Southern California has a "mega problem!"
It is almost summertime in southern California and you know what that means? Norm Reeves Honda Superstore Sizzling Sale! But you know what else it means? Old Navy Crazy Capri Days! But do you know what else it means? Sharks!
This genteel region used to be immune to those angry creatures but not anymore. Last summer was the sharkiest on record and this looks set to surpass. What are the authorities doing about it? Not enough, according to Western Australia’s favorite native son Ian Cairns. The very famous Bronzed Aussie and founder of professional surfing has lived in Laguna Beach for many years now and believes the authorities have a “mega problem” on their hands. But let us turn to a New Zealand publication for more!
“I’ve surfed in sharky areas my whole life, I actually love that feeling of going into the wilderness where it’s dangerous. I just don’t want my kids to get eaten,” says the father of four, who has seen sharks while out surfing and stand-up paddleboarding with his children on three occasions recently.
There are signs that concern is growing among residents too. Information sessions are being organised and lifeguards have started to run “shark watch” webpages and utilise offshore beacons that ping when one of a small handful of tagged sharks swims by (although downloading the beacons’ data can take weeks).
But, while local and state governments in WA and NSW swiftly rolled out drumlines, shark nets, drones and helicopter patrols, Californian authorities have shown less enthusiasm.
At a shark information session in November run by California’s Ocean Protection Council, Cairns says not one bureaucrat spoke about the possibility of people dying.
“These guys don’t want to admit they’ve got a mega problem,” he says, adding that it’s not only “bureaucratic inertia”. Even his wife, a former pro surfer, refuses to admit that sharks are becoming an issue, he jokes.
Chris Lowe, director of the Shark Lab at California State University in Long Beach, says he is not convinced the danger is as high as Cairns suggests.
He says the shark population has exploded in southern California due to decades of environmental protections and, possibly, increasing water temperatures. Last year he had so many shark sightings that he ran out of tags (and money) to monitor them.
But, unlike in Australia, sightings are not translating into increased attacks.
Hotspots emerging in southern California are actually nurseries for juvenile sharks; the younger animals are possibly attracted to the safety of the coastline’s shallow, warm waters with abundant sting rays.
The adult sharks, which pose more of a threat to humans, do not seem to hang around, instead leaving for far-off feeding sites and seal rookeries, Lowe says.
Even if human injuries started to increase, he thinks Californians would baulk at anti-shark measures.
“I just can’t see California doing the same as … Australia. California is a progressive state, we’re very ecologically conscious.”
So. Are California’s “progressive” animal friendly policies going to lead to many surfer deaths this summer or are the younger sharks just wanting some warm water fun like everyone else? I wonder how many hits it would take to turn the area blood thirsty with many fisherman killing every shark from here to Catalina?
3?
10?
What’s the over/under?
Is he wearing a life vest under that rashguard?
if juvenile sharks are here to eat sting rays, i say bienvenidos amigos. hate those little bottom feeding bastards.
Aw come on Kanga. We didn’t relocate to your home country and start whining like a Brazilian surf pro about sharks (actually, the Aussie’s enforce their immigration law, so we can’t). “Oh, my kids will get eaten”, really? “These guys got a mega problem?”.
The bigger problem is allowing whiny expats to cry & complain about the (many, but tolerable) defects of our American/Californian leaders. Hell, if ya don’t like it Kanga, then pack yer bags and head on back.
And take yer child-bride with ya (yes, we know the story, we remember).
“I just can’t see California doing the same as … Australia. California is a progressive state, we’re very ecologically conscious.” Says the cunts that have a nuclear power plant on the beach!
That cunt would be scared of a prawn.
He’d love them.
Straight to the bar.
I was all for this, and then I realized we’d have to read words written by Joel Tudor.
Maybe Ian is spotting so many sharks because he has the body of a seal.
Joking aside, Ian on a Chinese SUP is about as relevant to modern surfing as a boogie board.
