Yup,
The ocean is the largest wilderness and knowing the environement and its creatures is part of the experience. Being in the ocean is to know your not at the top of the food chain, and from my perspective enjoying that fact.

I actually paddle the coast that the Jersey attacks happened in the 19-teens. See a lot of sharks out there. Shark River inlet is a very dynamic place. Seeing them makes NJ a better place for me.

Wilderness does exist where preditors live free. I scuba dive on some wrecks where there are hundreds of big sharks. There are times I have had to leave the water. There are times I have enjoyed being surrounded by big guys. Knowing what and when is everything. Being on a German U-boat during hammerhead breeding season is amazing. Its also fairly safe. They aren't going out for lunch. They have other things on their mind. The intimacy of seeing Sharks in their real life at close range, with a safe plan is cool.

Conversely, doing decompression stop witha dive buddy who is chumming in the face of a very big, very hungry reef shark is...well unpleasant. I knowwhat it is to have a shark take an active interest in me as food. Beleive me my respect for sharks is a healthy one.

Yeah folks do make dumb choices. Witness the Australian TV footage of 30 folks standing on a whale carcass as great whites munch away at it. However, most preditors in the wilderness can be coexisted with peacefully if you accept the law of their land.

I guess part of my attitude is a sense that if we have to go out and fear and kill in what is essentially their home then perhaps we shouldn't go. I sort of feel like if they can't be safe in their home when I am visiting, then the onnous is on me perhaps to alter my behaviors. The other part is if I have to go out in fear all the time...well what fun is that.

Calculated risk taking is an essential part of my being. We all make those caluclations differently based on what we consider acceptable risk.

Part of it is knowing what is what. In black bear country. I prepare one way. A bear rope and a meatl sounding device. YEah folks have been killed by black bears but the probobility is very very low. In grizzley I prepare in other ways. Bear spray and a 45. In polar bear country I plan trips according to what is real; That I will be stalked and eaten if I afford the opportunity. I try to protect the bear and myself. Having said that it doesn't mean I can't go into polar bear country. It means I have to accept a certian level of risk. And develop a plan for observation that reduces potential. And yes in polar bear country I am locked and loaded.

Around big preditors the rules I use are. Limit the element of surprise, use body language and tone. Understand the use of senses we humans don't have beyond vestigal. Give them warning. Give them space.

Part of my enjoyment of the wilds is seeing places on earth where big preditors still roam free and rule the food chain. that includes sharks and crocks, bers mt lions. It doesn't mean I want to "become one with them" But finding safe ways to observe thm is a simple pleasure and a thrill. Its a day that is richer.

Watching Orca's take seals and salmon is something to behold. Sure they could flip my boat as easily as they toss a seal pup. Same with Sperm Whales going after squid near my favorite up well. Surfing with hammerheads could mean I lose a chunk, but its more likely that if I do my part to not make bait of myself. Its going to be a great expereince. Folks get killed getting too close to filter feeder whales because they sit over the flukes. The potential is always there.

The simple truth is that the bigger dangers at sea don't have teeth. Most of what constitiutes the ocean has the capacity to kill me. Same with snow capped mts, ice caps and all the other risk oriented places I go.

I can come prepared to do battle, and some times I do as a final preventitive. But more often the mind set of understanding the environment around me, and the critters in it means both me and those I seek to expereince get home safe at night. Same is true on the streets when I am dealing with the dysfunctional situations. I dela with lots of dysfunctional who have the capacity to kill. There is a range of options out there to keep a situation from going critical before I ahve to go to lethal measures.

Joe your detail of knowledge on sharks is prodigious. It is that understanding that keeps will afford decsions made on facts not on ignorance. I admire that.
Suggestion go out and enjoy the sharks. What we read in the papers is when a shark kills a human. It is possible to enjoy a swarm of sharks and find more then their power to bring down food. Find them schooling o reefs or in hte surf and see them as more then news paper clippings. They are lots more complex. Take that suggestion from a guy who has spent hundreds of hours around sharks. It is a really remarkable creature. and...don't forget the very real potential for those who don't respect them enough.

