Rash of Shark Attacks in the U.S.

jaguar75

Despite all of the recent shark attacks in the U.S. I am very glad to see that everyone is not reacting in the wrong way and going out and hunting these fish down and slaughtering them...I was especially pleased to see the comments from some of the family members of the attacked. Some of them just admitted that it is a risk to swim in the water and you can not blame the sharks becasue they were feeding...Things like this.

During the last "Shark Week" on the Discovery Channel, one episode talked about the impact commercial fishing has had on certain sharks food supplies. This has forced, ever so slowly, the sharks closer to the shoreline to hunt for their prey. Unfortunately this has caused the sharks feeding grounds to overlap with the swimming areas of most popular beaches on the Atlantic and Gulf shorelines. Most resort/vaction spots have combatted this with erecting shark and fish safe "shark nets" with a lot of success. These nets are designed so if a shark or large fish inadvertantly runs into one it will not get cought up and drown.

What do you folks think of this?

__________________

"Perseverance is more prevailing than violence; and many things which cannot be overcome when they are together, yield themselves up when taken little by little" - Plutarch (46 AD - 120 AD)

ryan_velo.

Interesting you bring this up b/c this is a subject I have always felt strongly about. Sharks play a vital role in the ocean's ecology. In short: it's disgusting.

__________________
"Avoid the world---it's just a lot of dust and drag and means nothing in the end.”
~ Jack Kerouac

"The whole idea of music---from the beginning of time---was for people to be happy."
~Robert Plant

jaguar75

What's disgusting?

__________________

"Perseverance is more prevailing than violence; and many things which cannot be overcome when they are together, yield themselves up when taken little by little" - Plutarch (46 AD - 120 AD)

ryan_velo.

No, sorry, not good wording. It's good to see they aren't hunting these animals down. like you said.


"the impact commercial fishing has had on certain sharks food supplies. This has forced, ever so slowly, the sharks closer to the shoreline to hunt for their prey. Unfortunately this has caused the sharks feeding grounds to overlap with the swimming areas of most popular beaches on the Atlantic and Gulf shorelines. Most resort/vaction spots have combatted this with erecting shark and fish safe "shark nets" with a lot of success. These nets are designed so if a shark or large fish inadvertantly runs into one it will not get cought up and drown."

That's disgusting.

__________________
"Avoid the world---it's just a lot of dust and drag and means nothing in the end.”
~ Jack Kerouac

"The whole idea of music---from the beginning of time---was for people to be happy."
~Robert Plant

stevebaby

Yep. If you go into their environment you play by their rules. Eat or be eaten. On the subject of shark netting, nets usually don't cover the entire beach. The idea is to drown a few sharks and the dead bodies are supposed to deter the others.As if! Nets are responsible for killing dolphins,dugongs and other large marine animals and if you look at an aerial view of them you can see how ineffective they are at preventing shark attacks. Mostly people are just lucky.Fish safe nets sound like a good idea, but how does the net differentiate between a shark and a dolphin ?

lyotard

according to the experts, there are no shark attacks, rather shark accidents.

usualy it is a one bite misunderstanding. we are thought to look like dying seals.
truth is, we smell and taste worse than sashimi.

finally, worthwile reason to be a triathlete and swim better than ride...

davidmc

good article in Smithsonian Magazine.
http://www.smithsonianmag.si.edu/sm...ug05/shark.html

__________________
I'm completely in favor of the separation of Church and State. My idea is that these two institutions screw us up enough on their own, so both of them together is certain death.
George Carlin
US comedian and actor (1937 - )

MountainPro

your right,

david attenborough showed footage of a seal swimming near the surface and footage of a surfer on a wave...from under the water they look pretty similar. Sharks dont attack out of malice and you never hear of a swimmer being completely eaten....one bite and the shark soon spits you out.

__________________
HARD
.

jhuskey

Only people attack out of revenge or malice. Maybe be should outlaw them.

__________________
Sobriety is over rated!

Carrera

One night I had what I believe to be a close encounter with a puma. What happened was I was walking down a yard in pitch dark and everywhere was really quiet. I must have startled something as I heard a rustle and then a loud spitting noise behind some shrubs and bushes.
I jumped out of my skin.
Couldn't have been a dog, fox or small cat. It was something big. I reported it and got ridiculed but later I learned others had actually seen the big cat.
In fact, in a different part of the country a teenager was pawed and had his face cut (mainly superficial cuts).