Sharks, pools, rimming, yes. There’s more to life?
Weed.
Poor Ian, can’t get to his feet on a surfboard so he is relegated to Suping dog patch with the rest of the Kooks. Yes we have more juvenile white sharks than in previous years but how do you suddenly have a mega problem Ian? He is only interested in selling his latest scam Shark warning buoy net work and his autobiographical book . Nobody cares Ian. This is the same guy that told Brad Gerlach he had no Future in competitive surfing and Christian Fletcher that doing airs was never going anywhere. Total Blowhard…
I mean it’s like being a starving peasant and watching kanga eat an entire turkey, feathers and all (I’m in wave starved Florida and can only surf when the perfect mix of Norco, weed and anger allow me too)
That may be true but he definitely is a hard Cunt.
Stood up to da hui in Hawaii,and blew everyone out of the water at 12- 15 ft sunset
yeah he is a tuff old mongrel , but its all about him , he did surf great , but was not close to being the greatest .
He stood up to the Hui and him and his kids still can’t go to Hawaii, Rabbit asked Eddie last tear if he could surf with his son in Hawaii ,NO , since Bustin’ down the door II , and still no apology to the Hawaiians , reap the seeds you sow!
So yeah he’s selling again , and so out come the Shark stories , wavepools , books etc….
Has anyone thought that maybe the last 3-4 decades there was just many sharks and now it’s getting back to Normal …..as for his kids , North shore or juveniles in Cal?
Agreed it is getting back to historical levels for normal white shark populations in So Cal. We don’t need Ian sounding the alarm based on his on opinions motivated by greed.
Ah Greed is a powerful motivation , and for someone born and bred in WA , worrying about his kids, haha, its a bit like saying Trump , he’s worried about his kids not being to become, stable genius billionaires like him!
Check out surfing down south a nice little story explains how Kanga fucked over Blaxwell surfboards and sent them down the gurgler.
Hahahah, exactly Maurice. If Ian stood up to the Hui, why is there a generational Cairns ban??
he didn’t stand up to the Hui , he actually was a witness against Eddie R , and also the whole BS,” Bustin down the door” 1& 2 , plus Dane Kealoha’s career ending BS, that Ian actually engineered , which was basically Fuck the Hawaiians , so there has been bad blood since then and no respect …….so Rabbit and Jagger and Ian and his kids….consequences for bad behaviour!
Amazing that he could be so culturally ignorant with Hawaii being the birthplace of surfing to actually show up with the Bronzed Aussie BS and think they owned the place . What an arrogant prick. Let your surfing do the talking and no issues with the locals wherever one travels.
Maurice, with respect, at least you sign your posts with your real name. Ian didn’t “actually engineer” Dane’s early retirement from the world tour. That came about as a result of some rash decisions and poorly thought-out actions and reactions from several of the main players back then. There is a huge amount of detail involved which i delve into with Ian’s book. I have researched this sad chapter of pro surfing from all angles and have a lot of comments from those on either side. The bottom line is that Dane still could have surfed on the world tour, if only he paid a small fine like Michael Ho did. As for being banned from Hawaii, Ian has returned there many times despite any such warnings. Re the sharks, yeah, they are returning to previous numbers, and some. Quite revealing that of the 240 or so of sharks caught, tagged and released from “clever” drum lines on the east coast of Oz recently, that more than 90 per cent of them are great whites. Hmm…
Who, specifically, issued the fine?
The ASP Board issued the fine. Dane, Bobby and Michael had until the start of the tour the following year (1984 Stubbies at Burleigh) to pay the fine. Michael and Dane competed at that Stubbies event. Michael paid his fine. Dane didn’t.
