Darryn Stephen
August 2006
Something must be done!!! where do i sign! i am a sponger in durban, but will be moving to the cape soon and i am almost put off bodyboarding with the sounds of all these attacks, yes i know i am a baby, but i treasure my limbs!
Who would we take this petition to?
hey would you guys at sixty40 mind posting a petition for shark nets ( they will never allow shark culling) , this serously needs to be addressed.
Lakka
SAL
August 2006
I am not trying to be funny but what if we brought about a class action suit against the relevant authorities for reckless endangerment. the authorities know that there are rogue sharks in mass around the cape (false bay waters) but they are not prepared to do anything about it other than have a shark watch which is sometimes effective. The solution would be shark nets in the popular areas from Muizenberg to Fish Hoek. and again from Kommetjie to Noordhoek. If they can do 100's of km in Natal why cant they do about 50km stretch in Cape Town. How many injuries and young peoples live have to be compromised before they will stand up and take serious note? I would suggest a petition firstly, get a pro bono lawyer to take on the case (I know one who has a son who surfs and was with us on Sunday when the attack took place and who is fired up to do something)
August 2006
False bay is a dodgy place at the best of times...Jumping great whites, mirky waters, jumping great whites
, seals, jumping great whites
, more seals and more great whites
...I reeeelly wouldn't mind them culling these "rogue" ones, scary shit, I think they should just blow that lil island with all the seals to smitthereens and ofcourse there's that new colony near koeelbay which is really not cool... But it really isn't logical to give people access to such unprotected waters, it's like going for a 3hour walk in the kruger park!! Personally Noordhoek beach is the scariest thing I have ever seen, The Hoek is the only place on that stretch of beach that feels remotely safe...Viva La Survival!!
BB4life
August 2006
Eish guys, nets are only a dream in the bay. The sea floor does not allow for nets to be placed, so that idea is ruled out. And culling sharks is just not an option in my opinion.
I would rather see something more practical. I was skeeming those devices that are attached to a surfers leg and they repel sharks? Word is they might be able to be attached to bouys, so how about a petition then a fund to raise the cash to purchase these things?
The sharks are happy ('cos they're not gonna die) and the surfers are happy ('cos they won't get chowed either), its a win-win situation
Pearly
August 2006
Ian
August 2006
um... lets just say those shark repell thingies are "painfull" some surfer paddled out at K-bay once wearing one of those and every time he paddled past us and bummed us..it would shock us!!!
Also "they" dont want to put nets up because of the whales that cruise close to shore.....
SmTAugust 2006 Cold water and sharks, again, i'm stoked I live in Dbn!
On the shark net deal, they don't reach the sea-floor and they aren't even continous. They've been removing nets from Kzn's Coast for a while now because of all the other sea-life they kill. Another useless fact is apparently more sharks caught off KZN in the shark nets are actually caught going out!!!
This is the Natal Sharks Board site
http://www.shark.co.za/nets.htm
It gives a good indication of how they work
I'm all for shark nets, don't get me wrong, they should definitely put some up in CT, but for now i'm happy living in Durbs!
S.A.M.
August 2006
They say that statisticly, more people die from electric shocks from toasters every year, than from shark attacks. Im weiry about the sharks, but tomorrow i'm going to make my girlfriend make me breakfast and head down to kbay.
Just means i'm going to try and spend more of my surf time in the air...
KellyAugust 2006
www.iol.co.za wrote:
New safety measures mooted after shark attack
August 16 2006 at 12:46AM
The city of Cape Town will take new safety precautions after a shark attack on a 24-year-old lifeguard, a city councillor said on Tuesday.
Councillor Marian Niewoudt, mayoral committee member for planning and environment, said the city had been working with Marine and Coastal Management and other specialists since May on measures to curb shark attacks.
"This has resulted in a draft shark and coastal recreation safety strategy which will be tabled for approval by the planning and environment portfolio committee, early in September," she said.
Niewoudt said it was imperative to reassure the public that proper action was being taken to reduce shark attacks.
Meanwhile a shark-spotting programme at Fish Hoek and Muizenberg beaches has been an effective way of warning bathers of sharks, and closing beaches when required.
Gregg Oelofse, spokesperson for Cape Town's environmental resource management, said the public was under the impression that Great White shark attacks are due to cage diving. He said there was no evidence to link cage diving with attacks.
The city, however, has proposed that no additional cage diving permits for False Bay be issued.
The National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) has recommended that emergency kits be accessible at all coastal recreational spots and that officials be trained in the use of these kits.
