Shark attack on cuttlefish researchers

[cthulhu77]

http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/asiapcf/08/24/shark.attack.ap/index.html

 

[Mizu]

lol
Cuttlefish have contracted with the local sharks for protection
thats at least 2 divers that wont harvesting wild cuttle eggs.
not to sound insensitive but like my friend always said
"Never go ANYWHERE that you are not at the top of the food chain"

 

[Neogonodactylus]

I'm sorry, but I can't find anything to laugh about concerning the loss of a life. Most biologist who study cephalopods do so with the ultimate hope that the information we gain will help us to understand and protect them. To do that requires the study of specimens. Unfortunately, the acquisition of animals or observations on them can at times be dangerous. Those risks are accepted. When they are unfortunately realized, we grieve for the loss of the life of a colleague and carry one - sadder, but with conviction that the best way to preserve this planet is to understand it.

Roy

 

[chrono_war01]

I heard it on the radio in the afternoon, the word "Great White" always inspires fear and spreads the news quick.
But still, it's nothing to laugh about and there are always those who are sacrificed in order for their cause and what they believe in.

 

[Mizu]

yeah we are gonna have to disagree on this one
I always get a chuckle when mother nature gets a little even on humantiy
its not like we dont kill eachother by the thousands every day
stuff like this should go almost unheard in the din of the daily killings we perfom on eachother as a species.

 

[Clem]

Mizu,

I'd wager that Jarrod Stehbens's colleagues (out of whose hands Stehbens was apparently yanked) don't share your mirth. This was not an instance of Mother Nature taking vengeance upon man. Sharks do not care one way or another about us.

If a cephalopod researcher associated with TONMO were taken by a shark whilst collecting squid eggs, I rather doubt that you'd dare post such ghoulish sentiments.

Clem

 

[Phil]

No Mizu, as Roy said, I agree that a death of a researcher in the field is a dreadful loss. He was harvesting cuttlefish eggs for research purposes, it's not as if the cuttlefish are on the brink of extinction and he was depriving the marine environment of a unique species, or he was doing this for trivial or fiscal reasons. The poor diver's family, friends and colleagues are going to devastated by his loss. I'm sure he knew the risks when he went diving and was victim of an unfortunate set of circumstances. Perhaps his work was geared towards cuttlefish conservation and would have been of long term benefit to the animals?

I can find no satisfaction whatsoever in this tragedy, no matter the appreciation of cephalopods.

 

[Melissa]

Horrible and tragic for Stehbin's family. And ultimately a loss for us, too, as his work would have interested many TONMO readers.

 

[sorseress]

Of course we kill each other every day, for horrible and sometimes trivial reasons, and everyone of those deaths is a tragedy for the people who love the victims. And yes, people are much worse than any animal predator, particularly because we have the technology to kill so many at one time, and rarely do it for reasons of pure survival. That being said, how can the fact that we as a species are so horrible to our own make the death of one man who fell victim to a hungry shark less of a tragedy? We can grieve over the devastation that man wreaks upon the creatures of the wild and still mourn the death of one man who just happened to be there when that shark was hunting.

 

[[email protected]]

http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/new...01_MCC512229_RTRUKOC_0_UK-AUSTRALIA-SHARK.xml

His parents have requested that the shark not be hunted.

 

[Clem]

According to a report on News.com.au, the researchers were diving in an area where fishermen chum the waters ("berley" is chum). I can't imagine the students would have gone into the water if they'd been aware of that fact. An awful twist to the story.

Clem

 

[Thales]

yeah we are gonna have to disagree on this one

I think you'll be alone on this one. I find taking glee at a persons misfortune, for whatever reason, to be icky.
I think taking glee at the death of ceph researches on a site that is frequented by ceph researchers to be bad taste.

I always get a chuckle when mother nature gets a little even on humantiy

Do you chuckle when children are killed by mountain lions?

stuff like this should go almost unheard in the din of the daily killings we perfom on eachother as a species.

Animal attacks usually are covered very well by the news outlets.

 

[Jean]

This is awful, and my sympathies are with his family.

J

 

[erich orser]

My sympathies are also with his family, his colleagues, and the Australian marine biological community as a whole. I'm glad his family has requested the shark not be hunted.

 

[Thales]

More on this.

Man Said to Fight Off Shark Before Dying
Man Killed in Australia Shark Attack Said to Calmly Fight Off Predator Before It Killed Him
By ROD McGUIRK
The Associated Press

Aug. 25, 2005 - A marine biologist killed in a shark attack had calmly fought off the predator before it returned and pulled him deep into the water, his diving partner said Thursday.

Police have abandoned the search for body of 23-year-old Jarrod Stehbens following the attack Wednesday off Glenelg Beach on Australia's south coast a region that has seen five fatal shark attacks since 2000.

"Jarrod fought it off initially, then it came back again and grabbed his leg and just took him deeper," Stehbens' diving partner Justin Rowntree said Thursday.

"He seemed quite calm he was trying to get his leg out of its mouth," he added.

Rowntree and Stehbens, both marine biologists at the University of Adelaide, were diving to collect cuttlefish eggs when the shark attacked close to a popular beach in the city of Adelaide. The men were 16 feet from the surface in water 60-feet deep.

Rowntree said he felt helpless in the few seconds before his colleague was dragged to the depths and out of sight.

"Lots of things were going through my mind," Rowntree said. "I just hoped, I just hoped that he'd come up."

Two research colleagues on a boat above did not see the shark approach. Rowntree sensed no danger even when the predator brushed past him.

"I thought it was a dolphin," Rowntree said. "It just nudged my side and I looked around (and saw) just a big white mass."

Rowntree surfaced and was hauled to safety by his colleagues who had by then seen the shark's tail fin slice through water's surface. No trace of Stehbens has been found except for his air tank and buoyancy vest.

The attack, only eight months after an 18-year-old surfer, Nick Peterson, was killed by a 16-foot great white shark at nearby West Beach, led locals to complain that the protected species is posing a growing menace along Adelaide beaches.

The victim's father, David Stehbens, held a news conference Thursday in which he described his son as an experienced diver who knew the underwater environment.

David Stehbens said he had discussed with his son the merits of a shark cull in December when Peterson was killed while being towed on his surfboard by a motorized dinghy.

"He's a marine biologist; he wouldn't want anything killed like that," the father said.

Local fisherman Keith Klemasz said diving was unsafe in the area because so many fishermen dump fish guts and waste in the water.

"It is crazy; they (divers) are shark bait," Klemasz said.

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory?id=1067590