Killer Whale

Source: Time

A surfboard, bitten by a shark in Binalong Bay, near St Helens, Tasmania on January 12, 2009

Swimmers at Australian beaches are usually reassured by statistics that indicate they are more likely to be struck by lightning than chomped by a shark. But, after three non-fatal shark attacks in the country in less than 48 hours and a deadly one last month, some are wondering if the odds have changed — and whether Australia’s efforts to protect sharks are to blame. (Read “When Adventure Tourism Kills.”)

Australia’s summer of shark terror began Dec. 27 when local banker Brian Guest went missing while snorkling off a beach south of Perth in Western Australia. A search located a few tattered pieces of wetsuit belonging to the 51-year-old. Authorities concluded he had been killed by a large white pointer shark spotted near the beach. (See the top 10 animal stories of 2008.)

That attack was followed by several more. On Jan. 11, a man surfing near Fingal Head in northern New South Wales was bitten on the thigh. Jonathon Beard, 31, made it to shore and survived after his friends used the leg rope from his surf board to stem the bleeding.

The same day Hannah Mighall, 13, was surfing in Binalong Bay off the Tasmania coast in Australia’s far south, when she screamed and was dragged under the water by what authorities suspect was a large white pointer. Her cousin paddled to the injured girl and dragged her to safety while being circled by the shark. On Jan. 12, a man snorkeling in a tidal lake in New South Wales was bitten on the leg, probably by a bull shark. Authorities reported the man punched the shark in the nose and made it to shore with about 40 puncture wounds. All of the victims are recovering.

According to records kept by Taronga Park Zoo in Sydney, 193 people have been killed by sharks in Australia over the past 200 years. In recent years, shark deaths in Australian waters have averaged about one per year.

Researchers play down the significance of the unusual spate of attacks. They point out that more people are entering the ocean, increasing the chances of an encounter. “The human population is expanding at a rate of knots,” says Rory McAuley, a senior research scientist with the West Australian Fisheries Department. “Not only is it getting larger, it’s getting more dispersed, so people are getting into the water over a greater area of the shark’s range. It’s probably likely to expect to see an increase in shark sightings and attacks.”

But some fisherman and others complain Australia’s efforts to protect sharks — catching rare white pointer sharks is illegal, for example — is resulting in an increase in attacks. In particular, they object to a policy of letting suspected man-eaters go. “Sharks do hang around after the attack and the government has a duty of care to deal with it,” says Queensland fisherman Vic Hislop. Sharks “learn to kill humans. They learn to go in hard and fast.”

The deadly Dec. 27 attack in West Australia has rekindled this long-running controversy. After Guest, the banker, was killed, a volunteer rescue boat and a rescue helicopter located a shark matching the description of the killer but took no action.

Guest’s family said they did not want the shark harmed. “He (Guest) didn’t want people going out there willy-nilly destroying animals who were just doing what animals do,” said Guest’s son, Daniel, who had been snorkling with his father on the day he went missing. But others were outraged. “The shark had the man in his stomach digesting him and (authorities) are just driving the boat over and around him,” says Hislop, who is an outspoken critic of the government’s preservation policies and runs a tourist shark display featuring models of maneaters on Queensland’s coast.

Hislop and others maintain that sharks develop a taste for people and can be repeat offenders. Says Hugh Edwards, a West Australian author and fisherman who has been filming documentaries on sharks for more than 20 years: “I tend to agree that individual sharks can be responsible for more than one attack.” Edwards suggests that they should be killed, “as long as you know that its definitely the right shark.”

But scientists reject such arguments as ill-informed. “There is no evidence that sharks become repeat attackers,” says McAuley, who heads a shark and ray sustainability program for the Fisheries department. “We have had a number of years between fatal shark attacks in West Australia, which is the clearest indication that sharks don’t learn to predate humans.”

McAuley acknowledges the number of attacks may have increased lately. But he maintains this is not because shark numbers have increased dramatically due to successful preservation programs, as some have argued. White pointer sharks, for example, take 20 years to reach maturity, do not give birth every year and have few offspring. “Any increase would take in the order of decades,” McAuley says.

Australian officials have taken what steps they can to minimize man-shark encounters. The states of Queensland and New South Wales have strung nets off popular surfing beaches to keep sharks out. The Queensland Government says there has not been a fatal attack on a netted beach since they were introduced in the 1960s, but critics say the nets kill turtles, dolphins and sometimes whales. In Victoria, South Australia, West Australia and Tasmania, authorities rely on aerial spotters and lifeguards who alert swimmers when a suspicious shape appears in the surf.

But the attitude of many is: swim at your own risk — and leave the sharks alone. As Guest reportedly wrote on an anglers website before he died: “[Sharks] got a right to be there, we’ve got a right to go there and there are risks associated with everything, but I don’t believe the correct way of reducing our risk is to kill the shark.” Luckily for the sharks, most Australians seem to think the same way.

Shark Attack

Uncategorized

Source: surf.transworld.net

Great White

Source: smh.com.au

Monster fright . . . a great white shark circles two kayakers and nudges the tinnie about a kilometre off Sydney's Long Reef yesterday.

THIS is the horrifying moment when a giant shark menaced kayakers off Sydney yesterday.

White pointers caused terror on opposite sides of Australia yesterday, with snorkeller Brian Guest killed as he swam with his son at a beach near Perth.

