Following a recent shark attack where a Port Lincoln local lad lost part of his leg the media are reporting tonight on Abc 7.30 that most believe that baiting and feeding the Great Whites for tourisim is increasing the shark attack risks what do you guys think? There are some Facebook groups ban the burley and ban shark cage diving which seem to hate this tourism . The shark siteing seem to much more common now and the shark boats a reporting feeding up to 10 sharks a day ..this seems un natural?

Usually as a newcomer to a forum it is best to take the path of least resistance and rather than open a new topic on a controversial subject (which may I say is best fitted for the heavy weather section, which you wouldn't have access to). Try commenting on a positive note to a few posts, provide a bit of personal experience and maybe even advice. We are a community that gets to know the regulars and this helps when contributing to a forum.

Spam maybe????

A controversial first post maybe. But I don't see any requirement to pussy foot aroun for any length of time. But you're probably right. This topic will end up in HW..

As for the question of the OP. I think YES, but I have zero proof or experience to back up this opinion.

it's simple.. KERL THE FERKEN SHERKS!!!

If you are new and post a thread to the general forum and it gets moved to heavy weather, can you still view it?


MODS? What's the answer?

Lets put the sharks in cages to protect them from us.

The idea of throwing berley into the water, dropping a few humans, wrapped up to look like a seal, into a cage & then NOT expecting GWS to associate seals & crew in wetsuits is utter madness IMO.

Granted it's kind of hard to interview a GWS, but from a "common sense" approach, it just fails by a million km's in my book.

agree with scooby on this one ,,,ban the cage diving for tourism,,what a joke,,,got no respect for anyone who thinks they are special for diving with a white pointer from within a cage

Spot on Juddy and Westhammer

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Underoath said..
If you are new and post a thread to the general forum and it gets moved to heavy weather, can you still view it?


MODS? What's the answer?

I'm not a mod.
HW is members only.
Only members can contribute to any forum.
Since OP must be a member, s/he can view HW

Extreme sports like Base jumping. flying through air in a Sky Suit really gets the participants' heart thumping at 300 beats/minute. Shark-cage diving is not extreme enough and it is for the pussies. I reckon they should dive "OUTSIDE" the cage, with fish heads and animal guts attached to their bodies.

To extreme? Too foolish to do so? Not safe? Well, don't bloody well bait the sharks then.

^ rules have changed. New crew can't access HW. Not that that's a bad thing.

As for sharks- ban the cage diving. My dog associates rope with tug of war and aggression. So why wouldn't s shark associate divers as food.

Look, don't touch and don't feed that's my opinion.

www.abc.net.au/7.30/blood-and-bait-in-the-water-divides-town-over/6447474

A good outline of activities..

I wish the media would ask someone other than a shark cage diving operator what they think on cage diving

Maybe this guy

Oy p train is that Vic Hislop with the sharks ?

Yep

Who ever he is he must be one of the worlds leading shark trainers, but where is his little bucket of fish to get them to do the tricks ?

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p train said..
I wish the media would ask someone other than a shark cage diving operator what they think on cage diving

Maybe this guy

Boy Boy Boys ..............Thats Vic Hislop ............the Australian Great White shark slayer .......... hate him or love him .........He da man

More knowledge than the fisheries all put together ...............to bad they refuse to listen to him and his theories about Great White Sharks (RPL) Recognised Prior Learning out the window ......... cause there would be a few less rough regular visitors to popular surf spots ...........and lost of human life

A character for shore,,,, interested to here his theory ON CAGES AND TOURISM ............got to be in his 60s now

To play devil's advocate, you could also easily argue that baiting them discourages attack, as they get to know humans as providers of food, rather than THE food itself.

Look at places like Guadalupe with the whites, and Bimini beach with the tigers - both apex species, and both very safe to free dive with due to the fact that they've done what's described above. How did they become semi-tame? Via the cage industry.

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Boxer101 said...
To play devil's advocate, you could also easily argue that baiting them discourages attack, as they get to know humans as providers of food, rather than THE food itself.

Yeah , just like the croc and lion handlers/ feeders would never be chomped on by their subjects

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p train said..
I wish the media would ask someone other than a shark cage diving operator what they think on cage diving

Maybe this guy

Ooh look! How did he train them to do that? He is good.

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James said..

Boxer101 said...
To play devil's advocate, you could also easily argue that baiting them discourages attack, as they get to know humans as providers of food, rather than THE food itself.

Yeah , just like the croc and lion handlers/ feeders would never be chomped on by their subjects

I see your point, but that's not commonplace in that sort of environment - there would be no handlers if that were the case. Take Bimini Beach (Tiger beach) for example - I think one diver has been attacked there, but thousands haven't. Why? They're habituated, and therefore don't see humans as food.

