From: "M. Wagenbach" <wagen_at_u.washington.edu> > Yikes!!! I'm glad I didn't read that before going to Pacific Beach to surf > yesterday! > > I did think briefly about sharks, but even small surf is enough to fully > occupy my attention, so that lasted only until I got back into the crests. > I did see three small, brown porpoises, which would have been cause for > alarm if I'd read that post earlier! > > Are white sharks resident in Washington/BC waters? > > Mike Wagenbach Hi Mike, Yup, they are there. But chance of attack is so slim it is almost nonexistent. Check out http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/sharks.html for more info on sharks and links to shark sites. Dr. Erich Ritter, Senior Scientist of the Green Marine Institute gave permission to post his response to Dr. Cherry's encounter. I have included it below and hope it helps. Other than he thinks I'm a guy :-) I found it very interesting and informative. A couple of other questions he answered in another message that are not included in the message below are: (1) A lot of continual noise may attract sharks as they are very curious and arythmical frequencies travel through the water keeping them interested (2) Do not string dead fish alongside a kayak. That's potential food for sharks. (3) Zebra stripes painted on the bottom of the kayak won't make any difference (I asked because of the note made by the couple conducting their "Transglobal Sea Kayak Expedition"). I liked his wording... "It's like whisteling in the dark. If you believe in it, go for, but truth is, these animals are way too smart for anything like that..." (more from Dr. Ritter below) Cheers, Jackie ----- Begin Included Message ----- Date: Sun, 22 Aug 1999 08:21:45 -0500 Subject: Your encounter From: "Erich K. Ritter" <eritter_at_greenmarine.com> To: doccherry_at_home.com CC: jackie_at_intelenet.net Dear Dr. Cherry, Mr. J. Fenton forwarded your story to me. I am a shark behaviorist (specialised in shark-human encounters) and investigate shark attacks for the Global Shark Attack File... I had numerous encounters with white sharks, and your very detailled description let me "see" the whole encounter. It was a "curiosity approach" of the shark - you were never in danger. A sudden move (on your side) would most like have triggered a "take off" of the animal. White sharks are very curious, and inquisitive... two things you mentioned were important: its very slow speed, and the circles. Whites do prefer to swim right under the surface when "exploring"... I know the feeling very well when one of these submarines show up, very intimidating but always remember: sharks do not know what a human being is, and have no concept for anything we built, so whenever a super predator shows up he is most likely there to investigate. Unfortunately there is too much misinformation out there about white sharks and why they bite surfers etc. and it is this hype that prevented that you could have enjoyed your encounter. If you happen to be circled again, enjoy it. And please do not consider hitting the animal with anything - THIS may trigger the opposite reaction one may hope to accomplish. Sincerely, EK Ritter ************************************************************** Erich K. Ritter, Ph.D. Senior Scientist, GREEN MARINE Institute Email: eritter_at_greenmarine.com GREEN MARINE 11517 S.W. 64th Street #A Miami, FL 33173, USA Phone: 305 275 0030, Fax: 305 275 7088 Email: info_at_greenmarine.com Web site: www.greenmarine.com GREEN MARINE is a trademark of Global Green Marine Inc. ***************************************************************** ----- End Included Message ----- *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Mon Aug 23 1999 - 19:07:50 PDT
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