Red Sea Killer Shark

[Horus]

There was an interesting program on the TV last night about the shark attacks in Sharm el Sheik and the conclusions were quite alarming and maybe more far reaching in its findings.

It became very clear that even after a couple of attacks happened the authorities did not close the beaches. Even when they eventually did so, they were reopened quite soon afterwards when they announced that they had caught the suspects, an Oceanic White Tip and a Mako shark. This however did not end the attacks as another person was killed soon after.

There were lots of interviews with eye witnesses and with some of the people who were attacked and survived although they had all lost limbs, usually their hand. A host of marine specialists were drafted in and came up with several theories ranging from the dumping of dead sheep from ships en-route to Jordan to rogue killer sharks. It was pointed out by several experts that the Mako’s were a very rare visitor to the area and that the White Tips had never bothered with swimmers or divers in the past.

It was pointed out that shark attacks always have to be put in perspective, i.e. the more people who use the sea for recreation purposes, the more encounters there will be with sharks. The amount of visitors to this area had risen from virtually zero in the 1970’s to over 5 million per year today.

It was proven from the bite mark that the Mako that was caught was the actual one that attacked two people as it had a unique injury to its jaw with some missing teeth, it was also in a poor condition.
The fact that although banned, people do still feed the small fish off the jetties and that is increasing the number of small reef fish in the area. Although the White Tip and Mako are from deeper waters it was pointed out that the actual coral shelf that the tourists swim on is only around 30 metres away from water hundreds of metres deep that is the natural hunting ground of these creatures and it is believed that they are following their natural prey which is now more abundant on the reef due to the feeding of fish.

The specialists were baffled by the characteristics of the attacks as they were mainly to the hands and the buttocks area, but then they received a break. They are now in possession of some video film that shows some local dive leaders hand feeding the sharks to encourage them in for their tour groups.
When they analysed the video they saw that the diver would hold out a fish in his hand and at the last moment let the shark take it, they would then reach behind their backs to retrieve another fish from a bag on their backside.

Although they would not show the film as it is still being investigated, they said they were now confident that they knew the logic behind the shark attacks. It appears that the sharks would approach a swimmer expecting to be fed by a hand and as such they would bite at that part of a swimmers body expecting food, they would also expect other fish to be in the buttocks area and so would bite in that place also.

The final piece of the jigsaw puzzle was that the video film of the shark being hand fed by the diver was of an Oceanic White Tip with very distinctive notches on its tail fin. That same shark was also seen in several other videos taken by tourists in the area they were attacked. The conclusion is that this particular shark is now actively attacking swimmers as a food source and not by mistake and was not the one caught earlier.

The experts opinion was that it would return again to the area and continue attacking people unless it was caught and killed.

[Christine]

H im glad you have posted this, becuase on the redside ive been theorising a good deal on the reason for the shark attacks and that theory was based on a couple of pieces of news i recieved at the time they were happening which stated that some people were involved in setting up some " Shark sighting " cruises, and this kind of in a round about way supports that theory, the info i had, also infered that the sheep dumping played a very large part in the sharks being more " present" than usual.
So the jigsaw is coming to-gether

[Horus]

Yes Christine, the conclusion that can be drawn from the evidence shown is that this is a man made problem created by certain divers in an attempt to make money. Their stupidity has not only put innocent tourists at risk and cost several lives, but has created a feeding pattern in some sharks that may not return to normal for some time or until they are all killed.

The question I would ask is who would want to go into that water knowing that sharks have been programmed to approach humans for food? It would be a just reward if these people were out of work due to their own stupidity if the tourists stopped going there.

[Christine]

Thats right H it would, the more worrying piece of info i got was how easy it was to bribe that ship skipper to dump those carcases where and when he did, by the same men that set up the " Shark Sightings " !!
I know baksheesh is a given, but these people stoop to new lows in my opinion
Egypt has enough problems on land never mind in her sea's !

[LovelyLadyLux]

The father shark was out cruising with his teenage son when they a bunch of people swimming in the Red Sea. The father shark instructed his son to go and circle the swimmers first before he actually bit into them.

"WHY dad, why do I have to circle them all a few times before I bite in an eat?"

"Cause, my son, they all taste better with the SH*T scared out of them first."

It seems ludicrous not to know that any wild animal coaxed into close proximity to humans by way of food is sooner or later going to demand food that can't be given and the human will get hurt THEN the poor animal, only acting on instinct, will have to be put down.

Totally crazy that any ship skipper was dumping carcasses into the water - environmentally unsanitary too AND totally thoughtless to teach sharks to approach swimmers in the water just so they'll feed from them.

I think this is where I get disappointed in the 'greed' of man. For an immediate small reward without regard for the bigger picture they deliberately USE an animal for their own reward/baksheesh and in the end it is the animal that is put down. Sad Sad Sad Sad Sad