thumbs up from choppa on this one,,,,
new zealand is going to pass a law to protect the great white shark in early 2007
this still leaves a corridor open wide enough to pass australia through on ""what if's"",,,,,,,but at least they are advancing in the fact that these beasts are in decline,,
(in passing,,, there was a report on the news tonite on a young 'un being attacked by a GW,, and this was not posted in any sense/manner to disrespect that report or person)
choppa
can it get any better??????????????,,,,,,,,,,,,,,http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgG_TxEPaQE
Very sad read that report and said that he lost leg below knee.
Wish him and his family all the best for his recovery.
Only 15 years old and a life ahead of him.
Trev
Fish for the future, enjoy the present but think of your children.
A interresting read about whites
Research sheds new light on sharks
Reporter: Mike Sexton
KERRY O'BRIEN: According to an oft-quoted statistic, we're more likely to be struck by lightning than attacked by a shark. Despite that reassuring fact, the mauling of a teenage surfer who lost a leg off the West Australian coast at the weekend is another reminder of the potentially deadly predator swimming off many Australian beaches. While attacks have been recorded and analysed for more than a century, there's still much to learn about the most feared predator of all, the Great White Shark. In the past, scientists have dismissed theories the animals can become territorial or get a taste for humans. But the latest research by the CSIRO suggests white sharks are far more ordered and regular in their behaviour than previously thought. Could this information ultimately protect swimmers from the threat of shark attack? Mike Sexton reports.
ADAM FLOREANI: Might head down West Beach.
CHRISTIAN PETERSON: It's pretty messy.
MIKE SEXTON: On a windswept morning on Adelaide's Glenelg beach, Christian Peterson and Adam Floreani revisit a tragedy they'll never forget. The wild conditions are a stark contrast to the baking hot day two years ago when a group of them, including 18-year-old Nick Peterson, took a boat out for some fun.
ADAM FLOREANI: It was about 40 degrees and me and Nick went to pick up the other boys and we thought, what a perfect opportunity to go down the beach.
MIKE SEXTON: The boys took turns being towed behind the boat on a surfboard 300 metres off shore and had no way of knowing a Great White Shark was lurking.
ADAM FLOREANI: Nick jumped in and then I remember turning away just for a few seconds and he was gone, the shark took him right past the boat and went away.
MIKE SEXTON: So vicious was the attack that a small shred of wetsuit was all that was ever found of Nick Peterson, but his memory lives through a foundation started by his family and friends. In an effort to save others from the same fate, the Nick Peterson Foundation raises money to support a helicopter that patrols Adelaide's beaches.
CHRISTIAN PETERSON: They've been out surfing quite a few times and seen it fly past and it's good to know that they're looking out for you and yeah, making sure you're safe.
MIKE SEXTON: Around the nation beach patrols and netting are the most common methods of protecting swimmers.
BARRY BRUCE, CSIRO MARINE RESEARCH UNIT: This is the satellite tracking tag.
MIKE SEXTON: But now, by studying the behaviour of sharks themselves, scientists at the CSIRO Marine Research Unit in Hobart believe they can help reduce the risk of future attacks.
BARRY BRUCE: One of the best ways naturally to reduce the interactions between white sharks and humans is to avoid white sharks and humans being in the same place at the same time or operating activities in the same place at the same time.
MIKE SEXTON: Scientists have tagged more than a dozen Great Whites off South Australia's Neptune Islands and used satellites to track their movements. The data is now painting a picture of a highly mobile animal capable of diving to depths of 800 metres and roaming thousands of kilometres.
BARRY BRUCE: Previously we thought of white sharks as being a coastal species, something that stays on the continental shelf or swims around the coastline and the islands within these areas. But these tags are telling us now that these sharks do move out into open ocean waters, they sometimes cross ocean basins. We've had sharks move from South Australia all the way across the Tasman Sea to New Zealand.
MIKE SEXTON: One of the sharks tagged this winter is a 3.5-metre-long female who weighs about half a tonne. In five months she's travelled up to Exmouth in north west of Western Australia and is currently 60 kilometres off Perth. After six years of tagging, scientists are now seeing regular patterns. Sharks tend to frequent the same waters, often at the same time of year, suggesting the deep diving and long journeys are not random acts.
BARRY BRUCE: They're fantastic fishermen. They've had millions of years to get it right and they're very good at being in the right place at the right time. So we suspect that these sharks are cueing in on some sort of biological event up in these sorts of areas and maybe they're using these depths as navigation pathways, maybe following a depth contour or they're using them to find prey along the way.
BRIAN SIERAKOWSKI: I just believe Great Whites come back to kill where they've killed before.
MIKE SEXTON: The regular itinerary may also explain the belief of some that white sharks are territorial.
BRIAN SIERAKOWSKI: We were just sitting waiting for a wave and then it was as if a block of flats hit us from the side and this great big shark came across the front of my board.
MIKE SEXTON: Perth lawyer Brian Sierokowski survived a shark attack near Perth's Cottesloe Beach nine years ago. While he believes sharks should be left alone in the deep ocean, he firmly believes the shark that attacked him later took the life of another swimmer at Cottesloe and such animals should be hunted down.
BRIAN SIERAKOWSKI: My issue is that when a rogue shark stays at a metropolitan beach which is frequented by swimmers and it becomes territorial, we should have no hesitation in removing that shark. I mean, what are you going to do, allow the shark to eat a couple of people before you take some action?
BARRY BRUCE: Look at the size of that.
MIKE SEXTON: Barry Bruce from the CSIRO Marine Research Unit argues that a territorial animal is one that lives in and defends its territory against intruders and the science shows white sharks do not behave that way.
