Shark Attacks

[Grand-Ranger]

I saw on the natinol inquire that:

"Cuba Launches Shark Attacks!!!"



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So if in the forest look behind you, because that where the ranger is going to be

The ranger looked at the place out side of the elven town near the river, he looked near the rocks, then they showed the way ....

Grand-Jester of Laghing Hyenas
Currently in service for the Red Wizards

[Liliara]

Originally posted by Lifetime: My take? Sharks love Americans Liliara, you must know that Sharkfeeding sessions consist of feeding NON-maneaters. Divers engaging in such activities are strongly warned NOT to even touch the sharkfood (usually bloody fish), but are encouraged to touch or even pet the sharks as the move by. Most of these sharks are too small to actively seek out and hunt humans, and their diet mostly is restricted to small fish and anything else they can find thats small enough to eat. Most people are'nt stupid enough to go diving with say, Tigers or Great Whites, or Bulls or Makos, but the species that they actually DO dive with are mostly harmless reef sharks, or smaller varieties.

Some experts, unfortunately disagree:


WASHINGTON, Aug. 31 /U.S. Newswire/ -- With the "Summer of the Shark" rapidly approaching its end, a pivotal meeting of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWCC) will convene on Sept. 6 at Amelia Island (near Jacksonville) to decide the fate of marine predator feeding tours by commercial dive operators.

In preparation for that meeting, the Commission is continuing its internal review of "Marine Life Feeding Guidelines for Interactive Marine Experiences (2nd Draft)" prepared by its own staff and released for public review last week in accordance with instructions laid down by the FWCC at its May 2001 meeting.

Today however, spokespersons for the Florida-based Marine Safety Group (MSG) and The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), the nation's largest animal protection organization, bluntly characterized this latest blueprint for industry self-regulation as "purely cosmetic" and called once again for a wholesale ban on marine wildlife feeding in Florida waters.

"These latest guidelines are strictly voluntary -- nowhere do they mandate any change in marine wildlife feeding in Florida, nor do they provide any new protection for either wildlife or people," said Bob Dimond, president of the Marine Safety Group.

"If the Commission fails to ban this irresponsible activity, how will anyone using Florida waters ever feel safe? How will they know where dangerous marine predators are being aggregated and behaviorally altered to associate people and boats with food?" Dimond continued.

Despite the recent rash of shark attacks in Florida, the closure of popular surfing and swimming beaches, and the associated loss of tourism dollars, at least six (and likely many more) tour operators have been regularly feeding and aggregating dangerous marine animals like sharks, barracudas and moray eels in Florida waters in recent years -- in many cases at or near popular swimming beaches, surfing areas, and dive sites.

According to many experts, feeding has increased the risk of attack for swimmers, surfers, and divers who, in most cases, are not even aware that they are recreating in dangerous waters. Over the past 15 years there have been numerous injuries worldwide -- many of them severe -- to ocean users at or near marine predator feeding sites.

While shark feeding proponents have tried to justify marine wildlife feeding tours by touting them as a form of "environmental education" that dispels negative myths about feared creatures, Dimond calls such a characterization nothing more than a marketing scheme -- self-serving hype to justify commercial exploitation of wild animals.

"In fact," adds Howard White, director of media relations for The Humane Society of the United States, "the message conveyed to the public by these tours -- that it's okay to feed, touch and even ride marine wildlife, to turn these wonderful creatures into trained circus tricks in the interests of a fast buck, is diametrically opposed to the most fundamental wildlife conservation message: observe but don't interfere. Keep wildlife wild."

"It has been, and remains, the stated position of both The Humane Society of the United States and the Marine Safety Group that the feeding of marine wildlife constitutes an unjustifiable endangerment of wildlife, coastal ecosystems, and recreational users of our coastal waters," said White.

Contact: Howard White of The Humane Society of the United States, 301-258-3072 (phone); e-mail: hwhite(At)hsus.org; Web site: www.hsus.org


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Proud new member of LH!

