"Strange" spike in shark attacks puzzles experts

originally posted by: intrepid

originally posted by: AutumnWitch657
a reply to: lostbook

You give too much credit to the relatively stupid shark. In the words of Matt Hooper "all they do is swim and eat and make little sharks"

That movie is 40 years old. Shark research wasn't "all that" at the time. We know a helluva lot more now. Shark are much "smarter"(?) than we think they are.

Yes, but the base, that's still all most anything in the sea does: move around, eat and make little copies of itself. So the line still isn't wrong. Even people fall under that base description - move around, eat, make little copies of ourselves.

a reply to: AutumnWitch657

Actually if this continues, I'd not be surprised to see a shark roundup al la Jaws.

a reply to: ketsuko

And sometimes put out little gems too!

a reply to: Blaine91555

I'm not About to let you split that thing open and have the Kintner kid spill out all over the dock...

a reply to: Blaine91555

And like JAWS nobody is closing the beaches.

originally posted by: AutumnWitch657
a reply to: Blaine91555

I'm not About to let you split that thing open and have the Kintner kid spill out all over the dock...

Yes. We've all seen the movie(I own it).

Here's an excellent documentary that has to be seen. Sharkwater. We do WAY, WAY more damage to them than they do to us.

In 2001 it was known as "summer of the shark"..the media was all over it until 9/11 happened. Could something be brewing? Who knows it's certainly strange though.

a reply to: intrepid

True. I don't even fish. I do however share the water with them. I live at the beach.

a reply to: MrCrowley88

I don't remember that.

geez, how many scientists are puzzled? 1 or 2 geologists?....not enough fish to eat for the sharks, would be my knuckle-dragging, slopped-headed assessment

Sharks do not have good eyesight...mother nature has been tampered with...the sharks are hungry....but actually do not like to eat human flesh...so with their poor eyesight...they think humans are food...and they take a bite or two...don't like the taste and swim off.

What is annoying to me is...people in Carolina ...on one of their beaches... there have been several attacks of late...and yet they keep going to that beach location and swim in those waters where other people have been attacked...whhhhhhhhhhhy! Have some common sense and don't go in the water on that beach!

a reply to: caladonea

Mostly correct, they don't like us and attack on instinct. The eyesight is different by species but it was proved about 20 years ago that their sight wasn't bad at all. Scientists painted stripes on wetsuits to mimic poisonous sea snakes. Sharks veered away.

Pure speculation based on minimal knowledge of shark biology.

I always thought that sharks (of the 'people' eating kind) prefered cold water so near in to shore you were safe as the water was much warmer then the open ocean.

Maybe the sharks are just pissed because their home is becoming to hot to tolerate.

I know I get cranky when it's hot and I can't do anything about it and who's to say they don't get cranky and fix blame on humans.

How's that for anthropomorphizing.

a reply to: FyreByrd

I would guess that the sharks tend to move up and down the seaboard in great numbers. We see this.



This report was posted from Florida in March. Those sharks are heading north. They probably take advantage of the warmer waters of the Gulf Stream current to carry them north and it wouldn't surprise me if that current normally runs with its warmer water more off shore keeping the sharks a bit further out.

But, the Atlantic waters are warmer this year.

Look how warm they are in and around the Carolinas.

Is it a possibility that the sharks are just cruising closer in this year because the warm water has them going in closer to the shore than they might otherwise do?

originally posted by: Blaine91555
I think the best, most reasonable explanation I've seen is these are not attacks, but rather cases of mistaken identity. Were these true attacks people would be dying.

The sharks follow their normal prey, encounter a person, take a bite and move on when they discover their mistake seems like what is actually happening.

Of course that's not nearly as fun as a swarm of man eating sharks swarming in the surf, waiting for a water spout to come along and turn them into a "Sharknado".

Not quite the case here...the man attacked by a shark and bitten a couple of times the other day was punching the shark to get it off of him, then he and his son started moving for shore and the shark came up and bit him again. Doesn't sound like a case of mistaken identity...sounds more like a hungry shark who found what he wanted for dinner.

a reply to: Rezlooper

saw something on the tv..the sea water is warmer and it is saltier..not sure why saltier would play into this but thought it was interesting

Yea look it up. Summer of the Shark 2001.a reply to: AutumnWitch657

a reply to: lostbook

When I hear "the experts" talk about global warming, I always hear how long we are supposed to look, and how GLOBAL we are supposed to look. So when someone from say, North Carolina talks of cool winters, and that's proof global warming isn't real, is rightly smacked down. Well, how would claiming Global Warming is causing this immediate anomaly fit into that paradigm? Seems to me it wouldn't.

Sharks live in the ocean. In the past, you could always rationalize that you had a better chance of winning the lottery while making love to a super model, than to be bit by a shark. So we swam in the ocean anyway. Seems the odds are getting smaller. What lesson should we take away from this? Buy more lottery tickets, and smile at the pretty girls. Oh, and swim in the pool. It's full of kid pee, but it won't kill you.

What about all the US Navy's secret sonar experiments that have caused dolphins and whales to beach themselves? Maybe they're driving the sharks crazy and make them more aggressive. Just a thought.

To go even further: This just seems another thing happening lately. I don't know, but in my own life and the lives of the people I know, there's been utter turmoil recently... I'd say within the past month or so. As an example, the company I used to work for, for 10 years, suddenly was sold, many people lost their jobs, and now the sister company I work for is being revamped from the ground up. Same with my marriage of 14 years, which suddenly feels shaky, and I'm doubting everything.

I see similar things in many people's lives. Everything seems to be in flux, people are depressed and anxious (including myself) and a little out of their minds. Maybe the poster who said that something big is pending was right...?