MICHAEL HO – It was bad enough when the tour changed to finish in Australia. That caused some anger in Hawaii. The ban made it worse. Ian was a target again, because he was the new leader and, you know, he’s a very outspoken guy. As far as I was concerned, it was something between the two associations they had to sort out. My sponsor wanted me to compete in the Pipe Masters that year because it was their event. I was the defending champion. I had no choice really. As Hawaiian competitors we hoped it would all blow over by the time the events were done with. Dane Kealoha, Hans Hedemann, and I showed up in Australia the next year to compete. Dane and I had to pay a penalty. My sponsor paid my fine and I was reinstated. But Dane’s sponsor didn’t pay his. He lost his seeding and was very bitter. He was sponsored by Town & Country. I was baffled they didn’t pay his fine.
SHAUN TOMSON – All of us were willing to forgive Dane, Michael, and Bobby, absolutely and unequivocally. But they had crossed the line. They won a pile of money competing in those Hawaiian events that year. There had to be a penalty. All they had to do was give a piece of their winnings back. It was like, okay guys, there’s going to be a little slap on your wrist, a bit of a tickle, a small percentage from what you earned in Hawaii that season. Give it back to the ASP by way of a penalty, pay your membership and you will be in the good books competing with us on tour again. Dane lost a possible world title and destroyed his career by not paying that fine. It was very sad.
Reason for the initial fine Bobby, Dane, and Micheal?
In short, when Ian Cairns formed the ASP he had Fred Hemmings’ Hawaiian events all locked and loaded for the new-look world tour. Fred pulled his events from the new ASP tour when he realized Hawaii was no longer going to finish the year. It was a big stand-off for awhile then between two of pro surfing’s most bull-headed leaders. In response to Fred pulling his comps from the tour 13 of the top 16 boycotted the Hawaiian events. This they did in support of Ian and the new ASP, not because Ian told them too, though of course he would be blamed for it. Dane, Bobby Owens and Michael Ho crossed the picket line, so to speak, and surfed in the Hawaiian events that year. Of course, they were always going to do that and support Hawaii. Bobby Owens tried to get the Hawaiian events re-sanctioned. The ASP stripped the Hawaiian surfers of their ratings points. Things eventually cooled down after the Hawaiian events that season and Ian agreed with the ASP Board that the Hawaiian surfers be reinstated to the ASP, if they paid a fine. Michael paid. Dane and Bobby didn’t. The only real good thing that came out of this sad affair was the formation of the Triple Crown. Lot more detail provided in Volume 2 of Kanga. Cheers.
Love that Shaun Tomson quote , that they had crossed the line , by surfing in their own events , 1 mth after the last ASP event had been run , according to the rules it should have been OK , T&C didn’t pay the fine , as it was morally wrong to do so…..and Dear Shaun , Bustin down the door was a disgrace BDTD II was just a plain insult!
Wayne , of the sharks caught on the drum lines set of the southwest coast the highest recorded percentage have been recorded as Tigers. The whites are following the Austrlian Salmon and Indian Ocean Humpback migration to the Exmouth Gulf , does this mean both yourself and Ian propose setting drum lines along the some 3 thousand kilometers of WA coastline or do you only really care about the little spots you like to have a paddle in.
When the WA government trialed drum lines in the Perth and southwest area it was the wrong time of year for increased great white activity. Ian is not proposing setting drum lines anywhere at all. His proposal is to introduce a series of Smart Marine System sonar buoy alerting devices along popular beaches where there are lifeguards, or where surf comps, lifesaving carnivals etc are held. These devices alert lifeguards in real time of big sharks cruising nearby. Personally, I am all for any such technology that can help reduce the risk of shark attack, especially from a growing great white population which is increasingly becoming more evident. I also think that big great whites spotted near places where surfers and swimmers have been attacked should be fished. Reason being: There is enough evidence to suggest that great whites which attack humans still hang around the same area and could therefore be responsible for more than one attack. For example, when I witnessed my good friend Phil Horley get attacked by a great white at Cactus, South Oz, in 1977, the 5 meter shark that attacked Phil was caught on a drum line one week later, just 100 meters from where it attacked him. The jaws were cut out and the teeth marks and bite pattern perfectly matched the bite marks of Phil’s surfboard which had washed up onto the beach in three pieces the day after the attack.
