We were out there when it was all happening and we were desperate for a piece of the action! We did not meet any sharks although we were aware they were about. We desperately wanted to get up close and personal as divers on our liveaboard.

There were a number of theories about at the time..and we were told by our crew that a number of factors had combined to create this situation.

a) The sea temperatures were unusually warm. It was about 5 or 6 degrees warmer than what it usually was at that time of year. (it was great to dive in!)
b) The sea has been desperately over fished and that has forced them to come further inland to seek food
c) There have been unscrupulous organisations/hotels etc feeding fishes to make their hotel appear in a better light as having lots of fish life around..same thign with day boats going out with snorkellers on board. People want to see things..and so any method possible was used to attract it. All good for business you see.
d) There was an Australian ship transporting sheep over to Saudi. A number of sheep died on the way and were thrown overboard. Easy pickings..and of course the trail was followed.

Over here on TV we did see pictures of 2 sharks being killed with a big announcement it was safe to enter the water etc. Then the following day there was a fatality. In reality, we were told there had been 26 sharks slaughtered. As divers, we did our nut..and the Egytian authorities wanted to keep that bit quiet. In reality, we have been told that far more sharks have been killed indiscriminately than even the authorities dare let on.

The Red Sea is a big place..and they cannot just eradicate sharks at random. It is all so so sad.

lynwestie wrote:

Did I get that right .

Spot on. The technical term is they are poikilotherms; their ambient body temperature is dictated by their surrunding environment. Therefore in cold water, they are less active and require less food to sustain their metabolism. In a warmer environment, they are more active and therefore need more food to support them. That's why I spend the winter months in water and the summer months out of it (in my day job but we'll not go their!). The warmer temperatures (demand for food) and over-fishing (removal of food) coupled with the inshore feeding of smaller fish attracticting them in I can buy. The training of sharks with the feeding to attract them I'm little more dubious about.

A little :offtop, but the needless slaughtering of Sharks needs to stop. They are apex predators and without them, the sea environment will suffer. Predators are their to perform a biological role and have done a perfect job for millions of years. Call them killing machines if you like, and it's unfortunate what happen in the Red Sea, but they are one of the most important animals in the oceans / seas food chain in order to control the populations below them. They are no different to the human race evolutionary, performing a role to control the environment in which they live. Remove the apex predator from an environment and you'll get an explosion of their prey which in turn will overgraze all the primary producers and eventually stop the foundation level causing a popultion crash through lack of food, habitat and disease. I've seen it many times and our oceans are heading down that road. The problem with sharks, they are slow to reproduce so even the culling of a small number can lead to long term effects, let alone the 100's of millions annually. I can understand the media frenzy that went on at the time and the Egyptian authorities needing to be shown to be doing something, but that's all they were doing, creating positive publicity. They weren't solving the cause of the issue. What Gordon Ramsey has done recently with the shark finning for soup is commendable. I don't like some of the things he does but he deserves an MBE for the work he's done with the Shark Trust bringing it the the publics attention and getting some of the major restaurants in London to stop serving the dish. The sooner we leave sharks alone the better.

Darren

Most of the points in the video have been covered in the recent posts with the pos exceptions of:

1, The Autumn is the most likely time to encounter sharks.

2, The people feeding the sharks were the dive boat operators hoping to attract sharks for their customers. (The tourists at the hotels were feeding the other fish close inshore thus attracting the sharks inshore to eat the fish)

3, One of the sharks killed at the time was proved to be responsible for one pos 2 of the attacks but the main suspect is still at large.

Darren are you off to the Red Sea? Hope your holiday goes ahead as Egypt could easily be the next Tunisia.

Dazbo HT Mod wrote:

Darren are you off to the Red Sea?

No, a little further afield to encounter some bigger sharks (with any luck!) and maybe a Whale or two! Diving in Egypt is great though, I'll never forget the hour spent with a dozen Dolphins last year.

nickmacuk wrote:

3, One of the sharks killed at the time was proved to be responsible for one pos 2 of the attacks but the main suspect is still at large.