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Boxer101 said..
To play devil's advocate, you could also easily argue that baiting them discourages attack, as they get to know humans as providers of food, rather than THE food itself. Look at places like Guadalupe with the whites, and Bimini beach with the tigers - both apex species, and both very safe to free dive with due to the fact that they've done what's described above. How did they become semi-tame? Via the cage industry.

its all about the mongrel in the dog imho.
tigers are big garbage guts. opportunistic feeders that eat anything. dangerous for sure but not hunters like a great white. scavengers. they are reponsible for a lot of attacks because they are found everywhere and are big. but you get divers, film crews and spearos willing to dive with them, speoros spear fish round them etc. up untill recently no one would get in the water with a white out of a cage. Ron and valerie taylor first to do so intentionall. GWSvactively hunt and consume large live prey. tigers just scavenge dead stuff (normally) and the odd turtle.no mammals. slow swimming. (as a general rule) no ascending vertically from the depths at great speed / of course if theyre hungry and worked up look out. but generally far less serious.

bronzies and bulls are a bit more schizo.

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myusernam said..

Boxer101 said..
To play devil's advocate, you could also easily argue that baiting them discourages attack, as they get to know humans as providers of food, rather than THE food itself. Look at places like Guadalupe with the whites, and Bimini beach with the tigers - both apex species, and both very safe to free dive with due to the fact that they've done what's described above. How did they become semi-tame? Via the cage industry.

its all about the mongrel in the dog imho.
tigers are big garbage guts. opportunistic feeders that eat anything. dangerous for sure but not hunters like a great white. scavengers. they are reponsible for a lot of attacks because they are found everywhere and are big. but you get divers, film crews and spearos willing to dive with them, speoros spear fish round them etc. up untill recently no one would get in the water with a white out of a cage. Ron and valerie taylor first to do so intentionall. GWSvactively hunt and consume large live prey. tigers just scavenge dead stuff (normally) and the odd turtle.no mammals. slow swimming. (as a general rule) no ascending vertically from the depths at great speed / of course if theyre hungry and worked up look out. but generally far less serious.

bronzies and bulls are a bit more schizo.

I think you're underestimating Tigers. Languid, yes, but astute hunters in their own way. They're not ambush predators like whites, but they do have their methods.

No Mammals? They regularly feed on dolphins, and dugongs are a staple in their diet.

Also, the fact that they aren't ambush predators makes them even more dangerous to dive with. A white will normally not bother if it knows you know it's there. The game is over (generally). For a tiger, it's just the beginning.

Bulls, which I encounter very regularly spearing, are mostly bluff. Even the big ones. Shove the spear into their nose and they're off. Very temperamental, yes, but not usually an issue.

I'm not sure I've ever seen Ron and Val outside of the cage with a white. I think Andre Hartman and Rutzen were the first. I could be wrong on that one, but that's what I was always lead to believe.

I think the Shark Cage Diving Tours should offer another adventure experience to the adventurous ones. It will be diving outside the cage. It will be free...with conditions attached.

You pay a deposit equivalent to what you have to pay for the in-cage diving. If you survive, you will get all your money back. However, if you ...

The Great shark debate!

Checkout this one!

Why cant we just leave the sharks alone. These guys are just stiring them up to make a dollar.

Cant believe we are back on this subject

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southace said..
The Great shark debate!

Checkout this one!

The argument could go on forever. I'm a spearo in northern waters, and surf when down south, so if anything, I should be agreeing with the anti-cage people. But I don't. I hate, just as much as they do, that people get attacked, but I can't agree with their theory that this teaches them to be attracted to humans. Not on an emotional level, but rather a (pseudo) scientific one.

What is it exactly that the sharks are being attracted to? People on surfboards? Spearos? Divers? No. They think they're being attracted to dead fish. When they come close, they see people in giant cages. Do the sharks even know these 'things' bobbing in the cage are humans? No, they don't. They're rocking up looking for the tuna that they're so used to feasting on. So, what else is there? The boat? Sharks are always attracted to boats, as they're a great bit of structure for prey.

When a shark sees a surfer on a board, are they seeing the same thing as they see when they approach cage divers? Not even close. What about when they see me in the water spearing fish? Nope. All different shapes/figures. Also, different scents and movement signals. So, what's left?

If anything, if more people chummed them to the boat and free-dived with them, it'd probably teach them to disassociate us with their natural prey. I don't think that would help us surfers, though, as that's presenting a completely different image, but still, might help spearos.

Also, are these people chumming anywhere near the surf beaches? Are they claiming that these same sharks that frequent the Neptunes are also frequenting the surf beaches, and associating people on surf boards with people in cages some one hundred k's away? Seems unlikely to me. How do they even know what a human is, let alone ones presented in a completely different fashion. This is another reason why we need groups like Ocearch to sat tag these sharks.