Marine Life

Yeah, Lee, with the landlord foreclosing for rent due, a shark wire would suddenly seem like a screaming deal, at any price!
I've been torturing myself watching GW vids on U-tube. The one where two GWs close in on an Aussie surfer and one chomps his arm is eye-opening, in that it shows two sharks working as a pack.
Another one shows some "shark researcher" paddling a SUP right over a large one that is swimming around him, eyeing him. The shark researcher apparently feels he "knows" enough about GW behavior to believe he is safe. My belief is that it was only "the luck of fools" that saved him. I consider all major predators to be "individuals," and with my luck, I probably will meet up with the crazy ones.

I believe that he was saved by the fact that the shark didn't see him as food. Very very few people are eaten by sharks. Very few are mistaken as food by sharks. While being mistaken as food and getting test bit by a curious shark is still life threatening I personally feel it is so minimal of a possibility that I don't even think about it.
Though I am sure those that have close encounters may feel differently.

The environment is a much bigger threat than the animals that live in it.

Stellar Sea Lions get huge.  They scare me.

-Allen

+1...Simpson Reef is good for the top of the chain, number one stellars in a group. Just unreal how big these monsters are and for the most part fearless. I always steer clear of them!

++1  These guys are one of the biggest(both literally and figuratively  ) reasons I am such a big advocate for not dragging fish in the water to keep them cool.

There are only a few things I "keep and eye out for" when fishing offshore:  The wind,  the Landlord (added that one last July and Stellar Sea lions. 

I'll put it bluntly, IMO only fools drag fish.

I believe that he was saved by the fact that the shark didn't see him as food. Very very few people are eaten by sharks. Very few are mistaken as food by sharks. While being mistaken as food and getting test bit by a curious shark is still life threatening I personally feel it is so minimal of a possibility that I don't even think about it.

...some researchers have hypothesized that the reason the proportion of fatalities is low is not because sharks do not like human flesh, but because humans are often able to escape after the first bite. In the 1980s John McCosker noted that divers who dove solo and were attacked by great whites were generally at least partially consumed, while divers who followed the buddy system were generally rescued by their buddy. Tricas and McCosker suggest that a standard pattern for great whites is to make an initial devastating attack, and then wait for the prey to weaken before consuming the wounded animal. Humans' ability to move out of reach with the help of others, thus foiling the attack, is unusual for a great white's prey.

-Tricas, T.C.; John McCosker (1984). "Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences". Predatory behavior of the white shark, Carcharodon carcharias, and notes on its biology 43 (14): 221–238.

But I agree, The possibility is extremely low, and the environment itself is more hostile.

I'm sorry if a shark wants to eat you it is going to. Have you seen vid of them breaching after seals? They are far more suited at killing things in the ocean than we are of escaping an apex predator in the water.

Fungunnin, please note that I believe that most major predators, including GWS are to be regarded as individuals, and that is is quite possible that they may act outside of what is believed to be their normal behavior patterns. I am worried about that small percentage. Not the other 90% or 99%. Maybe the one that's eyeing me has particularly poor vision.

This individuality among predators is especially true of Grizzly Bears, and even Black Bears. One would likely be in more danger fishing during the peak of the salmon runs on a river in Alaska, but at least you can see the bears. GWS will sneak up unseen.

Of course the food supply is coming back big time, and with that, the population of GWS along the Pacific Coast has been expanding, or recovering. I forgot where I read it, but shark researchers say that the GWS population has been increasing recently.

Another thing is that almost no-one has been fishing off the tip of the South Jetty in a yak until very recently, and so far, that's been very few yak anglers.  I saw the mounted 17 footer that was hauled in from the Grays Harbor entrance in a commercial fisherman's net years ago (1969), and, from a surfer's point of view, it was terrifying to behold.  Below is an old pic of it. The mount was done in "attack mode" with the mouth wide open for effect.

Yeah, Lee, with the landlord foreclosing for rent due, a shark wire would suddenly seem like a screaming deal, at any price!
I've been torturing myself watching GW vids on U-tube. The one where two GWs close in on an Aussie surfer and one chomps his arm is eye-opening, in that it shows two sharks working as a pack.
Another one shows some "shark researcher" paddling a SUP right over a large one that is swimming around him, eyeing him. The shark researcher apparently feels he "knows" enough about GW behavior to believe he is safe. My belief is that it was only "the luck of fools" that saved him. I consider all major predators to be "individuals," and with my luck, I probably will meet up with the crazy ones.