"The city together with the NSRI and SA Lifesaving will hold regular simulation exercises," Niewoudt said.
Niewoudt extended the city's sympathy to Achmat Hassiem, the lifeguard who lost a foot in the shark attack on Sunday. - Sapa
Not sure about this though: "He said there was no evidence to link cage diving with attacks."
Do you really need to prove common sense?
In my opinion, this is the problem which Cape Town has created for itself by allowing these guys to operate - this practice surely creates familiarity with man, let alone associating a man in a cage with food by chumming the waters to attract the sharks. Removing this association/familiarity will not be easy.
As for nets - I don't rate them and I think they have been discounted in the Cape for many reasons. They are also a form of culling as they do reduce the shark population but it is indescriminate! Killing all manners of sea life. Once they're in, they're in and you'll stand a hope in hell of getting them removed while they just continue to kill your dolphins, whales, penguins, seals etc etc ... (well that's my opinion - give me sardine season all year ... no nets, discretionary bathing, loads of sea life around and the fact that it cooks during sardine season!!!)
Can WPBA not get into the loop on this issue with the City of Cape Town? Even if it is just to distribute news to its members - WPBA represents a large number of regular beach users in CT. Plus WPBA should get one of these shark attack kits and get someone trained up.
As for a petition - yes, we can run one but it appears that local government is already working with Marine and Coastal Management on a solution which would be my suggestion. I can't tell what the outcome looks like from this article but maybe wait 2/3 weeks to see - unless you have information which leads you to believe that they need a kick before the decision is made.
The recent attacks in CT need to be looked into but the solution should not kill sea life indescriminately - the shark tourism needs to be included in this research and if the correct solution is not found then you just allow more rogue sharks to be created and who is to say that the measures put in place will protect you against more and more rogue sharks. If we can find the cause then we will be safer in the waters.
SA Shark Attacks - source:
http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/sharks/st ... statsw.htm
98/99 were definitely out of the ordinary and I think 2006 might be another above average year but remember that the shark has a bad reputation and he is generally not the man eater which he is made out to be as apposed to those "killer" toasters which S.A.M. warns us about.
Finally, don't be stupid about where you surf ... if it is notorious for attacks then unless you're willing to risk it then go ride somewhere that is considered safer. This is nothing new - KZN has these shark hot spots and I know at least that guys generally keep away from them on the KZN South Coast ... it's just common sense.
Chinnychinchin
August 2006
Petitions don't work.......least of all email petitions, they're TOTALLY and UTTERLY USELESS.......I think the only reason the sharks are here and have been for thousands of years is the fact that there is a MASSIVE seal population in False Bay, that and warm water ect ect ect. The only way to reduce the number of sharks in the vicinity is to reduce the seal population or remove it entirely. Relocate the seal colony and the sharks will follow........simple. Also in the past fisherman have killed sharks (and seals), which I don't agree with......but if it were down to me or the anchovy breathed little rock rat it's no contest......but this has kept the populations down, to a degree, and most importantly away from humans. As they would associate fear with humans as opposed to food. But since this practice has been outlawed, hey guess what? the population has grown. Plus this shark cage diving mayhem has made sharks (and seals) gravitate TOWARD human activity and not away from it.
Like Awesomo3000 said, every time we hit the water it's like cruzing around the Kruger Park........I recon now with all the Cage Diving operators around it like limping around Kruger Park with a blood-soaked Zebra suit and a mince-meat hat on.......
scroffmeister
August 2006
Well I dont know to be honest, cull or not to cull. Having spent a large part of my life surfing in False Bay and very often surfing late afternoon sessions at Cemetries I dont think I once thought about the possibility of being attacked by a shark, however saying that I am now pretty happy that I live in the UK and surf in Devon and Cornwall, the only things I have to worry about are weaver fish and the pain you experiance if you stand on one.
If anything at least the lineup will be a little less crowded now. Personally its easy to say I would still go out and take my chances, but the reality of it is that I wouldnt, I would stop off watch the spot and move on, no surfing anymore for me next time I visit my parents in Lakeside.
Viva la boogie
Larry
August 2006
I am also from Lakeside (Zandvlei) area and have up to now not been too fussed with the likelihood of sharks in the surf because the stats have been low. Nowadays no-one can deny that there has been a proliferation of great whites in the False Bay coastline - speak to the folk who used to dive near seal island in the old days! The great white may be an endangered species in global terms but locally they are thriving as never before. Chumming and the abundant seal-life may be a part of this but experts suggest that the mainstay of a shark's diet is smaller fish and not seals. Ecologically line-fish are now seriously endangered, so anyone with serious concerns should bear this in mind.