Originally posted by Grand-Ranger: You have bound to heard of all the shark attacks on the eastern US coast. So I ask this you what do you think of it? Whats causing them?

I don't know WHAT is causing them--Did you see the trash tabloid 'the Star' saying Cuba was sending 'Killer Sharks' to attack the USA? Not that!!

I am thinking that SOMETHING has changed.. either the Sharks are evolving in a odd way, or they now (Since more attacks) they now have a taste for flesh of humans.. (Not kidding) some Sharks will bite humans, then ONLY want to eat that.. don't know WHY..

I personally will go out on a wild theory: PROZAC.

As some of you MAY know, Prozac is almost the #1 Drug selling in the USA, and once taken, it leaves your body as it came in (Body doesn't absorb it) and it passes out as urine.. meaning: It ends up in the ground water, and many are worried about this... See, all this road rage, Child killing Child killings, mass murders at the office and crap, nearly EVERY SINGLE one of those people were on SOME type of Prozac. And I am thinking that since we have had entire barges dumb raw sewage into the ocean, the prozac MAY be screwing with the sharks minds as well. I know it sounds far fetched, but weirder things have happened.



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Ziroc™
Ironworks Webmaster
www.tgeweb.com/ironworks

[Lifetime]

Liliara, I do concede that you've done your homework, but I dont know where in that article it says that dangerous sharks like the Great Whites and Tigers are becoming more and more aggressive as a direct result of sharkfeeding off Florida coasts.
Not all sharks are dangerous! Not all sharks kill humans! Sharkfeeding trips do not feed man eaters!

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Resident Lurker Guy

I love to fish everyone. But I dont put myself in a situation where I will be bitten. Sandbars are a great place to catch all kinds of fish. Sharks know this to. Enough said.
*\Conan/*

[Ladyzekke]

Sometimes I wonder if it is possibly lack of food for the sharks?
I mean, let's face it, we humans net tons of seafood out of the ocean. And the more humans born on this planet, the more people there are, so obviously the more want for food will be there, and humans will take more than ever. We are eating this planet alive, taking everything out for our own consumption, whether we truly "need" it or not. Nothing is sacred anymore. And let's not forget all the oil spills and pollution that must be killing many fish species. Maybe we have gotten to the point where sharks find themselves now hard-up for grub?

Or, could be one shark gets a leg off some human on the beach, and communicates to the other sharks about it (they must have some type of communication I'd think), and so then, as Conan put it, "Sandbar" turns into a human snack bar by word of "mouth" literally?

Or, again, maybe the Navy's new sonar devices have been disturbing the ocean. I know that it is a theory that when whales beach themselves, it is because the Navy's new sonar (which emits hundreds of miles outward into the ocean) is turning whales' sonars all akilter, to where they don't know which way is up anymore, e.g., beaching themselves. Would this type of thing also cause stress and/or agression in sharks? Who knows.

And yes Ziroc, your thoughts on Prozac and other toxins invading the waters may also be another possible reason.

Either way LOL, I SWEAR, next time I go to the beach, I'm takin a weapon with me! I'll have something to shove down that shark's throat, but it won't be a piece of me!


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[Sazerac]

LadyZekke, I think you're on to something. The US Government has been doing experiments for a few years with those waves, something called TESLA waves, if I remember rightly. It seems that they were inadvertently disturbing the whales' and dolphins' frequency patterns, and literally driving the poor critters crazy!

I wonder if something like that is happening with the sharks? Annapolis, where they conducted the first TESLA experiments, is pretty close to the Eastern Coastline.

BTW, did you see now there's a shark attack in Virginia? Or is that the N.C. attack you were referring to, LadyZekke?