I believe that he was saved by the fact that the shark didn't see him as food. Very very few people are eaten by sharks. Very few are mistaken as food by sharks. While being mistaken as food and getting test bit by a curious shark is still life threatening I personally feel it is so minimal of a possibility that I don't even think about it.
Though I am sure those that have close encounters may feel differently.

The environment is a much bigger threat than the animals that live in it.

I'm sorry if a shark wants to eat you it is going to. Have you seen vid of them breaching after seals? They are far more suited at killing things in the ocean than we are of escaping an apex predator in the water.

Yeah, those videos are pretty badass. 

But....

Since the year 1990 there have been a total of 139 unprovoked great white shark attacks, with 29 of these attacks being fatal.

http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/sharks/White/whitesharkdecade.html

That's an 80% failure rate for the apex predator

Brings two options up:  Either A, the theory is correct, and sharks GENERALLY attack, let the target bleed out, and then eat them.  Or B, They tasted the humans and then decided they didn't want to eat them (maybe it was all the preservatives?)

But either way, those sharks did want to eat them, and mostly didn't.

However, in the case of the videos you mention, they those seals are close to shore and could likely escape to dry land if left to the typical strike and bleed out method, so the sharks adapt to circumstance and chomp 'em.  I'm also guessing that behavior isn't common, since there isn't a whole lot of documentation of it happening except in South Africa.  Seems more like a local adaptation than the norm.

You're argument is still true though.  If one of those is determined to eat you, they will.  Personally, I'm thinking I just won't fish alone, since solo seems to = dead.

Our end will all come eventually and if I spent my waking hours worrying about the rouge 1% of GWS then I would not be enjoying the moment. Go out and go fishing ... enjoy your life and if you get eaten by a GWS then your family will have a great story to tell.
Mean while far more American die at the hands of doctors every year than in the jaws of a shark. I'll stick to the ocean in my little chunk of plastic and avoid hospitals.

Our end will all come eventually and if I spent my waking hours worrying about the rouge 1% of GWS then I would not be enjoying the moment. Go out and go fishing ... enjoy your life and if you get eaten by a GWS then your family will have a great story to tell.
Mean while far more American die at the hands of doctors every year than in the jaws of a shark. I'll stick to the ocean in my little chunk of plastic and avoid hospitals.

While I agree with your philosophy, I personally believe that shark to kayak interactions pose a viable threat in our waters (open ocean coastline of Oregon/Washington) that needs to be taken seriously.  Are they trying to eat/taste/play with us?  I could care less, but after personally  having an encounter with a large shark last summer and the three reported encounters in less than a week on the Oregon coast last fall you can't tell me they are not out there in numbers large enough to warrant proactive measures. 

Our end will all come eventually and if I spent my waking hours worrying about the rouge 1% of GWS then I would not be enjoying the moment. Go out and go fishing ... enjoy your life and if you get eaten by a GWS then your family will have a great story to tell.
Mean while far more American die at the hands of doctors every year than in the jaws of a shark. I'll stick to the ocean in my little chunk of plastic and avoid hospitals.

+1 on that.

I wanna go out like I came in, naked and screaming.  I just hope the shark gives me enough time to strip down.

Since the year 1990 there have been a total of 139 unprovoked great white shark attacks, with 29 of these attacks being fatal.

http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/sharks/White/whitesharkdecade.html

This has been an interesting discussion.  However, two questions that have not been answered, but came to mind as I read Lee's quote are:

Who the F provokes a shark attack?  AND: Were those stats left out because they were all fatal and did not apply to the study?

I would guess provoked attacks cover things like retards that swim with them and such. 

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk

Who the F provokes a shark attack? 

Probably Timothy Treadwell's cousin.

Last time I dragged fish in the water was a nice speckled trout in the Gulf off Grande Isle, LA. It was tied around my waist when surf fishing. When I left the water there was a huge chunk missing from his tai, which I assumed was a 'cuda. Last time I ever surf fished, about 50 years ago.

Ok, I'll bite.....(pun intended),

Now, being new around here I'll also tread lightly (and yet another pun ...)

I'm a salt newby BUT have decades of playing, stalking, shooting in the woods. With 6,000+ large kitties and 12,000+ black bears and lets not forget the new to Oregon wolves... Oh, and impaired drivers, teenagers with drivers licenses, and giant asteroids from space....a visit from the landlord is kinda relative in the grand scheme of probability and statistics