“If you can’t dance, don’t go to the party....”
I just hung up the phone with a forty-year vet of the South Australian fisheries industry, a guy I won’t name ’cause emotions run to boiling when it comes to Great Whites.
And, who needs either side, the killers or the huggers, twisting your words to either hang or beatify you?
Figured he’d have an interesting take on the animal that he sees almost every day he takes his little boat out to get his piece of the ocean.
On attacks: “I’d hate to see a shark attack on a person. I’ve seen ’em hit other shit and they’re no different to a Bull Mastiff dog once they get a bit of a sniff in their nostrils. If you’re in the water and there’s a hungry White you’re finished.”
On cage-diving boats attracting Whites: “One shark expert I met from Holland suggested that shark boats don’t have any bearing because they don’t have that repetitive memory. I agree. But while they may have three-second memories, they’ve got their engraved compass of life, what they do, where they travel to, that stuff’s in ’em, and that’s why they go to places like the Neptune Islands, but the will to survive overcomes everything. If they smell something they’ll have a look. If the Pointer’s just eaten, he might swim right past you. Others are starving and they have a completely different attitude.”
On behavioural differences between Whites: “They’re a big, beautiful creature but some are dumb as dog shit or haven’t developed a fear for anything while others, usually older one, are more agile more wary. All have different characteristics. Some will break the surface, for instance, while others won’t go near it.”
On Whites and water temperature: “They don’t like the warm water. It’s gotta be sixteen or seventeen degrees. Down around Cactus, the water’s been too warm. There hasn’t been any close encounters or even real legit sightings since 2000 when Jevan Wright and Cameron Bayes were taken.
On the prevalence of big Whites: “The numbers are increasing but you don’t see as many sixteen-or-seventeen footers anymore. It’s been years since I saw I big one. But lots of little one, five-to-twelve feet. No tags on ’em either and they’re tagging ’em flat out.”
On beached dead whales: “Going surfing within twenty-miles of a dead whale is a no, no. Whites are steaming up and down the coast and can’t find it because it’s out of the water and they’re losing their minds. The big night tides wash all the oil, this big puddle of stinking dead whale out to sea, and the sharks follow it.”
On culling: “It’s cruel. If you can’t dance, don’t go to the party.”
This Reilly Douchebag again. He keeps writing ant-shark bullshit over and over. Obviously has a personal vendetta and likes spreading stupidity.
3 second memory only when the orcas aren’t around.
My fault. He was referring to the South Oz population.
Chilling. The beautiful but deadly White fuckers are killing machines, plain and simple. Makes me think of all the times a just fed whitey has cruised by my toes. I’m interested in the water temp observations though. Doesn’t really explain the north coast flurry a few years ago, does it really drop below 18/19° around Ballina? Poor Tadashi was attacked in, what would have been, bath warm February water. Can’t recall if it was Bulls or GW’s that went rouge, I think I recall the talk being whites.
Bulls don’t seem to give a fuck about temps.
This is what I call ‘Essential Life Information’. Thanks for sharing this, Dez!
On the north coast the pattern seems to be the whites over 4 metres chase the pelagics late summer. Tadashi got attacked in February in 25 degree water by a 4 1/2 metre fish. Then in late autumn, winter and spring we predominantly have juveniles in high numbers. Late autumn and early winter the water can still be over 20 degrees. Personally think El Niño and La Niña play the biggest role in their distribution around Aus. Seems like they are more active in WA in La Niña and neutral years, for the east coast it’s El Niño. When the north coast had its cluster of attacks it was one of the strongest El Niño’s on record.
Mankind is the animal kingdoms biggest threat & only threat for the most part. Some of these animals were here way before we were but man comes in & just takes it upon themselves to do what they please!!! Not right…
Do you kill ants if they invade your kitchen? What about mosquitos if they are attacking you? Cockroaches have been around a long time, do they coexist in your house?
Man is a part of that kingdom dopey.
Seriously they don’t care if your in wrong place at wrong time it’s good luck . Bit like crocs actuactuaslly primal.instict ‘ this sounds like old mates been talking to g.s long time shark fisherman from s.a
Which one is
Scalesy?
https://youtu.be/BMwwNPPeCkE
Yep water isn’t 16 in SoFlo
Or at Guadalupe Island. To be fair, I believe these are two distinct populations with little or no interaction.
Love it when the fish are up on my grill!
I still think it’s ok to take a few out of the water to balance out the commercial fishing industry.today there are more sharks and less fish which really does increase the chance of a fatal attack.
If you are talking about killing sharks
The most important animal in the ocean
If so
There is something wrong with your mind
Sharks the most important animal in the ocean?
If you truly care about sharks do not let Kelly hear about this!
You mean Kully Slater?
Am I the only person here who thinks it would be good to have a Shark Olympics.
Yep !
If only a shark would bite slater during the wavepool contest. That would be the mother of all clickbait.
Funny you should say that Nick, your wish is about to come true, for reals. Sorta.
Shart Olympics would be cool.
Motherfucker great whites. Three second memories and every single one wants 15 minutes of fame.
Fucking air Jaws!
The fisherman says killing fish is cruel.
He forgot the unless I’m getting paid part.
More people are killed by vending machines than sharks. I wonder if there is a kickass snack food web site out there somewhere that publishes a story a day about “killer” potato chips and Snickers bars?
If there is, I bet the comment section is lit.
Can I interest you in some, cows, donkeys or bees?
Don’t forget the ladders!
False equivalence due to the far larger number of people interacting with vending machines than people interacting with sharks.
False equivalence defines our times.
Ohh, don’t you go getting all highbrow on us, halfwit !
I’m the halfwit, he’s the fwit
Wait. I thought I was halfwit and you were fwit? Bex?
Can we get some clarity over here please?
What a load of shit