Whatching a shark, basking on hte surface grooming paristes, watching a shark take seagulls over a bait school is simply incredible.

For me a day spent paddling is not to pierce a fear, and live to tell about it. but to join in the zeist of a pleasent environement.

After a while the ocean is only as dangerous as the ability to read her. The same can be true of walking into an road side mini-mart, school or street after dark.

Managing risk is a very broad thing. What is acceptable risk is an individual set of choices. To me shark attack is worth perhaps a head full of understanding and a few ounces of pervention. That deck flare has more then one use So does your paddle Hypothermia and weather sea state is something I'll stack pounds of prevention into. It is the greater risk by far.

Jack London wrote in his book sea wolf about life as being a yeasty ferment to be fully entered. Knowing the risks and the reality of the food chain.

Enjoy the yeasty ferment,
!RUSS

: Shark attack IS rare, but like you said "I guess if I was in Great white
: territory I might worry a bit more …" About 10 years ago a young
: couple were on their honeymoon and were paddling the ocean in their double
: kayak just off the coast of the university they both attended (Pepperdine)
: in Malibu. I am not sure how far off shore they were but my memory tells
: me about 2 miles, anyway this couple were never heard from again and parts
: of their kayak were recovered and upon examination it was revealed that
: there were bite marks of a large great white on the kayak parts. From the
: condition of the "debris" and the size of the shark, and having
: found no other traces after extensive searches, it was surmised that the
: shark killed them both. Although their fate is not known, perhaps they
: were attacked and drowned instead. But there was no doubt that they were
: both "victims" of a great white attack. The great white is
: classified a "Pelagic" shark which means (if memory serves)
: "deep water" and it is true that they are not generally found
: close to shore, but these great whites are truly universal and can be
: found in almost any waters, warm or cold, deep or shallow. I remember
: reading a very good book called the "Shark Attack File" and in
: it were recorded many attacks and it well explained what was known (and
: not known) about why sharks attack and methods of defense. I know it is
: like thinking that lightening will strike (it probably won't), but if one
: is hit by a great white it will be like lightening!!

: Some interesting facts to share regarding shark attack behavior. Rarely (I
: mean rarely) is any victim eaten alive. In fact by far the majority of
: attacks are one-bite affairs. Certainly less than 5% of victims are eaten
: with most losing some portion of flesh or limb and surviving. Another
: interesting fact is when an attack is of the type that is more than one
: "strike" by the shark and there is a rescuer in the water
: helping the swimmer, there have only been 2 recorded incidents (that I
: know of) of the shark switching from the original victim to the rescuer.
: In fact the shark in these cases seems deliberately to fixate on the
: original victim and even go around or past the rescuer to continue to only
: attack only the original victim. Another fact is that by far the majority
: of attacks occur in less than 1 foot of water! This is not as strange as
: it may seem at first look because it is simply a function of that being
: where the most people are. It is most dangerous for a lone swimmer on the
: surface, with divers and kayakers in much less danger. There are different
: attack styles with the Hollywood "frenzy" style being the most
: rare form of attack on a swimmer or diver. Often the encounter will start
: with a gentle "rub" by the shark's nose on the prospective meal.
: The shark has different skin from most fish in that it's skin is almost
: like little "teeth" and if rubbed against the grain it is like
: sandpaper and it is theorized that this scraping preparatory to attack is
: to see if the "victim" is edible, because the scraping of the
: sharks nose will often cause the victim to "ooze" bodily fluid
: and this tells the shark that it is ok to eat. I remember reading of the
: extensive work of the US navy to study shark attacks. It is odd to recall
: now that until late in WWII it was the "Official" navy position
: that "Sharks do NOT attack a live uninjured human being!"
: Period. The navy said sharks are more scared of you than they you are of
: them and one recommendation was to "Face the shark and make a loud
: slapping noise on the surface of the water, this will probably drive the
: shark away" Or make him MORE interested!! Eventually and after many
: attacks (maybe also the Indianapolis sinking and mass attacks there had an
: influence) they came out with the famous "Shark Repellant"
: sounded great and lots of downed airmen no doubt felt a bit safer while
: surrounded in this dye and chemical solution, but it could not last long
: and was soon washed away by the ocean. Besides test done in the 70's
: showed many sharks swam and ATE right in the middle of the stuff….. The
: navy wisely (if belatedly) started doing more tests to try and find a way
: to help protect a person who finds themselves floating in the open ocean.
: The solution (the only one of many, many tried) was a simple device who's
: name escapes me (think it was named after it's inventor) it was simply
: some type of plastic bag with flotation rings on top. Sort of like a black
: garbage bag with floats on top. The person "adrift" got inside
: and inflated the float rings. Inside the person was screened from view.
: The researchers found (not surprisingly) that at some point the shark is
: "attracted" by the movement and sight of hands, arms, and legs
: dangling and waving about. They found the relatively large block shape of
: the Black "bag" was not attractive (maybe why kayaks are
: generally not targeted either) also they found that another benefit of
: this device was that it kept the water around the swimmer "around the
: swimmer", so that none of his "smell", bloody or otherwise
: was emitted into the ocean, so this limited further the attractiveness to
: the shark.