BARRY BRUCE: What we see in white sharks is a completely different pattern. White sharks don't live in any one particular area. There is not the resident Big Fred that always lives at Wodang Island, for example. Big Fred might visit Wodang Island quite frequently but he doesn't live there. In the intervening periods he could be thousands of kilometres away.
MIKE SEXTON: While the chances of being attacked by a Great White are statistically extremely low, Barry Bruce believes his research could be used to make beach patrols even more focused.
BARRY BRUCE: We feel that the input of information about where sharks are likely to be and where they go can be used to perhaps better target some other resources that we spend on looking after people, whether it be beach patrols or aerial patrols and in that way make those resources more effective.
MIKE SEXTON: For the family and friends of Nick Peterson the move towards safer beaches is some comfort.
ADAM FLOREANI: The more we can know, I think, about them and what their movements are I think will just help contribute to making the beaches safer and, I mean any little bit of help to prevent what happened happening again will definitely be worthwhile.
KERRY O'BRIEN: That CSIRO program has been going for several years now. It's always fascinating to come back for an update. Mike Sexton with that report.
There will be days when the fishing is better than one's most optimistic forecast, others when it is far worse. Either is a gain over just staying home.
interesting, but i think vic hislop has been saying a lot of what they've 'found' for decades. love him or hate him, he hasn't been listened to enough in regards to shark behaviour. i don't agree with some of his theories, and i am for the sharks, but he makes some very good points that are now being 'rediscovered' by scientists. i have been tagging sharks for the last five years, none of which have been a white, but i agree with vic - the only way to really underdstand their patterns is to get out into the field and study them in the flesh. i do think the satellite tagging will provide some great info, so here's hoping for some more clues.
cuzza
MIKE SEXTON: But now, by studying the behaviour of sharks themselves, scientists at the CSIRO Marine Research Unit in Hobart believe they can help reduce the risk of future attacks.
BARRY BRUCE: One of the best ways naturally to reduce the interactions between white sharks and humans is to avoid white sharks and humans being in the same place at the same time or operating activities in the same place at the same time.
well derrrr, it took them years to work this out? , the only good white shark is like the only good snake, when its dead
Ladies and Gentlemen...
We need to protect Sharks, especially the Great White. It is sad that every now and then someone is attacked and sometimes killed BUT we go into where they live!!
More people are killed by Bees...than by sharks...but you don't hear about killing bees??
We need to get over this "only good shark is a dead shark" mentallity...they have every right to live just as much as us...
Irrational fears are just that...irrational...do you even think about the risk associated with driving your car? no, and you are millions of times more likely to be horribly injured or killed driving to the local shops.
Mike L.
why do we need to protect sharks especially the great white? bob h
interesting question bob! i must say i don't agree with your statement about the only good one being a dead one! although i love sharks, i do try to be as objective as possible, particularly whilst examining the 'facts'. some scientists claim that the white numbers are markedly down, while other experts (like hislop) claim that they aren't down, just migratory, and therefore 'missed'. hislop's number one theory is that the massive pressure put on fish stocks by longlining can only mean a decline in small fish species, leaving the large predators unharmed, AND lacking food. he claims that shark culling must be made a viable option for fisherpeople, otherwise they will frequent our shores more often and seek out 'alternative' food sources. sceintists however wish to protect many of the species of sharks as they fear possible extinction, which could lead to massive consequences for the rest of the fish populations. both sides i feel have valid points, but who's right? i'd say both to a degeree. but i'm still a pup compared to someone like hislop, so i don't think my opinion really matters at this stage.
cuzza
great source of info on sharks ,that vic, yet he gets shit on by many people and i dont know why. his theories on whale beeching ,and other things to do with sharks make great sense. but for some reason they are frowned upon and ruled out as crap, must have stepped on some toes when he started out, nice guy.but why do we want to protect these creatures, read where we go into where they live,we go into where mozzies, and flies ,spiders,etc, live . are we to protect them?they have just as much right t live dont they, or dont they meet the conservationalists criteria?
they have just as much right? so does that boy that was killed by your precious sharks last week, as i said before. the only good one is a dead one. if they kill us then we should kill them off, its called self preservation.ladies and gentlemen.
bob h
well bob h you're really starting to get a rise outta me, which i'm unsure whether you're meaning to or not - maybe a little... MY precious shark? explain that mate?! what exactly do you mean by that, and how the hell does that little fella's shortcoming have anything to do with me! for starters, outta respect to him and his family, dont bring him up. secondly, don't ever implicate any shark conservationist to ANY human attack. just plain ignorant and unfair. as for the reasons they are researched - partly so that we can understand their behaviour and relationship to humans, and partly to protect the ENTIRE ecosystem - in essence, THAT's called self preservation. look at the big picture. dunno how many more times i gotta say it!
cuZza
gotta agree with ya cuzza, Sharks do a hell of a lot more that swim around and eat people and number plates. They are a very important part of the whole ecco system
Rainbow Trout is NOT skittle flavoured fish.........
I am no tree-hugger but I do know that we can't just go willfully killing sharks...they are an important part of the ecosystem.
Humans kill more humans than sharks...shall we go the logic of "the only good human is a dead one"? I mean seriously!!!
Sharks are scary looking creatures...it's easy to up and want to kill them cause they make us feel scared but if you look at things logically the odds of you or someone you know being attacked and killed are less than getting hit by falling coconuts (that's a fact!).
Bob h...make sure you check the under the bed and in the closet before going to bed...could be a boogie man lurking!
Hell this year a sting-ray killed Steve Irwin...should we kill all them too? How about we just hunt and kill all animals...maybe someday a Koala could go on the rampage! You just never know and can we really take the risk??? ...better them all dead hey...then you can feel all nice warm and fuzzy and safe...
We were given brains for a reason...let's all start using them ok?
Mike L.
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