Shark Attack Reports - From Shark-L Mailing List

Shark Attack Info from Shark-l Mailing List


Sorry had to put it in here as everybody even the most avid shark lover loves a gory tale. What I hope to include here are not gory tales just reports of attacks from around the world as I spot them on the shark-l list, if you hear of any perhaps you could mail me



  • Fatal Attack W. Australia 12 Sep 95
  • Non Fatal attack - GW - CA - June 95
  • Non Fatal attack - Leopard Shark - Provoked
  • Non Fatal Attack - Great White - New Zealand
  • Fatal attack - Great White - california - From Diver Mag Oct Issue
  • Joining Shark-l newsgroup
  • Please report attacks / encounters
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    Fatal Attack - GW - W. Australia ci 12/9/95

    Date: Tue, 12 Sep 1995 10:29:06 -0400 From: Michael Lawrence Subject: Fatal Attack... Just heard on the radio that an Abalone diver in Western Australia was taken by a shark this morning. The report said it was a GW... Fair bet I suppose considering where it was. Ill keep my ears open for more details... _________________________ mlawren4@metz.une.edu.au Michael Lawrence c/o Chemistry Department University of New England 2351 NSW Australia Phone (067) 732273 (w) (067) 732391 (h) _________________________ Date: Thu, 14 Sep 1995 15:12:38 -0400 From: Michael Lawrence Subject: Shark attacks Fellow shark lovers. I wrote a few days ago concerning a fatal shark attack in Western Australia. The radio news reported yesterday that the abalone diver had been in the water for only about a minute when he was taken (still on the surface - no warning). Apparently there were calving whales nearby and the shark had been attacted by the large amount of blood and afterbirth in the water. While there is some speculation to the species of shark, most observers agreed that there was seem little doubt that it was our friend C. charcharis (GW). While on this subject I might add some of the information about some previous GW attacks in Australian waters on divers. The first was a diver taken at Dangerous reef, South Australia in 1981 or 1983 (the book is elsewhere at the moment.) The visibility was 1.5 - 2m. Three divers were diving holding hands. The two outside divers reported hearing a sound like a truck (later assumed to be the water rushing through the gills as the shark opened its jaws). The middle diver was taken, and not a trace was found of the diver, or the shark. About 2 years ago now (probably almost to the day) there were 2 attacks in a week that stirred up a fair amount of shark phobia in Australia (I'll admit that I also cancelled the planned diving for that weekend...) The first of these was a mother who was taken as she signalled OK after doing a backward roll off the boat. This was at King Island in Tasmania. They had been watching a pod of Orcas on the far side of the island then moved around to the seal colony. There were no seals in the water, but this diver decided to chance it. She was taken with her family watching. The second that week was at Byron Bay on the NSW far North Coast. The attack was at Julian Rocks a popular Grey Nurse (Sand tiger) dive site. A husband apparently pushed his wife out of the way of a GW that attacked them as they were doing their required safety stop. The story that was told in the local dive shops was that the group of 6 divers had been circled by this GW for the previous 20 min of the dive. A local fisherman hooked this shark just minutes later, but lost it. It was reported as being 6 - 6.5 metres long. The next day there were reports from a light aircraft of seeing a large shark on the surface having difficulty with bouyancy and looking very sick. This was 150km south of Julian Rocks. This brings me to a question. What happens when a GW ingests a scuba tank? Can it regurgitate it? (I saw a greeting card recently that has two sharks following a diver with one shark saying to the other "Just make sure you dont eat that hard bit on its back - it makes you fart") Anyway, is it taught in other parts of the world as it was in my course to a) not get in the water at a seal colony if the seals were not in the water, and b) that if a GW turns up on your dive you should terminate the dive? As far as I am concerned in the cases at Dangerous reef, and King Island I would not have been diving. (Ask yourself the question why it is called Dangerous Reef?) It would have been fairly unexpected to see a GW at Julian Rocks, but if you did, why would you stay in the water? (Admitedly the odds were only 1 in 6 assuming the shark was in a feeding mood.) It just seems to me that most of the fatal shark attacks that I get to hear about, the victims were placing themselves at unnecessary risk with what they were doing. Do others agree here or am I just too sceptical? Michael ___________________________________________________________________________

    Attack - GW - Victim Survived - ci 24/6/95 - San Diego - USA

    On June 24, 1995 a young women was attacked by a GW near San Diego, CA. She was kayaking when a GW attacked her. Luckily, she only substained very minor injuries. The young lady refused to give her name to authorities at the time ...for reasons unknown. Does anyone know her last name. I need it for my California shark attack database. Eric Anderson eanderso@mcn.org ___________________________________________________________________________