Marthinus
August 2006
S.A.M. wrote:
They say that statisticly, more people die from electric shocks from toasters every year, than from shark attacks.
One can't compere deaths from shark attacks to deaths from a "electric shock from a toasters" simply because, there are millions of people around the world that use toasters everyday compared to a much fewer amount of people going into the sea....
So logicaly this would result in 'shocking toasters' having a higher fatality rate..
scroffmeister
August 2006
cull them all ( the toasters not the sharks )
JdV
August 2006
Okay I understand that nobody wants to get attacked by a shark,but for anyone to even suggest culling them is just a joke.A very serious joke that shows just how ignorant some people are.Like all the conservationist types,who are by the way people who actually know what they're talking about and not just voiceing their uninformed opinions,have said a thousand times before,this is the sharks territory.How arrogant can people be to think that they can go and wipeout creatures in their own habitat,because they are an inconvienience to them,we're encroaching on their space not the other way round.We don't go walking around in the Kruger Park because we know the risks,we choose to take these risks in the ocean because we enjoy what we do,does our recreation give us the excuse to take away something's life?
If for some reason a whole lot of people decided that walking around in the Kruger Park would be fun,and a few people got eaten along the way,would we consider killing all the dangerous animals in the Park?
As far as seals are concerned culling or removing them is also not an option and anyone who suggests such a thing is obviously stupid and has no idea of the ecological impact something like that would have on an area.You can't just play around with nature and the environmet,there will be consequences.
I'm not saying that the sharks should be given a free run to take a bite here and there,and we just have to put up with it,but this should be dealt with in other ways,not the JAWS histeria route which many people seem to be getting caught up in.I know that the Natal Sharks Board are experimenting with many different methods of preventing shark attacks,and these should surely be looked into.As far as culling goes I just can't say,I'm sure chumming near surfers,does contribute to it because it makes sense that if sharks are attracted into the area they'll probably stick around a bit afterwards,as far as them associating people with food goes,I think that we can't possibly know what a shark is thinking,and people who aren't experts and don't know what they are talking about shouldn't voice their misinformed, opinions on bulletin boards or T.V.
That's all I have to say for now,please reply with your thoughts,let's look for contructive,realistic solutions.Thank you for bothering to read this.
Dane
August 2006
Personally I don't think that statistics mean anything, there are so many saying about coconuts killing people more than sharks etc, but that doesnt mean anything and it's not the point in our situation. The sharks are always going to be there and thats a known fact, we are just going to have to think of something to stop them coming within reach of the surfers...to be honest dangers is a very, very shallow reef and just after the reef towards sea is a deeper water channel and the reef is literelly like 60m from the beach, now that to me is scary.
The muizenberg thing is also a concern due to seal island right there, but i suppose surfing nowadays is just like gambling, theres always new things to learn and you get a pleasure from it, but you just never know when you going to be lucky or not.
Just a little point of view from me...
Cheerio,
Dane
August 2006
o well....thats it....no more pissing in your suits in falsebay....what a sorry day....
ric_killers
August 2006
2 Attacks in a week
.... Thats damn scarry!! I'll still surf Dangers and Kalkies though. And hey, who knows, maybe we'll start to see less crowds on those sik days!?!?
hugh grant
August 2006
Look, we invading their homes and privacy!! No matter how much we would like to think so, its us who are actually the problem, If someone had to invade your home and privacy and it came across as threatening, what would you do.. My most sincere thoughts and best get well hopes to the poor soul that lost his foot, but I have lost about eight family and friends in car accidents, so does that mean we going to put roadblocks up every 100meters?? If we want to surf and put our lives in gods hands, then thats what we must do, put our lifes in gods hands!!! we all going to die anyway, lets not make the sharks life's diffucult by doing so. anyway, do you know how many dolphins porpoises and fish die in those nets? i dont know about you, but ill take my chances and atleast surf with the dolphins and sharks...
that NINJA kid
August 2006
Hear hear Hugh...
I know it's easy for me to say living in KZN where it's less likely to get snacked but there are hotspots here too and guys get chased out now and again, the only thing I'd like to add to Hugh's point is that you guys are suffering a lot due to chumming in my opinion, if all the reserves etc have DONT FEED THE MONKIES/BABOONS signs because it messes with the ecology and gets them aggressive towards us because they expect food and whatever else etc etc etc then surely someone needs to figure out that the johnnies are animals of instinct too and the same if not even remotely similar rules apply...
