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Shark Attack at Catalina.
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 06/23/2008 10:26 AM
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rdrrm8e
Joined: 02/23/2007
Posts: 3136
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re: Shark Attack at Catalina.
I understand there was quite a bit of "Bycatch" dumped into that cove in the past week!?!?!?
C-Yardrrm8e
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06/23/2008 01:33 PM
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HD
Joined: 04/21/2007
Posts: 10241
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re: Shark Attack at Catalina.
rdrrm8e wrote:
I understand there was quite a bit of "Bycatch" dumped into that cove in the past week!?!?!?
Damn researchers and their gill nets! LMAO
Attn: Dental Shoppers
You can advertise to every dentist in Calif. for $20.
Visit www.DentalTrader.com
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06/23/2008 05:41 PM
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Rubberhook
Joined: 12/30/2006
Posts: 15
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re: Shark Attack at Catalina.
I was fishing the backside of the island on the MarDiosa with both the Ultra and the Old No. 7 on Friday when what I am sure was the same shark made an appearance. We were chasing a large breezer of yellowtail when the shark came up under the school. Jeff on the Old No. 7 got a good look at it and said it was large.
The crazy thing was I was imagining what it would have been like to swim with over 300 yellows on that hot glassy afternoon in that clean water.
That lady is very lucky. I'm glad no one got hurt.
It's not what you catch but how good you look trying...
This post edited by Rubberhook 06/23/2008
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06/23/2008 07:42 PM
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reddog
Joined: 12/31/1999
Posts: 3660
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re: Shark Attack at Catalina.
Great story Bill. I saw her on the news and she said at one point she was standing on the shark. WAY to close! Hope she bought that lottery ticket as she is one lucky yakker.
Engineer second class Seacock reporting for duty!
Kerry
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06/23/2008 10:04 PM
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bigeye2k
Joined: 06/13/2007
Posts: 2613
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re: Shark Attack at Catalina.
That is one great story of survival. I am glad she made it out alive. There is no way that the shark could have mistaken her for a seal or turtle. Just today a large white shark followed a canoe team 5 miles from Laguna Beach to Dana Point. Maybe the same shark?
06 Parker 2120
"HIGH FIVE"
This post edited by bigeye2k 06/24/2008
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06/23/2008 11:44 PM
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reddog
Joined: 12/31/1999
Posts: 3660
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re: Shark Attack at Catalina.
bigeye2k wrote:
That is one great story of survival. I am glad she made it out alive. There is no way that the shark could have mistaken her for a seal or turtle. Just today a large white shark followed a canoe team 5 miles from Laguna Beach to Dana Point. Maybe the same shark?
Why would you think that the shark could not have made a mistake? It is common for GWs to charge from under their prey so all they see is the silhouette of the object against a bright sky. What is the downside for the shark if she makes a mistake? She spits it out and goes onto the next prey. Very few GW attacks on humans result in the victim being eaten. Certainly if the sharks were intent on feeding those human victims would be a meal not just bitten. It is just that the human body doesn't stand up to a decent GW bite very well. As to the sighting today it is certainly possible it could be the same animal but I think there are plenty of GWs around so it is more likely a different one. I agree that she is one lucky soul to have an up-close and personal encounter like she did and not get a scratch. Her kids were certainly have a heck of a "what I did over the summer" paper when school starts back up.
Engineer second class Seacock reporting for duty!
Kerry
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06/24/2008 12:54 AM
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WJW
Joined: 04/30/1998
Posts: 10897
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re: Shark Attack at Catalina.
I agree that it could have easily been a "mistake" in the sense that the shark did not "know" it was attacking a human, but you can forget about the idea that White Sharks "prefer" a seal over a human.
Think about it logically.
In the first place, a Great White Shark has a brain that is incapable of allowing it to "prefer", "mistake" or "know" anything in the normal sense of the words. Sharks don't have the hardware needed to "think" just like a man doesn't have the hardware needed to allow a baby to grow inside of him. Shark brains are not capable of conscious thought because they don't have a cerebrum. Rather, the shark brain keys in on certain stimuli that instinct causes it to unconsciously associate with something edible. Over millions of years, natural selection has given an advantage to individual sharks which tended to prey upon high calorie marine mammals. So that's what White Sharks do.
Secondly, the idea that sharks "don't like the taste" of humans is silly. We all know that sharks eat damn near anything under the right conditions. What could be so special (or unappetizing) about people? The reason white shark predation behavior typically involves the shark taking a quick bite out of a human and then spitting them out has nothing to do with the way people taste. Rather, it has everything to do with the safest and most efficient way of killing a large marine mammal. Killing a five hundred pound sea lion with your teeth is a very dangerous business....even if you happen to be a fifteen foot White Shark. When Great Whites kill sea lions they conduct a high speed ambush attack, bite the animal, back off, and don't return until it has bled to death. Random natural selection has "selected" in favor of those sharks who exhibited such a behavior because it is the safest, most efficient way to kill a high-calorie meal with big teeth. The sharks that took a quick bite and then backed off until BoBo the Seal had bled to death were far more likely to survive the event unharmed than those sharks which dove in and kept chomping away despite the fact that the big knothead seal lion was biting back for all he was worth. And since those "cautious" sharks were more likely to survive, they were also more likely to mate with other sharks and pass down the particular genes which said: "always be careful when you bite things that look like seals"
So while it is true that most White Sharks who attack people tend to back off immediately thereafter, it is also true that these sharks exhibit the exact same behavior with sea lions. Is that because they "don't like the taste" of sea lions, or is it because that method of killing is the most efficient way to get the job done?
I am quite sure that if we left the victims of White Shark attacks in the water until they bled to death (rather than immediately rescuing them), we'd find that the offending shark virtually always returned to eat the meal they had worked so hard to secure.
Not trying to burst any bubbles here, but I think the whole "they don't like how we taste" rap makes absolutely no sense from a biological or animal behavioral standpoint, and is really nothing more than a way to make people who have no biology training feel better about swimming where sharks happen to live.
Bill
If Marlin ate puppies instead of mackerel, we'd all have kennels instead of bait tanks.
This post edited by WJW 06/24/2008
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06/24/2008 08:55 AM
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DrGary
Joined: 02/20/2007
Posts: 3172
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re: Shark Attack at Catalina.
I was under the impression that humans when bit had a different texture (lack of blubber) than seals. Great Whites very seldom eat their victims, but bull sharks and open water pelagics do. I have seen videos of great white sharks attacking and eating seals. There wasn't much lag time between the first bite and the main course.
drgary
This post edited by DrGary 06/24/2008
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06/24/2008 09:25 AM
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WJW
Joined: 04/30/1998
Posts: 10897
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re: Shark Attack at Catalina.
West Cove is a couple hundred yards short of the western end and is on the back side.
Bill
If Marlin ate puppies instead of mackerel, we'd all have kennels instead of bait tanks.
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06/24/2008 09:35 AM
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Fair Warning
Joined: 02/17/2007
Posts: 3333
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re: Shark Attack at Catalina.
Both my wife Nancy and I swam at Catalina on Saturday! It was way hot out there. Man! I think we saw the "Topless" getting bait that morning....too close for comfort....makes you think.
Louis@Bad-Fish.Com
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DR
