What… doesn't… work is "education"…
One of the things I’m proudest of, when I look around at my fellow surf brethren and sistren, is our level of detailed knowledge of sharks and shark deterrents.
To a man, woman and child I don’t know a single one who doesn’t get apoplectic when some egghead suggests that “education” is somehow an effective amelioration for reducing shark attacks.
Education?
Where’s the fucking evidence?
There ain’t none.
Even the chief shark researching stud Charlie Huveneers, Associate Prof at South Australia’s Flinders University drops it in his gold standard peer-reviewed science paper on the effectiveness of the various commercially available personal shark deterrents.
I mention as counterpoint to a new vid dropped by personal deterrent brand Sharkbanz – which claims to work by using a magnetic field to disrupt the electro-receptors contained in an organ most elasmobranchs* possess which rejoices under the the moniker: Ampullae of Lorenzini**.
The Sharkbanz footage, filmed in the glorious blue waters of the north-west of Western Australia is, of course, powerful testimony as to its efficacy. A cloth dummy named Bernie gets baited up and propped up on a board with and without the Sharkbanz attached to his ankle. Sharks seem to very much enjoy savaging his lower limbs when they are undressed of the magnetic bracelet.
So all good, Sharkbanz does the biz.
Unfortunately, Assoc Prof Charlie’s research with Whites off the Neptune Islands in South Oz, says no.
According to Charlie’s peer reviewed 2018 paper: “Neither the SharkBanz bracelet nor leash affected the behaviour of hite sharks or reduced the percentage of baits taken.”
Huveneers made the additional point, summarising the existing scientific research as well as his own, that any deterrent effect on sharks was likely to be only when the shark was closer than fifty centimetres causing him to reach the following conclusion,
“This suggests that magnets are unlikely to be effective at deterring sharks because they will only protect close to the magnet, limiting their applicability as personal deterrents unless stronger magnets can be used or many magnets are positioned on the surfer or board.”
Who to believe?
Bernie or the Prof?
One cat around here who believes in the Sharkbanz is local chef Jabez Reitzman.
Reitzman has also been hit by a shark, suffering wounds to his shoulder when what is believed to be a juvenile White latched onto him around around seven am, Feb 8, 2015, two days before Tadashi Nakahara was fatally mauled down the the road at Ballina. Reitzman told me out the back at Lennox Point he believes in the Sharkbanz, to which I replied: yeah, but you got bit.
To which he replied: forgot to put it on that day.
True.
How good is the placebo effect though.
Mother Nature made a deal with the human mind to allow us to believe in things that are useful to us even if they ain’t strictly true.
There are strong proponents for this way of thinking. Queensland University shark researcher Blake Chapman said in relation to personal shark deterrents,
“These things may or may not work, but the chances of being bitten are so small, that if it’s giving you peace of mind to go out there and do your activity then it’s doing its job.”
A very much weirder advocate for a version of the placebo effect comes from South African inter-species communicator Anna Breytenbach.
She claims, after consulting with “Great White shark universal consciousness” that competitiveness and bad vibes might draw the predatory attention of White sharks.
Local surfer and environmental activist Dean Jefferies puts her thought into action thusly: “I send a telepathic message to any sharks that maybe in the area that I am their friend, I am not food or competition. I calm my energy, breath and heart rate and I transmute any lingering fear I may have around sharks. I say in my mind to any possible nearby shark, could you please keep a small distance away, and we can both be here in relative harmony with each other. “
What am I saying?
I’m saying that if wearing Sharkbanz helps keep the organism chill and in non-prey mode then it’s effectiveness as a shark deterrent may not be an entirely anti-scientific proposition despite the conclusions of Assoc Prof Huveneers.
Can you guess the preferred method of deterrence chosen by surf Mamas and Papas looking to protect their progeny during the height of the shark attack crisis of 2015/16 in the hamlet of Lennox Head?
Wrong.
It was a diving knife strapped to the calf, ready for hand-to-hand combat with the Leviathan. I shit you not comrades.
Education. We don’t need no education.
How are Sharkbanz selling locally in one of the sharkiest joints on earth?
I hit the bricks in Byron, Lennox and Ballina and couldn’t find one for sale.
Looks like a ready made role for a recently retired pro who needs some sales repping work.
Anyone come to mind?
I know we are really dragging this one out but time for a little super quick shark tale as dessert?
Just one little scoop.
Glorious winters day in ’93.
Honeymooning couple Debbie and John Ford are ascending from a dive at Julian Rocks, a mile out to sea in Byron Bay. John sees an eighteen-foot White headed for his bride and puts himself between it and the gal.
Gets bitten in half.