: It seems that generally sharks are cautious, with great white being a
: pronounced exception. Because they are generally without predators (yes, I
: have seen the footage of a great white being killed by a killer whale and
: know the "legends" of dolphins "butting" sharks to
: death, but not much threatens an adult great white so they are
: particularly bold on occasions). Most attacks from great white occur in
: Australia and South Africa. So many in fact that they undertook many
: things to "keep the beaches safe" in the end they found that the
: practice known "meshing" was most effective. Instead of trying
: to "net off" popular beaches (they did it but it was hell
: keeping the nets up and the nets always developed holes and then were
: destroyed entirely by a storm or just normal wave action) they found that
: if they just placed a "strategic" length of netting at various
: points and distances off the coast that it caught an amazing number of
: sharks and the number of overall attacks feel dramatically. This method of
: "meshing" worked so well that it lowered the numbers of large
: predatory sharks available to attack anything at all. Don't know if they
: still employ this method there, but it and some success with the method of
: "streaming foul smelling bubbles from a line buried in the sand are
: the only methods I have heard of for effective shark control, excepting
: active hunting of a particular shark after an attack has occurred in the
: area. In the US attacks outside of Florida are rare with most attacks
: there being attributed to the "Tiger" shark. These are very
: dangerous sharks that thankfully tolerate only warmer waters and are not
: found in cooler waters. But the great white can and does "hit"
: anywhere, anytime, and although most great white attacks in California
: occur north of San Francisco they can occur down south here nearer to LA
: as evidenced by the attack I mentioned at the start of this post. Back
: east I recall a incident known as "Mattawan Creek". In 1916
: there were a series of attacks over a number of days where it was thought
: there could be no other explanation then that a "rouge" shark
: was responsible for all the shark attacks. All were particularly vicious
: and most resulted in death to the victim (5 or 7 in all, over 3 days).
: Here if I recall was attacked one of the rescuers of a little boy (the
: rescuer dived to retrieve the boy and actually succeeded in wrenching the
: boy from the very mouth of the shark while still underwater. The rescuer
: was returning to shore (from a popular swimming hole in Mattewan creek)
: when he was attacked by the shark and the boy ripped from his arms. As I
: recall this rescuer bleed to death after suffering the loss of his leg. So
: these attacks while rare are real.

: I for one have thought of my deep water paddling and never want to be looking
: a great white in the eye thinking "Well, I was too busy to make
: provision for any defense for this, so…. ) I will have at least a
: "shark Billy" (Invented by Jaugues Coustoue of the Calypso) it
: is just a short club with a long nail driven through it so the sharp end
: sticks out 1 ½" or 2". Or for long trips I am taking my
: "bang stick" just in case!!! Sorry for the long post about
: sharks but once I got going it kinda wrote itself :-)

: Joe