    A Not so fatal attack - Leopard Shark

    ***********************A not so fatal attack ;-) ************************* Hi guys, Thought that I would relate to you a story about a shark attack (???) I was witness to about a year ago. The species was i believe Stegostoma fasciatum (a leopard shark). It was about 3 feet long. We were up on the (GREAT) pretty good barrier reef at an Island off Gladstone. One of the guys in the group decided to look under a plate coral, and he found a Leopard shark. He was snorkelling, and decided to see what it would do if he grabbed hold of its tail... Nothing. So he surfaced and got his buddies to come over. They all went down to look at the shark, and he did it again (grab it). This time the result was markedly different. The shark got upset and turned on him. As he surfaced the shark swam up to him and attatched its jaws around his crutch... This caused him substantial consternation... Anyway, the sharks teeth didnt break through the wetsuit, but did get caught. No amount of pulling would get it off... After about 20 minutes of everyone laughing (except the "victim") one of the biologists tried to cover its gills to make it release. It didnt as it couldnt... Eventually the shark was able to open its jaws wide enough again and swim off into the waters below. We hoped that it recoved fully from its ordeal. (on a night dive in the same area that night, I caught sight of a Leopard shark of about the described length rapidly moving away from me...) Needless to say we didnt alert the media as to this shark attack, but I wonder how much a story would have been made of it and what details (ie him pulling its tail) would have been omitted. P.S. The "victim" was caught on home video, but as it was his, he has hidden the tape well... *******************can't vouch for validity of it though ;-) ****************

    Subject: Shark attack NZ ?

    From: hajom@Germany.Sun.COM (Hans-Joachim Muench - Sun Germany SunService IR Newsgroups: rec.scuba AUS/NZ Divers, there was a short article in a german newspaper, recently on a shark attack; it reports on a new_zealand diver, although there is no explicit mention of the location where this happened ... anybody ot there has any more details ? Translated article below: Sueddeutsche Zeitung, December 1st, 1995 KINA SCOLLAY, 22 year old new-zealand diver, helped himself out of a shark's jaws by targetted hits on the shark's eye. His brother James reported, while his brother is back to a stable condition by now, he had suffered serious bite wounds at his legs. "His weight belt saved his life," James said, "because the first bite hit the belt." Scolley is said to have hit the shark with a stone collected from the sea floor. TIA HaJo ____________________________________________________________________________

    Shark Attack - California - Ci Aug/Sep 95

    The following is a report rewritten by myself (Ian) based on an article in Diver Magazine. Shark Attack - California A diver in California was nearly killed in an attack by a Great White off Carmel, CA, the shark , estimated at 4m clamped its teeth around the man's body. Marco Carmel aged 31 was diving in 12m of water, the shark was reported to have punctured his "breathing gear" and fled in an explosion of bubbles, it is possible that this is meant to mean a Cylinder. Marco struggled ashore and recovered in hospital, a coast ranger was quoted as saying "without that equipment, he would have been lunch". Both of the above articles were written based on facts reported in October issue of Diver magazine, making them 3rd hand at least, every attempt has been made at accuracy.

    Marine Recovering After Minor Bites - CNN Dec1 95

    WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A U.S. Marine who spent 36 hours in shark-infested waters was recovering Friday from "a few minor shark bites" inflicted after he fell off an aircraft carrier. Lance Cpl. Zachary Mayo said Pakistani fisherman pulled him from the northern Arabian Sea after he fell off the USS America on November 25. He said he stayed afloat by ballooning his pants into a floatation device. "I'm in good health now. I've had a few days to relax and recover," Mayo said. He said the sharks would bite at his fingers and toes "but I just pretty much kept trying to keep it out of my mind that I had to keep afloat instead of worrying about little sharks ... eating me."

    CNN - Murky Water Causing Shark Bites

    August 28, 1995

    New Smyrna map NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Fla. (CNN) -- Tropical storm activity in the Atlantic Ocean is causing problems other than flooding on the Florida coast -- smaller sharks are having a hard time telling the difference between human swimmers and surfers and their customary fish dinner. Last weekend, sharks nipped their 13th victim in north central Florida, a surfer bitten on the finger. Lifeguards treated the man on the spot for a minor injury. Ten tropical storms have stirred up the waters along the coast this season, muddying up the waters with sand and debris. Add that to a shark's poor eyesight, and the result is a painful case of mistaken identity. Smaller sharks, say beach rangers in Volusia County, are feeding strictly on instinct, and to a shark, that means "bite what moves." Generally following schools of fish, the sharks wander too close to shore, forcing lifeguards to clear the beach until the school and its pursuer have passed. So far, no serious shark bite injuries have been reported; the sharks generally swim away in pursuit of more palatable food once they realize their mistake. But the larger waves are also attracting more surfers, giving the confused sharks more opportunity to run across people in their search for food. Info Can be found on CNN online - http://www.cnn.com

    Increase in Attacks in Florida - from CNN online

    To read this report click here This mentions a diver killed by a bull shark.

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