Spy Dude
August 2006
ahhh the ol shark debate, what a nice break from that lame momement mag debate.
Hows that pic of jared at razors.... mad.
Chinnychinchin
August 2006
"The Kruger National Park" is of course , duh?!, a NATIONAL PARK....I guess in our urban 'hoods' there are loads of dangerous, wild animals just cruzin around.....ja thats right, why in our back yards there must be like, what?, a labrador puppy, a hamster and a kitten? We can get all wholewheat and holistic and think we live in this shoowee-wow perfect world, but we don't. Humans and killers can't co-exist, no-one agrees with indiscriminate killing of animals......but wait a minute, lots of people are very keen on refering to "The Natal Sharks Board", after-all they are "the experts", but hang-on I thought they were a friggin joke? how many thousands....yes thousands, of creatures, dolphins, porpoises, fish, sharks, turtles....hell anything that can get stuck.....have suffocated to death in those nets......but wait a second, most people don't even think twice about jumping off the North Beach pier........why?.......maybe it's because there are no seals or tastey shark food or could it be no-one is chumming off New Pier?!....bulldust, everythings dead or been chased away........there is such a HUGE double-standard here........
Not one of us out there can honestly say if the chips were down, and a shark (lion...whatever) was about to rip you to pieces, maim you for life or eat you alive, and you had a friggin sawn-off shot-gun, RPG, hand-granade, whatever, that you would just take a deep breath and leave it alone, hoping it will just go away.....please, every single of us (except maybe few of you strange cats) would blow it's head clean off......
If Vetchies Pier in Durban suddenly had a seal population living on it and people started getting eaten by massive sharks, we'd all just leave them alone, and let the environment and nature take it's course....yeah right.....there'd be petitions, Mr. Price, Billabong, City Of Durbs, whoever, even ol Shabier Shakes, would get "The Natal Sharks Board" experts on the case.....maybe they could put down some more nets and see what they could catch.....we've all been to the school outings to "The Sharks Board" and seen a gigantic shark cut open....I honestly thought that beast died of old age and just washed up at Umchlanga.......ha ha ha
Who knows what the solution is.........? Lets stop talking and just go surfing........except in False Bay......
Spy Dude
August 2006
chinny my bru, you obviously have never clocked time in kommetjie, or been attacked by a baboon, in an urban area, like constantia or tokai, i can tell you this, those things are moerse wild, with sommer skerp tanne and all.... but we gave the buggers food and the became agro, then we place fines to those who feed them.
Here is the solution, its simple actually.
1) Outlaw cage diving and send both tourists and operators who do it to Pollsmore for a month sothat they can get their sphincters stretched a wee bit by the 26's.
2) Cull a few of the bugger, i am not talking the wholesale slaughter of the GW in false bay, but a few of them, especially the 3 bugggers that cruise the island to fish hoek stretch and back....
3) Our Kuk government should fund the shark spotters, shit we pay enough tax in this flippin country, but our kuk racist government is more concerend with garlic and potatoes than the welfare of its people, oh and shopping trips to dubai, and expensive lawyers for zuma, and taking bribes and building hovercrafts that only they will be able to afford, and buying houses in Spain... oh who am i kidding Mbeki and his boys only care about themselfs, who gives a shit about some surfers who get chomped.....
brandon.k
August 2006
wow, everyone seems to be getting quite emotional about this shark thing hey?! i dont care what happens but something must be done - i think we should cull the chumming dudes, who's with me? i hate work
Chinnychinchin
August 2006
HA HA HA HA HA Lets go postal and cull the chumming dudes......ha ha ha
Funny enough though, the husband of one of the ladies I work with has been trying to get a Cage Diving Operators Liscense....for False Bay. He used to work for the Provincial Fisheries Department and was one of the ou's that did studies of the Great White.....wierd hey?!
Talking of liscenses and the kak Gov. did you know that the new drivers liscense card scheme contract was worth over 600 million ront and is owned by 3 share holders.....1. an empowerment co part owned by none other than MAJOR crookster Shabier Shake.....2. the Donell weapons manufacturer.....3. the French arms company that was involved in the whole arms scam.........plus somewhere in all this our Gov. gave all this fraud the OK......
I say lets round up all the crooksters, give them mince-meat hats and bacon y-fronts....and every time K-Bay is going nuts, lure the jonnies away using live-bait......ha ha ha
jbs
August 2006
Quote:
mince-meat hats and bacon y-fronts
Peter Lambert
August 2006
Hi guys, here is just a quick mail to tell you how to avoid being eaten by Great Whitey's... this has served me well in my 18 year bodyboarding career.
