THE diver taken by two great white sharks off the coast of South Australia last night had survived a brush with a great white only last August.
Police today resumed the search for the experienced abalone diver - named by AdelaideNow as Peter Clarkson - after he was attacked while surfacing near about 25km west of Coffin Bay near the bottom of Eyre Peninsula.
Officers believe two great whites dragged Mr Clarkson, 50, under and took his body out to sea.
The skipper of the aluminium boat from which Mr Clarkson was working saw the attack and told ambulance officers: "I saw the beast come up and take him. There's no way he could have survived."
Mr Clarkson was used to encounters with sharks and in a testimonial promoting the use of SharkShield - a shark deterrent system - he told of his brush with a great white last August.
"I was making a slow ascent when I realised that I was no longer alone. Ten metres away, swimming vertically at the same rate as myself, was a great white shark," he wrote on website Swellnet.com.au
"It was a scenario I had rehearsed in my mind a thousand times during the 27 years I have been diving, but this was the first shark of this species that I had encountered underwater."
Mr Clarkson, who is believed to live outside South Australia, said the shark was four meters long.
It is not yet known if he was using the SharkShield system when he was attacked yesterday.
The Sharm al Sheik incidents are apparently to be blamed on a clever Captain who decided to chuck quite a large amount of dead animals over board not far from the beaches. That simply resulted in getting all the sharks into the area over that time. What a guy!
Funnily enough, I feel absolutely secure when scuba and feeding them but when swimming on top of murky waters like it was in Hong Kong, I feel like right at the bottom of the food chain.
This is the moment when a shark expert risked life and limb by paddling on a surfboard just feet away from a great white shark.
South African Chris Fallows, who runs diving and shark-spotting trips off Cape Town, went paddle boarding off the coasts of South Africa and Mexico, moving within sight of the predators in an attempt to dispel the theory that they post a threat to humans.
The 36-year-old has 20 years of experience working with the animals, and says it has become a passion of his to show that sharks do not regard people as normal food items.
'The chances of a great white shark simply rushing in and attacking a human are very remote,' Chris said.
here's a beach in Aus. see the little children building sandcastles. now look closely into the surfline. that's a young great white. he wants to play with the little children.
That last pic reminds me of reading about a documentary about Great Whites, where the surfers and people are apparently right in the middle of them. I so want to get my hands on that.
And yes, Chris Fallows is very understandable after spending 20 years among them. You do learn a lot about animals. Obviously.
I had 60 Crocodiles at a stage. It was a tourist attraction. Schools visited us and I took the kids walking among them. They loved it when I fooled one of their teachers of course, pretending I am running away, with them taking after me screaming in most cases. However, I would never do any such stunts like on those Croc shows in Bangkok where they put the head inside the mouth and pretty much use them like toys. I believe once you start playing with them, only time can tell when your time has come. Ask Sigfrid and Roy or Steve Irwin.
But yes, leave them to their natural behaviour and understand it, and it's actually quite awesome what all you'll be able to do.
they're baaaaaaaaaaaack!
the summer of the Great White shark returns to the scene of "JAWS".
no tourist is safe.
and i'm making my son swim in the lake.
5/7/11
Cape Cod Times
A great white shark lurking one mile off a Martha’s Vineyard beach yesterday had some local fishermen quoting the line from the classic movie “Jaws” — “You’re gonna need a bigger boat.”
The monster was about 20 feet long and circling a dead whale as it turned toward their tiny center-console outboard, said captain Jeff Lynch of Chilmark.
“To see something that big was crazy. It was as big as my boat. It had to weigh a ton or more,” Lynch told the Herald. “It was following my boat around.”
But the beast’s width was just as frightening.
“The girth of it was impressive,” said boat-mate Will Farrissey. “I’ve never seen anything that big.”
The two were out mackerel fishing off Gay Head when they spotted a dead 17-foot minke whale tangled in lobster lines. Out of the deep came the enormous great white that kept probing the whale but never chomped down — possibly sensing it was long dead.
“We waited for it to eat the whale, but it kept circling, nudging and bumping the whale,” Farrissey said.
The crew left Menemsha Harbor at 6 a.m. in a 23-foot boat Sea Ox and headed out to sea to fish for bait ... to use to lure sharks, ironically.
That’s when the 28-year-old Lynch started snapping photos with his cell phone after the Coast Guard asked him to record the amazing encounter.