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[Sazerac]

Here's some information on the same topic, LadyZekke:

...Shortly after the whales came to visit with me I was told that the US Navy was conducting sonar experiments in the whale's breeding ground. They were deliberately targeting four species of whales including the humpback and the grey whales to determine how loud they could blast the sonar (LFA or LFAS) before the whales showed some sign of avoidance or unusual behaviour. What deeply alarmed me was the loudness of the equipment. The US Navy Low Frequency Active Sonar is millions of times louder than a 747 taking off and causes great damage to the immune system with injuries similar to being microwaved. At the Navy testing volumes, let alone full deployment volumes, it shears tissues, collapses organs and causes adrenal and brain damage. At close range it can pulverize any living being.

The US Navy equipment can produce well in excess of 240 dB sound levels. By "blasting" the sound into the oceans they have been killing whales, these sound levels depending on the frequencies will cause internal bleeding and death and in human much lower levels around 160 dB have permanently debilitated USN divers.

Anybody out on the waters saw how distressed the whales had become and one team observed a calf flipping out in the water for hours until it presumably died. All the autopsies done on the whales have not been made available for independent evaluation and the evidence has been destroyed. To this date the USN continues to deny this evidence despite court hearings, testimonials and the evidence that they must have seen for themselves.

...
Donna Wieting, Chief;
Marine Mammal Conservation Division;
Office of Protected Resources;
National Marine Fisheries Service

This is going on...quite possibly, if there is testing going on in the Atlantic right now, it could be affecting the sharks.




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[Ladyzekke]

Originally posted by Sazerac: LadyZekke, I think you're on to something. The US Government has been doing experiments for a few years with those waves, something called TESLA waves, if I remember rightly. It seems that they were inadvertently disturbing the whales' and dolphins' frequency patterns, and literally driving the poor critters crazy! I wonder if something like that is happening with the sharks? Annapolis, where they conducted the first TESLA experiments, is pretty close to the Eastern Coastline. BTW, did you see now there's a shark attack in Virginia? Or is that the N.C. attack you were referring to, LadyZekke?

Yes Saz, that TESLA experiment is what I mean. Unfortunately, though, I have not seen any plans to stop this type of sonar in the Navy. No doubt, it is EXCELLENT re national security, genius even, but damn, it is messing up all the whales and dolphins, and possibly sharks?

Yes, just this past weekend a 10 year old boy died from a shark attack on Virginia Beach, and then yesterday a couple in North Carolina, Outer Banks (about 6 hours or so from where I live, but we go there often in the summertime). Guess the couple both were battling the shark. Man died, his girlfriend lived with critical injuries. No bystanders actually saw a shark, but of course it is presumed that is what it was. Two people at once! Again, I say tis unusual!

I really feel for that woman who is the survivor. Imagine what it must be like to watch your loved one die in such a violent way, perhaps even he was trying to protect her.

And it seems most of these attacks, not just in VA, but all over the east coast, have occurred in shallow waters, like 4' deep. Sheesh, I remember for years on years I swimmed as a child and a teen in the ocean waaay out there, and never did I ever encounter a shark, nor did anyone else, nevertheless right out in the frontlines in shallow waters. Again, sharks seem desparate for food? Going beyond the usual barrier? (fondling my shark's tooth necklace, knowing at least one of em won't be gettin me heehee) :p

Just saw your recent post Saz, yes, this Sonar that the Navy had developed not only goes miles and miles outward, but takes weeks to finally end it's journey, so it just MUST affect all sorts of living creatures in the ocean along its path. And once you disturb these things, maybe even in a permanent fashion, there is no telling what will occur next. Every Action has a RE-Action. I truly hope I am just being paranoid, and my thoughts will end up being unfounded.

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[This message has been edited by ladyzekke (edited 09-04-2001).]

[This message has been edited by ladyzekke (edited 09-04-2001).]

[Sir Taliesin]

Where is Turbovee when you need him. I would love to hear his opinion on all this, since he works with dolphins in the navy.

Personally, I think the shark's food sources are being depleted and they are having to swim in closer to shore, where they are mixing with more and more people. A recipe for disaster!

I'm glad we didn't take a vacation this year and go to the beach. It took me years to get over the movie JAWS and now this!

Oh BTW... GO VOLS!!!

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Sir Taliesin



If they take my gun can I still use my Axe?