Sydney paddlers Justin Stanger and Steve Kulscar were lucky to survive, with Mr Kulscar falling from his craft as the four-metre white pointer circled them about a kilometre off Long Reef.

Fisherman Glenn Morgan was in a runabout nearby when he saw a large fin break the water near the kayakers about 11am.

“All of a sudden I saw one bloke topple off his kayak, so we cut our anchor rope and went straight over to him and got him in the boat,” Mr Morgan toldThe Sun-Herald last night.

The shark came perilously close as the two kayakers fastened their craft to the tinnie.

It circled for at least another 10minutes before leaving.

“The adrenalin was just pumping,” Mr Morgan said. “I reckon they would have died if we weren’t out there - the shark was pretty hungry.”

“I might get him a case of beer - that’s the least I can do,” one of the men told the Seven Network.

Mr Guest, 51, and his son, Daniel, 24, were diving for crabs off their local beach near Rockingham, 30 kilometres south of Perth, when the former suddenly disappeared about 7am.

Daniel had heard his father cry out and had seen the shark and a “heap of blood” in the water.

“Something very traumatic and pretty violent has happened there and we are treating it as a probable shark attack,” acting police inspector Mark Valentine said.

Police, marine rescue patrols and three helicopters searched unsuccessfully for Mr Guest.

“[Daniel] was on the beach shaking and looked really white, and he was just really shocked,” resident Luke Tubbs said.

Family spokesman and policeman Steve Kent said Mr Guest, a banker, was a devoted husband and father who knew the dangers of the ocean.

“[He was] an avid fisherman, an avid diver and a loving husband and father,” Sergeant Kent said.

Mr Guest had campaigned to protect sharks from hunting.

“Our place on earth is not so sacred that we remove every threat that exists,” he said in a forum about sharks on the Western Angler website.

“Every surfer, fisherman and diver has far more chance of being killed by bees, drunk drivers, teenage car thieves and lightning.”

Uncategorized

Source: guardian.co.uk

A snorkeller is believed to have been snatched by a shark as he swam last weekend with his son at a beach south of Perth. Witnesses reported seeing a dorsal fin and thrashing in the water before the sea turned red and the man vanished at the scene on Australia’s west coast.

Father-of three Brian Guest, 51, who had campaigned for many years for the protection of sharks, had been looking for crabs on yesterday morning with his 24-year-old son when he was attacked about 30 metres from the shore.

Luke Tubbs told how a witness ran to his house in shock and screaming for help: “He just saw a big splash and then the shark roll over in the water with the guy and then [he saw] no body or anything.”

Daniel Guest, who was swimming six metres away at the Port Kennedy beach, heard his father’s screams but did not see the attack. He raced to shore when he saw blood in the water. His father’s shredded wetsuit was found later, and aerial searches spotted a five-metre great white shark swimming in the area.

In Sydney, some hours later, a kayaker survived a terrifying ordeal after being knocked from his craft by a great white shark. That encounter, endured by 29-year-old Steve Kulcsar, occurred less than a mile off Australia’s east coast, at Long Reef, and was filmed by a fisherman in a small boat nearby. The video footage apparently showed the shark circling Kulcsar after bumping him off his kayak.

Kulcsar said: “I knew it was there, but my first thought was to just get back in the kayak as quick as possible.”

For 10 minutes, the shark is seen lurking around him and two other kayakers before losing interest and swimming away.

The two great white encounters sparked panic and closed a number of beaches across Australia.

Yesterday Bondi beach was closed yesterday after a shark was spotted close to shore. Swimmers were also evacuated from a Queensland holiday island after sharks were spotted in waist-deep water.

During an aerial search on the West Australian coastline for Guest’s body, sharks were spotted, forcing the closure of two beaches.

The attack on Guest was the second by sharks in Australia this year. A 16-year-old surfer, Peter Edmonds, died after being attacked by a shark near Byron bay, on the New South Wales coast, in April.

On average there are 15 shark attacks a year in Australia, with about one death each year. Swimmers are more likely to die of a lightning strike than be taken by a great white shark.

Yesterday Daniel Guest recalled how his father had spoken of the risks of sharks and how he had “loved and respected the ocean environment”.

Brian Guest wrote on the Western Angler website forum in 2004: “I have always had an understanding with my wife that if a shark or ocean accident caused my death then so be it, at least it was doing what I wanted. Every surfer, fisherman and diver has far more chance of being killed by bees, drunk drivers, teenage car thieves and lightning. Every death is a tragedy – regardless of the cause – but we have no greater claim to use of this earth than any of the other creatures [we] share it with.”

His son said he viewed his father’s death as a random event that should not make people fear the water, and said he would eventually go back into the sea. “When I’m ready … I’ll do that.”

Great White

Source: daijiworld.com

Mangalore: Jumbo Catch - Fishermen Land 1200 kg Tiger Shark

Pics: Dayanand Kukkaje 
Daijiworld Media Network—Mangalore (RD/CN)

Mangalore, Dec 22: The local fishermen caught a tiger shark weighing around 1,200 kgs when they ventured into the Arabian Sea, off New Mangalore Port Trust (NMPT), here on the afternoon of Monday December 22.

The poor whale shark

Shark Caught, Whale Shark