Local fisherman Ron Boggis is deputised by the constabulary to hunt the shark down. He hooks the monster on a drum line and it tows him and the boat miles and miles out to sea.
Hours pass with the fisherman locked in battle with the shark. In the dark he gets close enough to try and loose rounds of a .33 into the beast.
The shark snaps the chain, leaving only the mans regurgitated leg as a reminder of the battle as it slinks off into the inky waters of the night.
*Sharks.
** Damn it feels good to put this Marine Biology degree to use.
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It’s more confirmation bias than placebo effect, but embarrassing nonetheless.
I honestly thought this was an article about sharks going back to school.
Anyone who thinks that anything will save them from a pissed off, hungry resident, is delusional. The local here has had three maulings and all the crew has the bands. Just be careful and count your blessings
Where is that at? Kauai? Or Oregon?
My vote is for Bruce Irons as the calf-knife rep…but only if the knife doubles as a vape pen. Darn it, I broke my very long streak of not clicking on any BG articles with the word SHARK in the title! Couldn’t resist since LT wrote it.
Embrace it bro
Nothing like a bit of independent testing. Not remotely scientific but pretty visceral none the less. If you short on time skip ahead to 0:53.
https://youtu.be/uY6U9j3ZVes
Wasn’t the rumor or story the bastard fish of Julian Rocks washed up dead in Bruns or Ocean Shores a couple of days after?
Hastings Point I think
For every one of our Marnus Labuschagnes you’ve given a new home to, you’ve probably taken in about 5,000 of our Anna Breytenbachs.
Thanks Australia!
Love, South Africa.
Ya fuckin wildman you!
You finally used that degree Sheepster. My partner bought me a Sharkbanz for Xmas. On wearing it we felt more shark conscious or shark scared which would surely give off “prey indicators”. I’ve had numerous close calls on the island but these days I feel my awareness sensors of detecting a wrong smell or feel in the water are more useful then a shark repelling band. A few years back I told a guy that something smelled wrong. We paddled in and minutes later saw a huge tiger shark cruise through our position chasing mullet.
I have a mate who reckons the same. Garbage truck smell = time to bail.
I value my life a little more than 3 thousand, chief. I’ll find him for 3 but I will catch & kill him for 10.
Educate the sharks. Baited drum lines have worked for decades. Sharks seem to have learned to stay away from dead shark zones. Of course more evidence needed on this. But doubtful that governments will go against what they see as majority of public opinion. Never mind the increasing numbers of hungry great whites.
That’s not education!
They need a supportive learning environment to become their full potential and create happy, informed members of society.
Haha! Yeah, wisdom teeth and all…
Just adopt a pair of orcas. Cleared this lot out for over 3 years. Now that’s prevention. All though once they’re done with the sharks inclusive of the GW’s who’s to say they don’t hazard a nibble on a lazy boarder just for $hits and giggles . Now I wonder what would happen if you painted the underside of of your board to represent one of the Free Willy fraternity.
Killer yin yang, sure why not, go for it.
Knife strapped to the calf is pretty fucking useless if they grab you by the leg. Belt around the waist with the knife on your good side (right for right handed) gives you way better odds at reaching it in a situation.
Knife around waist is not the done thing due to greater chance of slicing your torso and hence vital organs
All dive knives come in a sheath to prevent self-harm. Been wearing a knife on my dive belt for decades while spearfishing and haven’t disembowelled myself (yet)….
Yeah well
I happen to be very aware that knives come in sheaths.
The act of withdrawing the knife from the sheath exposes the blade too dangerously close to the easily damaged soft areas of the torso which contains the vital organs.
I’ve been diving since the ’70’s, my old man was a navy diver and taught us that knives carried on belts had to be treated with the utmost care and was definitely unsafe in emergency situations…
I recall him (he’s 82 now, I’m 54) wearing a knife on his weightbelt sometimes but explaining that it wasn’t a technique to be used
for “quick-draw”.
And a shark attack would come under the quick draw emergency situation description
Old techniques are still applicable…
What about spring-mounted ankle barbs that shoot out (and release) when pressure is applied?
As a bonus you’ll be able to snake and drop in on anyone you like without repercussion.
Just don’t self-activate…
You’d rarely lose a board while doing one of them flippy-doodle 10-40 jumperoos, or whatever it is that those pesky kids call’em.
I like it, along the lines of the flame throwers each side of the car that were all the rage in Jo’berg a few years ago to deal with the car jackers.
‘Tuning into the aura of universal shark consciousness’ vrs ‘Stab the fecker in the gills’ is a classic example of Byron vrs Ballina mentality. As a side thought, large knives strapped to calves can also be useful to puncture the surf craft of pugnacious villains on surf mats.
wouldn’t a surfboard itself be enough to puncture an inflataboog?
alas I ride a Dan Thomson Cymatic which has a rounded nose hence unable to puncture his wayward fathers choice of surfcraft
Finless too?