Actually CSIRO ‘s study actually revels there is no real increase in GWS’s , and yeah there are spots where there seems to more big GWS’s , but us humans just seem to want to surf in their spots , and we pay the price .
was phil eaten or just attacked?
Nah, Phil didn’t die from shark attack. He copped a couple of hundred plus stitches on his leg and thigh from when it rammed him underneath with a classic GW full-speed stealth attack that launched him sky high. Four or five of its teeth must have nicked and sliced open his leg then, luckily just missing a main artery. Severed his leash too which was lucky too because the shark then went into a feeding frenzy with Phil’s surfboard. Phil swam to shore and Pete Backshaw got him at Inside Castles and proned in together. That shark was so big, while looking at it late arvo silhouetted through the take-off area at Outside Castles, its dark shape filled such a huge space, I actually thought it was a fucken Orca for awhile. As Phil was being rushed to hospital the shark was still fucking with his board, pushing it further out to sea and continuously ramming it. Maybe some foam and fiberglass got stuck in its jaws or something. Paul Witzig found the board next day washed up in three bits with bite marks all over it. A week later renown Port Lincoln shark fisherman Georgie Mastro caught the shark on a drum line just 100 meters from Outside Castles. At Point Sinclair jetty all of us surf crew and some Penong town folk gathered for a big barbecue (not shark!) to celebrate the shark being caught. Wild party as you can imagine. Georgie cut the jaws out and they matched perfectly with the bite marks on Phil’s surfboard. That’s why i think, when anybody is attacked or killed by shark, by great whites especially, that area should be targeted by a shark fisherman immediately after the attack, and for a week or so later, just as a matter of common sense and public safety. Certainly not advocating to cull sharks here, there and everywhere. Rather, to allow a licensed shark fishermen to try and catch the shark in the area of an attack, a shark that could be responsible more more attacks, and may have already attacked and eaten other humans too. Enough said. Cheers.
No but conversations with Dane went really bad , I was there with Dane when it all went down , did Kanga mention how he got a beating at Eukai , and Dane actually had to stop the Uncles from really doing damage.
As for Ian in Hawaii did he surf when he went over and where?
The Busting down the door episode was just plain gutless , and a lot of people suffered , I was there livin with Kanga/PT/Wayne Dean/Pawso at Sunset Point in 73 /74 , hope you touched on the racist side of Ian in the book and or the head but contest Kanga and I had at the Hard Rock café after the banquet…..
Hope your all good mate , love those GWS’s , stop sending them on holidays to the East Coast, hahaha
Yeah, Kanga’s beating on the North Shore is in the book, plus other confrontations too, along with his abrasive attitude you refer too which Wayne Lynch talks about after he confronted Ian about it while on the North Shore in 1975, just before everything blew up in 1976. You get a mention at PT’s Palace with Deany, Richo, and Jacky Eberle a few years before the boil over. As for Ian surfing in Hawaii, Quik Masters at Makaha early in the millennium was the last time he rode big waves in Hawaii. But it didn’t go well at all. In fact, Ian suffered one of his worst wipe-outs ever and had to be rescued my Melvin Pu’U. It put an end to his big wave riding altogether. But he was back in Hawaii a few more times after that with coaching duties. Not sure if he surfed the North Shore again though. As for the great whites, the new Stockholm Syndrome, ha! Stay well yourself too Maurice. Will see you sometime somewhere and enjoy a good old chat. Cheers.
When I was at Pt’s at Sunset Point winter 73-4 , there was Kanga and wife, PT and girl friend, Deany and , Pawso and I was behind the couch…..not sure if Richo or Jacky were there , but not at the house…..just sayin…and can you send some more whites over here , as would love to thin the crowds out, haha…
Thanks for the update. I wasn’t aware Pawso was there with you. A few different people passed through PT’s palace those seasons. Perhaps Richo and Jackie were there earlier or later. I will have to check with Richo.
