Sports & Fitness Mick Fanning shark attack.

MTR - I do a lot of freediving and spearfishing. Seeing sharks when we are diving is more common than not seeing any. We are in the water killing fish with a lot of fish/blood/chum floating around us too. We actively entice 'fish' using burley (chopped up fish) naturally any ocean predator/scavenger is attracted.

There are very few times I have been genuinely scared. Once there was a 'friendly' tiger shark who wanted our fish nearly as much as we did. The smart thing to do would be to give it to him. The other option is to go head-to-toe and slowly retreat to the boat (360deg vision) while pushing her off. The fish tasted pretty good!
The other time was an aggressive bull shark. We didn't hang around long enough to find out if it was friendly (they are the teenage ice addicts of the ocean).

Im yet to see a white, though have been in the water when others have seen them. I thinkI look forward to the experience.

Blacky

 

Blacky, can you please make sure you are not enticing any 'fish' near where I am surfing.

 

Credit to the journalists who got the other side of the story....



Again, I am very pleased that MF is unharmed, though he is obviously and understandably shaken.

We are merely guests in their world when we are in the water.

 

I have no probs seeing a shark if I'm down there with them and I have a weapon to use. You can look around and see them from a distnance a bit more, and keep an eye on them.

There is a bloke who films Great Whites all the time - without a cage. He has no fear of them at all. He's mad I reckon, but you get what I mean.

It's when you are up on the surface and you don't see them coming - which is their modus operandi - that I am worried about.

I was out surfing at Cat Bay (Philip Island) about 1980, and a seal surfaced right next to me. I never saw it until it was right there.

Scared the absolute sheet out of me. Thank god it was only a seal.

 

Also helps if you are on tanks.
Although they will be attracted to the noise/vibration of your bubbles the noise creates a fairly natural barrier. They will come in for a look but not too close - so scuba divers will usually only see about 5-10% of the sharks which come by - and if you do see them they will keep their distance.
If you are on the surface you will also see more because you have greater vision vertical than horizontal.

Blacky

 

Funny

Blacky
You are brave, me chicken

 

Some of my favorite shark dives:

Reef Sharks at Osprey Reef in the Coral Sea (skip to 14:00 to see the real action):


Tiger Shark in Fiji:





Whale Sharks in the Philippines:
https://youtu.be/pGHLn9L0J1M