State environmental officials confirmed this is the first sighting of a great white this season. The whale was towed to the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute to be examined.
“It’s going to be a good summer,” said Lynch, a shark fisherman.
CHATHAM — Slowly, lazily, the great white shark idles along the ocean floor off this scenic Cape town. He seems to be paying no attention to the gray seals cavorting in the surf along the barrier beach.
Then, in a blur of motion, the massive predator strikes. Seals scatter, but it's too late. The great white shark's momentum carries him and the seal struggling in his mouth out of the water. Sunbathers on shore gape, and start calling swimmers out of the water, as blood swirls in the waves.
The son and granddaughter of the late sea explorer and documentary maker Jacques Cousteau might only hope for such a dramatic scenario this summer during the filming of a 60- to 90-minute documentary about the annual migration of great white sharks to the "seal-speckled" shores of the Cape and Islands.
Celine and Jean-Michael Cousteau are teaming up with the digital production company Mammalfish Inc. of Brooklyn, N.Y., to create the documentary tentatively called "The White Sharks of Chatham." Mammalfish producer Michael LeFort told selectmen Tuesday about the company's plans to film in town.
The project's mission is to raise awareness of the "incredible ecosystem" and the phenomenon of the sharks as part of that circle of life, said LeFort, who grew up summering on the Cape.
"This is more of a passion project than anything else for us," he said in a telephone interview.
The film project is the latest to focus on the great white sharks, their behavior and habitat, as well as the impact of the Cape's surging seal population, the favorite food for sharks, and the impact on local fishing, tourists, beachgoers and Cape towns.
The project is an independently produced production, LeFort said. Earlier he told selectmen that WGBH in Boston, "Nova" and Mark Cuban's HDnet channel are possible outlets to air the documentary by October. The shark phenomenon and the involvement of the Cousteaus are drawing interest, he said.
In addition to working as a field producer and on-camera presenter on her father's PBS television series, "Jean-Michel Cousteau: Ocean Adventures," and Discovery Channel's "Mysteries of the Shark Coast," Celine Cousteau most recently co-hosted a 12-part documentary series, "Oceano: Chile Frente al Mar," an exploration underwater and on land from Antarctica to northern Chile and westward to Easter Island.
LeFort told selectmen he saw his first seal on Harding Beach in Chatham. His grandparents retired to the Cape and his parents, now retired, live in Harwich. He also has sisters in Chatham and Brewster.
Mammalfish producer Brian Sampson's grandparents lived on the Cape and his parents also live in Harwich.
The documentary production team planned to start interviews locally this week, and come back for a week in July and three weeks in August, LeFort told selectmen.
LeFort said he had plans Wednesday to interview shark researcher and expert Greg Skomal of the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries and then watch Skomal give a talk in South Yarmouth.
He also planned to hear about the sharks' impact on the local economy by talking to an ice cream parlor owner in Chatham who sells shark-themed T-shirts. LeFort also hoped to meet this week with marine mammal experts at the International Fund for Animal Welfare, which has its headquarters in Yarmouthport.
"We're excited to hear everyone's opinions, from the real experts to the sellers of ice cream," he said.
The presence of sharks last summer closed beaches briefly to swimming in Westport, Chatham and Orleans. There have been no closings so far this year, although a great white shark showed up unexpectedly early in May off Martha's Vineyard.
(06-24-2011, 04:39 PM)aknow Wrote: Took my daughters to see "Soul Surfer", a true story about a female teen surfer who's arm was taken at the shoulder by a shark, a very good movie.
i remember when Bethany Hamilton lost her arm. she's a brave and inspirational young lady.
CHATHAM, Mass. -- Swimmers and fisherman are watching the waters off of Cape Cod a little more closely after Great White Shark sightings.
This shark showing is turning into an annual occurrence, but it’s not being taken lightly. These sharks could be up to 20 feet long.
over the past week, the great whites have returned to Cape waters in force. There have been three confirmed sightings from Chatham to Truro, and an unsubstantiated sighting off Nantucket that expert Greg Skomal of the state Division of Marine Fisheries thinks will likely prove true.
There was never any doubt the great whites would be back. Seals, their preferred food, are now abundant on the Cape and Islands.
OCRACOKE -- Officials said a 5-year-old girl was bitten by a shark on the Outer Banks.
Just after 5 p.m. Tuesday, rescue workers responded to a call on Ocracoke Island about a shark bite. Witnesses said that they saw what appeared to be a shark attacking a little girl in the South Point area, according to Hyde County Deputy Emergency Services Director Brian Carter.