Was that during the FBI indictment into extorsion and cocaine trafficking that was taken against FER , who was the at the time the public face of the Black shorts.
Careful some of us have long memories Brah!!
No doubt the bastard could charge big surf as a young man. But I agree with Maurice Cole. Far more talented guys . Ian is all about Ian and the almighty dollar. Greedy fucker in and out on the water. He deserves the Hawaii ban for life based on his actions in the 70s. Warrior culture who don’t tolerate know it all arrogant fools. Show respect get respect! End of story
Blew everyone out of the water at 12 to 15 foot Sunset? That’s the first time I’ve heard of somebody mistaking Ian Cairns for Barry Kanaiaupuni.
you are completely right , I actually watched BK with Kanga , Wayne Dean and Pawso surf sunset one nite , it was perfect 10′ , he rode about 5 waves and didn’t fall , finest power surfing I have ever seen , got to meet him , got some boards , surfed with him , still very good friends today….BK was head and shoulders above Kanga , and everybody else !
Yes we have baby & mid sizers but they have yet to become a nasty problem. About one to two attacks per summer and mostly a case of wetsuited hacks flailing erratically near shore – poorly swimming triathlete woman in Solana Beach, reef walking stumbler at Churches, Manhattan Beach fisherman provoked an attack on some swimmer… Chris Lowe is a responsible researcher and truth teller. It seems like, as he says, as long as the big daddies stay off shore looking for real food – seal rookeries… all should be fine. Ian shoulda eaten better, more greens and skipped those extra breakfast burritos…
indeed.
a guy surfed well in the 70s, therefore we should all listen to his his uninformed opinions about marine science in 2018. yeah that makes a lot of sense.
didn’t we go through all this last year? panic ! summer of shark! and how many actual attacks happened in southern california?
Truth. It isn’t just bureaucratic inertia. It’s a combination of ecodork stoners and aggro bros swinging their negligible dicks. Me, I’m setting up a whole tea service on the beach to watch them get ravaged.
What’s actually going to be cool, though, is when all the nuclear waste ocean dumps mutate them and we start having megalodons with 15 eyes and teeth on their dorsals. That will be spectacle indeed.
I can agree with this
Ian’s staple groan and jaw-clank schtick is regressive like a receding hairline with SUPstance. It harkens back to his days telling Hawaiians what was good for them. What a massive wind bag.
That is a great picture of a maersk going thru the Panama canal!
The sharks are crisis actors in Kelly’s plot to take surfing out of the ocean. Fueled by the mainstream surf media – we’re all being had.
Suspicious correlation, I admit.
Famiilies say they can’t afford Leanmore , Ians responce ” what price the life of your child” off they go .
Just like the gun debate
Waterproof guns in the lineup. You know it makes sense.
Well trained surf instructors will be armed, and AK-47’s are only allowed on the right.
I like it when Central North Americans* ask me if I rode a kangaroo to school. I’ll return with “did you get shot at, at school?”
*I never give them the shine of being ‘Americans’– you don’t own a whole continent you warmongering trunk wearers!
Hey Mick? Get stuffed!
Uh yeah we kinda had a revolution and became 13 colonies and built off that… instead of being a bunch of derelict prisoners kin.
Apparently the Australian accent stems from rampant alcoholism. It’s derelicte, my friend.
Maybe in zoolander
Thats fuken rite seppo
yeah well we’re not subjects of the crown with the queen on our money #fuckteadrinkcoffee Also tea is best served from the bottom of a harbor where there are way more sharks than where before.
Kimbos for president!
Good. Keep them out of the ocean. Thats the end-game, I reckon.
https://m.youtube.com/watch…
Fear,,