Re: [Paddlewise] Yum Yum Yellow

> From: "Natalie Wiest" <wiestn_at_tamug.tamu.edu>

Thanks, Natalie.  This is much better than the "I read something from
somewhere that said something or other" :-)

<snip>

> In H. David Baldridge's Shark Attack (Drake House/Hallux, Inc., 1974) page 48,
<snip> 
> 
> Dr. Baldridge also discusses the work of Dr. Scott Johnson of the Navy and
> Ernest McFadden of the FAA, and their observation of colors and shark attacks
> in a controlled experiment in 1971.  
<snip>
> Another book of the same era, The Book of Sharks by Richard Ellis (Grosset and
> Dunlap, 1975), page 206, the author states "Color does play a role in the
> study of shark repellents".  He also refers to Dr. Johnson's work as above,
> and refers to a "Shark Screen" that Dr. Johnson patented to protect its wearer
> by using a plastic bag that interferes with the olfactory and visual senses
> the shark uses to select its prey/meal.

For those that do not know, Richard Ellis is a marine artists that has
contributed some very wonderful drawings and paintings in collaboration
with other authors on books about sharks and other marine species.

In the last 25 years, a great deal more has been learned about sharks,
more studies conducted.  The quote I referred to from Sharks, Silent Hunters
of the Deep "No conclusive experiemental evidence that sharks respond
to particular colours" was printed in 1995.  One of the contributors of
that book, Dr. Perry Gilbert, is a senior scientist at Mote Marine 
Laboratory and helped to establish the Shark Attack Panel of the American
Institute of Biological Sciences, funded by the US Navy and chaired that
panel for several years, see the above book, pg 72.  I can't say
this quote is directly from him but it was Dr. Gilbert and his team of
research scientists that disproved the "bubble curtain" theory, a widely
publicised supposed system for repelling sharks, see Sharks, Silent
Hunters of the Deep, 1995, p 137.

I'm trying to hunt down more specific information and recent studies
on testing various colors with sharks.  I will let you know what I find out.

> So, the YUM YUM YELLOW isn't just an urban legend or sea yarn - I'll 
> leave the rest up to your individual interpretation. 

The original quote was 

    > Around here (Southern CA) we refer to that color as Yum Yum Yellow. 
    > It seems that someone did a study concerning what color kayaks were 
    > preferred by sharks and the two most popular colors for attacks 
    > were yellow and then white. 

To which I replied that this was an urban legend (hogwash, basically).

I do not know of any study conducted as described above, no one can name 
such a study, yet the rumor persists.  I consider it an urban legend.

The fact is, sharks don't prefer kayaks at all in any color or we would
be hearing about a lot more attacks than the handful that now exist
(especially with the explosion in popularity of the sport).  And of those, 
I do not recall yellow as "the color of choice."  Not by a long shot.

The harm in perpetuating such rumors is that some folks really *will* 
avoid a color that is a good safety color because of this "study" that
someone heard about.  Also, it contributes to the myth that sharks are 
these indiscriminate eating machines that need to be destroyed (we actually 
had someone post that the only good shark was a dead shark).  Some of the
top predators are on endangered species list.  Our oceans need them a
lot more than it needs kayakers.

Cheers,

Jackie
http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/sharks.html
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