Or when he chomps off the offending leg with said weapon of mass destruction attached then he’ll just self enviscerate himself into shark fin soup or at worst have a real nasty time passing the serated steel through his alimentory canal while all the other GW’s laugh their @$$’s off and the surfer hops away into the sunset with a grin of triumph on his dial at getting one over on karma and the evil GW community ?. Uh , nope .
Tell you what, all this shark chat is good, but if you want to see some real fear mongering check out the way coronavirus is being reported. Especially today with this latest outbreak in Italy.
Putting the BG shark lit to shame, and doing more to destabilise the global economy than the virus could ever do.
They’ve moved on from hysterical unprecedented climate events.
Thankfully that was a big hoax as usual.
climate expert. infectious disease expert. such a boss.
I only trust Fox news.
Well there’s your problem…..
Ironically more people die annually from ordinary pneumonia than will ever die from some hyped up beer virus that has Chinese cities raining cats and dogs. People’s own worst enemy is their ignorance.
more people die from flu than aids…..go eat magic johnson’s pearl jam…don’t be a pussy.
That escalated quickly….
It’s not about the attack its about the bad thoughts, anxiety.
So can yall put a lid on it.
How bout that Elo ay?
What’s Gmed up too.?
What surfer went to rehab in off season?
Who’s rooting who?
Apparently you can get a meth high surfing at Bunbury.
Most of the guys on this thread don’t even need a wave or a board for a high, most of them are already on benders and certifiable and we rant on about sharks doing what comes naturally. To much Nemo and Jaws reruns will melt your brains if you let it .
more chance dying driving to the beach than death by shark, in fact in some places there’s a far greater chance of death by JELLY FISH!
Death by BUNTA
Or brain melting synops scrambling surf journalism.
Seriously. You think the majority, or even a minority, of surfers who are attacked by sharks, or encounter one in a way that looks like an attack, are emanating so much fear and concern for their safety that the shark is drawn to them, but said fear etc would be allayed by using a placebo device?
Most surfers who are attacked or encounter sharks in this way don’t even see it coming.
If they’re afraid enough of the potential for shark attack that it affects their behaviour in the surf to the extent that a shark is drawn in to have a go at them, they wouldn’t be surfing in the first place.
I’m with ya on the thought that if putting one of those things on makes you feel OK about surfing, then go right ahead. But the chances of being attacked by a shark are very very small. The vast majority of surfers will go through their entire surfing lives without seeing one anywhere near them in the water. Placebo’s got nothing to do with that.
The chances of being attacked by a shark are still greater than the chance of you writing something fucken sensible.
You have a nice day too.
Ah fuck sake. You too, Nick.
Where have ya been ?
Just been feeling uninspired to comment mate. Still lurking around.
Fair enough, matey. I know the feeling well.
Did you get that Hurluley sticker pack in the mail?
Sooo, that comment brings the question- what makes you want to comment now? Are you drunk, or high???
I know I am. That’s why I’m commenting.
Placebo’s what?
What are the chances of getting attacked by a rogue apostrophe?!?!?!?
Don’t make me break out the apostrophe-punching gloves.
That would be a Pure Morning.
“Placebo has got nothing to do with that.”
“Placebo’s got nothing to do with that.”
See the magic of the apostrophe at work.
The magic’s of apo’strophe’s are s’tupendou’s.
I’m not so sure those odds still ring true anymore, at least around here.
My mate would say he’s never seen one, but I watched a 12ft+ white swim right up the outside the of the sand bank and come within 6ft of him with the sun behind it. A now recognised predatory strategy from white sharks to avoid detection.
\
As to the role of the victim: there is still no plausible hypothesis which transforms a looker, into a circler, into a bumper into a biter.
but yeah victim blaming and shaming like old Anna did is pretty fucking weak woo.
pretty sure Tadashi, having fun in the sun in 2ft waves with handful of pals was not engaged in any of the mental formations Anna reckons brings on shark aggression.
Yes well it does feel like every surfer on the far north coast is testing every hypothesis about shark-human interaction.
Not many places in the world where these kinds of interactions are happening, let alone with such, I dunno, lack of panic? Maybe a lot of FNC surfers are realists.
Has there been no increase in the attacks on women due to Carcass not being moved on?
So I met Reilly Elliot of Sharkweek fame at my favorite place in N. Sumatra a few years ago. I described each damn shark encounter over a lifetime. There are way too many close calls for the average surfing soul. Also, pretty much the only thing that truly terrifies me are sharks. He reckons my uncontrolled fear draws them to me. He may not be wrong.