Which is exactly the point about going out and slaughtering sharks until you get the 'one'. There are lots of sharks and the chances of catching the actual one is very slim. They swim in and out of an area so it's really just a publicity thing and not actually going to solve the problem. How many are you going to slaughter to find the one? It's not realistic. After all, it's not the fault of the Shark, they are a wild animal just trying to survive like the rest of nature. Tackle the cause, not the symptoms. As much as I like the Jaws films, they have a lot to answer for in that respect.

Darren

The main suspect had quite distinctive markings and the savagery of the attacks indicated it had acquired a taste for human flesh. Whether this justifies capital punishment is a debatable issue.
Also forgot to say feeding of fish in the sea even by tourists on the beach or jetties is illegal and the fines have now been increased to Draconian levels.

nickmacuk wrote:

the savagery of the attacks indicated it had acquired a taste for human flesh

That is highly unlikely and I don't believe it for one second. It's more a sign of desperation or mistaken identity when hunting for prey. The shark species in question are piscivores, they don't have a taste for human flesh. No shark has as we aren't normally in their domain to be a part of their natural diet. It's a misconception of shark attacks. If that was the case, it would be more than a bite or two they'd inflict on their unfortunate victims. Sharks don't have hands, they can only explore something by biting it. Once they bite and realise it's not what they thought it was, they'll generally let go, which is pretty much what was seen. The trouble is, the wounds left behind are often severe.

This has got to be one of the most menacing members of the shark family to look it, the Ragged Tooth Sand Tiger Shark, also known as the Grey Nurse Shark or Sand Tiger Shark.


With a Nurse Shark swimming above





They aren't the best quality as they are stills from a video while I was filming them. With the look of it's teeth, you'd think it was a bully. However, even though they grow to in excess of 4m (the one in the still is approx 3.5m), they are actually quite dicile and shy. Back them in to a corner and they'll come at you but other than that, they're fine. Some of the other members of the Lamniformes (Mackeral Sharks) such as the Great White and Mako are the more aggressive ones with the Mako being responsible for at least one of the attacks in the Red Sea. Then again the Sand Tiger (above and Basking shark), that are also part of the Mackeral shark family are amongst the tamest. It just shows how diverse an order they are and there's nothing to fear, unless provoked or their habitat is unbalanced in some way as is likely to have been the case in the Red Sea last November / December.

Darren

They weren't my conclusions Darren but International experts in their field. Nice photos, a photo is as close as I would wish to be to a shark

nickmacuk wrote:

They weren't my conclusions Darren but International experts in their field.

I realise that, it's from the program. I don't think that is what they actually inferred though. It was the way they had been attracted to day boats and the resemblance to the way people snorkel and swim with their hands and arms out rather than the actual taste for human flesh. There's a difference. Plus, the attraction wasn't done with human flesh! As I mention above, it's the mistaken identity and having a bite to check out what it is rather than the taste. Any shark 'expert' that suggests they have a taste for human flesh needs to be fed to one as it's not true! This is one of the myths to come from the Jaws films. Yes, they will have a bite, but they more often than not spit the victim out straight away.

nickmacuk wrote:

a photo is as close as I would wish to be to a shark

They are taken with an 8mm video lens, she was about 50cm above me! There's no problem as long as you understand a little about the species behavior and when you can and can't be in their domain. You wouldn't want to be that close to a Great White for example, especially when they display the feeding posture!

Darren

Just caught the end of the repeat today and the conclusion of the expert was definitely that the suspect shark does now appear to see humans as food and if found it should be put down as there is a significant increased risk of it attacking again.

That was that female shark was'nt it Nick with the clear markings . It had been photographed on several occasions.

That's the one Lyn it had been photographed very close to at least 2 of the attacks including the German lady who died her attack was described as a frenzied attack.