Chill guys, and condolences for losing a mate SJ....
Just to add to the
'original' thread topic...We've (humans) been slaughtering defenceless sharks for centuries for their meat, jaws, and even fins (throwing the live sharks back to bleed to death - finless, defenceless, and in pain
). The fact is we've killed millions more of them than they have of us!
Now this brings forward the question of why their are more attacks - global warming? - over fishing? - complacency by humans in the water? To be honest, no-one knows exactly, perhaps a combination of all.
To personalise these attacks and use them as an argument to raise the ban on Great Whites would be (in the animal world) equivalent to the stupidity our great leaders did toward Bin Laden and Hussein, and you'd be opening the floodgates to all sport fishers who have been tentatively waiting for this day, so that they could jump in their 6 figure (phallic symbolic) boats and head out to the
deep (and yes, this is where they would go) to try to catch/kill the biggest white they could find to receive their trophy jaws and be forever recorded in the history books.
The problem with this is that
the sharks out in the deep water pose no threat to us, it's the ones that either stray, get lost, or basically follow their curiosity
(as wild animals do), and find themselves in an environment with no
'natural' food source, but among swimmers/surfers etc. that provide little sustenance, but may sustain the shark's life until they can find a seal, or tuna, or whale meat. I believe they don't like how we taste, although I don't know how this is proven, but I reckon if they did like human flesh there would be many more attacks...
I don't like brussel sprouts, but I'd eat them if I was starving! A shark has no other form of finding out if we're edible or not, but based on the amount of maulings Vs actual deaths by being eaten, it shows that they can't be too keen, and if you've seen footage on a shark ripping a seal apart, you'd know that if they wanted to, there'd be no escape in most cases!
(re; SJ's comment on the 2 attacks where the survivors are 'lucky', yes, maybe, or the shark was trying to work out what they were, and realised that they weren't food.)I've seen a few Great Whites up close - they are a magnificent creature, we've had 2 rub against our boat, (my wife even touched one's fin...
I was s****ing myself at the time), but within seconds we saw the shark for what it is, a curious, amazing, graceful
wild creature, scary still, but in the way that anything that is master-of-its-domain, and the top of the food chain is.
Don't be fooled by their angry/vicious head, that's just their shape, they are a placid creature except when feeding
(like some friends of mine!
), the problem is, we associate our emotions with that head (angry/frowning), and instead of looking at it as being evolution, and mother-nature's design, instead of looking at the way they move as menacing/eerie, look at it as graceful, and aerodynamic.
In conclusion, I'm going fishing tomorrow out deep, hopefully to catch a shark and a few fish (gummy shark, snapper, morwong, or Mako if I find one, and can land it!), to bring home and share with my parents/bro/sis/grandparents, as they live inland, and enjoy fresh fish when I catch some.
I'll take no more than I need,
(or the laws state), and I won't be fishing with an intent on harming any of the fish, (mercifully killing the ones I keep as soon as they're landed, and put in the ice-bin) simply supplying fresh fish for my family, and enjoying a calm/windless day on the water....(although I'd prefer wind, and be windsurfing, but it's not to be).
I hope to see another Great White to enhance my trip, but I assure you, it'll be from the safety of my boat.