Yeah I think the whole idea is a bit too anthropocentric for my liking. The shark makes its calls on its own time, it doesn’t rely on reading our minds. The only common thread in all shark attacks and encounters is that a person and a shark are in the same piece of water at the same time.
I reckon sharks are just like dogs, big scary dogs with loads of fucking scary teeth and dead black eyes, but just like dogs all the same.
If one of them sea dogs growls at you, you gotta slap it down before it bites you. You show fear, sure as shit they’ll pick up on it.
That’s kinda what I thought, but I was a bit intimadated to say it. I countered that I carried an outrageously attractive odor. The jury’s out.
Apex predator that’s millions of years old… if you see one, it’s LETTING you see it.
No such thing as bad weather, just inappropriate clothing.
https://uploads.disquscdn.c…
https://uploads.disquscdn.c…
dude. Get on Ali baba and make it happen.
You know any capricious rich people who would laughingly throw thousands of dollars on an exercise of satirical niche humour designed to amuse peers and annoy entrenched faceless venture capitalist behemoths?
Isn’t that what Dirk and Natasha did (but in the millions)?
Your brand is so much more meaningful to my lifestyle and ethos than any other surf company could ever hope to be. It’s like… Hurluley really gets me.
Understands me.
Connects with me.
If you manufacture it, I want it. I mean, shark punching gloves! Meat grinder/rinse kit! Brilliant! So much more useful to my lifestyle than any gay surf clothing company could ever be.
If I get Hurluley tattoos on my face, can I be on the team?
Hurluley deeply appreciates your support and want to part of your life.
You can join the team without the self-inflicted facial disfiguration.
I feel… (spreads arms expansively with beautific smile) all my BG brethren / sistrenses are on the Hurluley team.
Even Julian Wilson.
ESPECIALLY Julian Wilson.
And if he gets off his rear end and gets his butt buttered with tattoos , it’s a given no doubt?.
Thank you. You are truly a benevolent team manager. A good egg.
Chanting the krsna mantra brings waves and chills sharks.
electromatic waves kill reefs.
seriously?
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.go…
Around Kauai the navy is doing alot of experiments with undersea electromagnetic warfare and all the reefs are dying rapidly
You’ve gone stark fuckin raving mad you electromatic wave hater, you!!!!!
Yeah so does global warming, pollution, douchbag trophy divers and the like but if I were looking where would I find said “electromatic” waves to begin with ?. That be like chucking your toaster in the bath while playing peak a boo in your overinfused bubble bath ducky infested water with your smaller alter ego and then hoping for a movie like sanction of life because 999 just happened to be having a coffee nearby waiting to break their necks getting to you to hopefully at least save the ducks and all the organs destined for donorship ?.
I like you.
The military experiments on and around Kauai with electromagnetic warfare.
Undersea cables as well.
I hear what you say about , electromagnetic emissions etc , you see the same on dry land with power pylons and the like and yet there’s the video where the shark eats not only the bait but then returns to eat the actual Sharkbanz as well. Maybe he was the joker in the pack , the exception to the rule , the unconvential black sheep of the ocean that just decided to scramble every ones brains because his whole family got slaughtered for sharfin soup and their Manbanz didn’t work. Fact of the matter in this universe nothing is a given. So long as there’s a hungry GW that hasn’t been privy to Nemo’s ethos or been Hakuna Mutatata’d , soft skin with a side dish of tanks or fibreglass will always be an option. Unless someone has a plan on how to undo a thousand years of evolution that says , swim , eat something , anything with a course on how to domesticate GW’s and brain wash them into being vegetarians it’s a fait accompli that odds are 50/50 You get munched magnets or no magnets. Probably safer to use them to pick up nails in the garage than roll dice with em. Just an aside , there’s a train of thought that says, if you’re sick or old , don’t go near wild animals. Nature culls these out of their ranks and a top culling machine is the GW. In the old aquarium sharktank on the Durbans beachfront they had a monster Grouper that swam in harmony with the tigers etc for a multitude of years. They weren’t bothered by him and he didn’t bother them yet one day they came in and all that was left was his tail. For now I think we can rule out curious aliens , hungry vagrants and chronic explosive diarrhoea as the cause of demise and add the epitaph of ” did not play nicely with others” for now.
I was at that aquarium like twenty years ago. i can picture it in my mind.
i’ve spent alot of time surfing the Durban area. love it there. is that where your from?
Yep . Now they’ve got a new super improved white elephant where Bells parking area was and if you walk in what was the old fish tank now new amphitheatre on a dark and salty wind driven night you’re likely to run into said fish’s ghost.