Re: [Paddlewise] Sharks

Peter Treby <ptreby_at_ozemail.com.au> wrote:
>I was wondering if short boats and surfboards are more easily mistaken 
>for seals by Whiteys than longer boats. 

Itb^Ys an anecdote, not data, so donb^Yt draw any conclusions:

In 1989 I was paddling near the southern end of the Queen Charlotte Islands in my plastic Puffin touring kayak b^S bright orange. (I've read that sharks are attracted to bright colours. A diver in the Galapagos Islands once had a shark take a test run at his bright yellow air tank that knocked the diver several meters through the water and presumably cost the shark a few teeth b^S no biggie, since they're constantly growing new ones.)

Anyway, I glance off to my port side to see a fin slicing towards me in fine Hollywood movie style. I'm just getting to the end of the "It can't be b^S it is b^S I should be scared!" thought process when the shark gets to within about fifteen feet, apparently sees the boat is pretty big, and veers off at a 45 degree angle. 

I later talked to some local fishermen who told me that based on the apparent size (10-12 feet), location, and behaviour, it was a salmon shark. 
Thinking back, my guess is that that my paddle strokes sounded like a fish in distress at the surface (sick fish sometimes lose control of their swim bladders and "fall" to the surface, where they thrash about as they die.) Sharks are attracted to any such irregular noise; when I've dived with them, we were taught to swim rhythmically and regularly. That day was unusually calm, so the sound of my strokes would not have been lost against the background of surface noise as it ordinarily would have been.
 
I think one thing that saved me from a possible test bite (sharks feel with their mouths) was the excellent visibility, far from shore on a calm day. Many of the attacks on humans I've read about happen in the surf zone. In the turbulent bubbly water, the shark may sense motion without being able to see what caused it, and seems to take a bite experimentally on the off chance it's a seal or something else yummy.

So the apparently higher incidence of attacks on surf boaters and surf boarders may have more to do with where they spend most of their time compared to the typical touring boater than with their size and shape.

Cheers,

Philip
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