1. If you hear the theme music paying from the movie Jaws... don't wait for that elusive big set, paddle straight in... you will notice in all the movies, its always that one guy who refuses to go in when the music is playing who gets chomped!
2. Never surf alone.... always make sure that you surf with someone who is a significantly weaker swimmer than you... that way if you both spot a Johnnie, you won't have to outswim, outwit, ouplay the shark, you will only have to swim faster than your buddy.
2b. If you cannot find a buddy who is a much weaker swimmer than you to be your designated decoy, you will need to resort to something Charles Darwin invented... this is called "natural selection" .... what you want is for the shark to "naturally select" someone other than you to be his lunch. I have found that soaking a mates suit in spur secret sauce overnight makes him pretty irresistible!
happy surfing!!!!!
Chinnychinchin
August 2006
Mr Lambert you are a genius of note.......ha ha ha
The solution to all our shark drama.......we've all made water bombs, so now lets make Spur secret sauce/chum bombs.....if you're getting circled by a johnny....whip out the chum-sauce bomb and throw it a distance from you to lure the shark away while you scratch for your life!!!! Or the chum-bomb is a device that makes a big noise and has propellers....you activate it and it "swims" off like a wounded "thing" attracting the beast away from you so you can escape......or better yet throw it at anyone thats been dropping in.......then beat a hasty retreat to the beach!!!!! ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
::VIS::
August 2006
Awesome ek stem saam met jou. Seal island is like Mcdonalds for the sharks.
I think they should blow that place up. When the sharks don't get a bite there they venture out to muizenberg. Some safety precautions must be put in place. I know there is a big argument about the nets, but u cant put a price on having peace of mind when u out there ripping it. The nets I think are the best solution......otherwise we blow that shithole
cherrie
September 2006
and more people die from eating shark meat than being eaten by sharks... Maybe if some invents like a spray or something that gives of a smell to repel coz sharks can mos smell very far. or we can each have our own private scuba diver with you, so he or she can warn you hehe
Peter Lambert
January 2007
Ahoy boys! It seems that its not only trains that have sirens, but shark spotters as well. We where at kalk bay on Saturday... and the waves, despite being onshore where pretty good. It was my second session of the day there, and I had been out for about 2 hrs. There where about 8 guys in the water. Next thing you know a train goes past and we hear this siren. No one pays any attention. Cause the trains have sirens. A coupe of sets roll through. The siren continues.. No one looks up. After about 5 minutes... I look to shore and there are a lot of people standing against the fence in the parking lot waving.... "um guys... what's that siren noise?" EVERYONE TURNS AROUND and realises EXACTLY what that bloody irritating noise means that we have been ignoring for the last while. I think about staying in and getting uncrowded kalk bay to myself... then I think about having no legs for the rest of my life... logic prevails... Everyone shares 2 waves going in. At around that time Mark Whitelaw who has been surfing the wedge on the other side of the sees the Johnny... he says it had a fin of about 0.8m and that it was swimming away from him, straight towards the peak at kalk bay. We all get out, and learn that the spotter above the reef on boy's drive had spotted a great white cruising to the reef. Within 15 minutes the spotters give the all clear and most of the guys paddle back out. Phew!!!
Muggy Whitelaw
January 2007
ya that thing was so close to the peak it was a joke!
Kalk bay got a bit crowded so i decided to surf the wedge and try get some nice air. so as i was paddling i went over a deep section and decided to swim close to shore incase there was a shark...which there was. i was surfing wedge for about 2 mins when i see every one on the beach going mental and that everyone surfing kalk bay had gone in. as i look at the channel i saw "someone" or a dark object duckdiving under the wave or kind of going under a swell. next thing i see this big black object come out from the back of the swell with it's dorsal fin( aprox. 1m) out of the water. i quickly swim in past the brass bell where every1 was watching. i cant believe no one else saw that it was so close.
scary stuff
ChilternburtJanuary 2007hmm this whole shark thing scares me ... but like many people who have already said, they were there 1st and its there home we swim in, but anyone who has lived in the UK recently and seen some of the Shark Week Documentaries like Air Jaws of SA really makes think that Cage Diving and the like should be banned!!
ElementreeJanuary 2007OOOOO....that kinda thing gives me shivers...
DuBBy
February 2007
scary stuff.... i didnt know sharks is that big problem with bodyboarders and surfers.. i wana get into it now... neva done it.. hehe...
so its a good sport?? well except for the sharks?
and yes the its the home ofda sharks and were or you guys r invading
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