The girl was in shallow water on a boogie board; her father was there as well, officials from the National Park Service said.
She was bitten on the lower portion of her right leg and on her foot. The girl was flown via East Care to Pitt County Memorial Hospital. She is in critical condition as of Wednesday morning.
The last known shark attack was in 2001 on Cape Hatteras National Seashore near Avon. one person was killed.
Hyde County EMS, National Park Service, and Ocracoke Fire Department responded to the call.
Ocracoke Island is part of the Cape Hatteras National Seashore. The entire island is owned by the US National Park Service, except for the village.
The most common types found close to shore in North Carolina include sandbar, bull, scallop hammerhead and sharpnose sharks, according to the North Carolina Aquariums.
Hard-charging ironmen training for the one-mile swimming leg of the first-ever Martha's Vineyard Warrior triathlon are being warned not to wear shiny jewelry and to steer clear of seals as sightings of great white sharks have islanders watching the waves. there have been 23 confirmed sightings of the maneaters since May, according to the Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs. Experts say the predators have been drawn to the all-they-can-eat gray seal buffets offered up by Martha’s Vineyard and Monomoy Island off Chatham.
Pres. Obama is coming up to Vineyard in August for vacation. i wonder if he'll go swimming.
[quote='Lady Cop' pid='177323' dateline='1311181670']
[b]little girl is in critical condition.
OCRACOKE -- Officials said a 5-year-old girl was bitten by a shark on the Outer Banks.
/quote]
I saw this story on the news. The dad is an ER doc and mom is in the medical profession so they were able to intervene quickly. Mom was only 10 feet away. (can you imagine seeing that?) The little girl is so cute....she said" I forgive the shark..he must have thought my leg was a little fish"
SHARK WEEK IS BAAAAAAAACK...on Discovery channel tonight, sunday July 31.
The Bay State’s own Gregory Skomal tracks these massive fish on “Jaws Comes Home” (tonight at 10), an hour-long special that kicks off the Discovery Channel’s wildly popular weeklong series of shark-centric programming.
hahahaha like i was going night swimming! we all know what happened to Chrissie~~
August 11, 2011
CHATHAM — The sighting of a large great white shark near the popular and crowded Lighthouse Beach has led to a ban on nighttime swimming at several Chatham beaches, Harbormaster Stuart Smith said Wednesday afternoon.
The swimming ban will be from 5 p.m. to 9:30 a.m. on all east-facing ocean beaches in town, including Lighthouse Beach.
The decision seemed "like the prudent thing to do," after a shark was spotted inside Chatham Harbor.
Officials found seal carcasses believed to be attacked by sharks at South Beach, just beyond the point of Lighthouse Beach, Smith said. The carcasses were found about three-quarters of a mile to a mile from the beach parking lot, Smith said.
During the height of the day, "we think the sharks are further out (offshore)," he said, explaining the nighttime ban. Also, during the daytime, the town has more people on patrol watching for sharks.
The increasing number of sharks in local waters led to similar precautions last year along several Cape Cod and south coast beaches, but this week's ban is the first time in 2011 that beaches have been closed because of shark sightings.
Wednesday's action expands Tuesday's ban on swimming within 300 feet of seals, a favorite prey of the great white. Tuesday's ban applied indefinitely to swimming along the entire barrier beach shoreline, from the Chatham line to South Beach where it connects to Monomoy Island.
The town didn't close the beaches to swimming completely, but the announcement suggests that beachgoers, mariners and swimmers pay close attention to their surroundings when in the water and not venture too far from shore.
A yoga group that meets every morning on Lighthouse Beach reported seeing the large fin of a great white shark on Wednesday, Smith said. His office didn't get the information until later in the afternoon.
CHATHAM - All beaches on the ocean side of Chatham were indefinitely closed to swimming yesterday due to increased shark activity along the shore.
The Chatham harbormater's office ordered the beaches closed following more shark sightings over the weekend.
Specifically, North Beach, North Beach Island and South Beach are now closed to swimmers, said a spokesman from the office.
This follows last week's banning of swimming on some beaches on the eastern shoreline after great white sharks were spotted near Monomoy Island and the North Beach inlets.
The town also banned swimming from 5 p.m. to 9:30 a.m. on all east-facing ocean beaches including the ever-popular Lighthouse Beach.
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