6th attack today at KOA in Rodanthe - wtf??

damn that's a heavy story,the pops had the shark in a chokehold and really tried,takes a lot of balls to do something like that.

I was thinking of a technique I never really heard mentioned before with a shark encounter.like if u can actually see the shark coming at u,which u normally don't,i was thinking duckdiving the board and when underwater launch the board straight at the sharks head.thats what I would do but I hope I never have to see a shark face to face in the water

 

IDK. Got to consider the risk/reward ratio, I guess. So if it's waist +, decent conditions and other surfers out, I'll probably paddle out.

 

... and 4 years later we have people being attacked. Maybe this law is working and there are a ****load of sharks and they need food? just a thought?



THE SHARK CONSERVATION Act has finally become law, giving much-needed protection to some of the ocean’s most magnificent creatures.

Signed by President Obama on January 4, the law closes a major loophole in an existing U.S. ban on shark finning. That gruesome practice involves fishermen cutting off sharks’ fins, which are used in soup, then throwing their still-living bodies into the sea.

An estimated 73 million sharks are killed in this fashion every year. While fishing for them will continue, “I think this means less sharks will be killed,” said Matt Rand, director of global shark conservation at the Pew Environment Group, who helped press Congress for the law.

While shark finning was already supposed to be illegal in U.S. waters, the previous law didn’t apply to boats unequipped with fishing gear. As a result, operators of boats like the infamous King Diamond II — boarded by the Coast Guard in 2002 after a 32-ton load of fins gathered from fishing boats nearly caused it to swamp — were able to ignore the law.

Existing law also focused less on the act of finning than on fishermen’s fin-to-shark weight ratio. This could be gamed by keeping the body of a large-bodied, small-finned shark, and finning several more.

The Shark Conservation Act bans finning of any sort, on any type of vessel, with one exception: North Carolina’s dogfish fishery, a compromise necessary to secure the vote of Senator Richard Burr. That fishery accounts for one percent of all U.S. shark fishing.

“The exemption is not preferred,” said Rand, but “if the world had 99 percent of all shark species caught with fins attached, we’d be much better off.”

Because fishermen will be required to keep the bodies — which, apart from fins, are largely inedible and not valuable — they’ll have less incentive to fish for sharks or keep them when accidentally caught, said Rand.

The act also allows the United States to block seafood imports from countries that permit shark finning. Similar bans helped reduce high-seas driftnet fishing, an extraordinarily destructive practice that was common in the 1970s and 1980s. (Despite pressure, however, some driftnetting still exists.)

Though the act only applies to U.S. boats and waters, it will have global consequences, said Rand. America’s possession of many small Pacific islands, and the 200 miles of water around them, gives it an enormous fishing zone. Its fleet is one of the world’s largest.

For those who consider any shark fishing to be unacceptable — a group that includes not just people sympathetic to animals, but scientists who point to sharks’ crucial, top-predator ecological role (.pdf) — the act is just a first step toward a total ban.

In Hawaii, it’s already illegal to possess or distribute shark fins. Countries like the Maldives and Honduras have outlawed shark fishing. “I hope the U.S. moves in that direction,” said Rand.

source- http://www.wired.com/2011/01/shark-conservation-act/

 

surfed ainp like I have done a million times before...aired down and drove down a mile...no one out and fun waist high surf so I went out...never been concerned about sharks and always seen them out there and caught many off the beach...biggest 9' sandtiger. Still never ever concerned me.

Yesterday was the first time I got spooked. Maybe its all this shark talk, but anyway...Water was pretty clear with a sea of marble jellies...jellies were super thick...like paddling through dense water - loaded with soft jellies. Been like the last couple days. After a couple waves sitting on my board, maybe a 6' er, tough to tell when in the water, went right underneath me at a moderate speed...the speed as which it was moving is what really concerned me...he never surfaced and only saw him as he passed by below. My concern at his pace he was thinking about about a meal but decided after a look kept on rolling. I got out immediately. This may have happened a hundred times before but since the water is some what murky most of the times, you would never known...wish I never saw him.

So I got out, went to aisp where there were other surfers. Figure my chance was greater of not being eaten. Stupid logic...on my second wave there, took off on a wave and did a face plant right on the bar and kinda snapped my neck...nearly knocked me out and a couple nice folks came over to make sure I was ok...slightly bloody head and on the original impact was very dizzy...as if i got clocked in the face...saw stars for a few minutes but after getting back to the beach, I was coming around.

Went home and was drained...slept for 3 hours and feel better now...

I have broken my cheek bone in several places surfing when I was younger have sliced my feet and head with fins...I guess the moral of the story, I think you will more likely hurt yourself actually from surfing then being eaten, but there is just something about the thought of being dinner that make me nervous. I have no problem lacerating my head with a fin, busting my cheek bones, or almost being knocked out...but I do not want to get bit!

The bad thing now, going to avon for a week on the 12th. Got to get this shark thing out of my head...I want to surf and have fun...not worry about losing a limb...even tho the risk is minuscule.

 

Dayum mrcoop, that sucks. I've done the sandbar faceplant before too, no fun. Glad you're ok.

Don't ignore that sketchy feeling though, I've seen some things that show there's some scientific evidence to the sixth sense. The way I see it, if I don't respect that sketchy feeling and something happens I'll feel like an idgit.

That being said, I've also been know to ignore my own advice. Good luck out there amigo.

 

You were obviously way more rattled by the shark sightings including the one you saw than you thought. But getting ready to go surfing and not surfing is really the definition of lost time. so you went out somewhere else you thought was safer while you were in a compromised state of mind.... that can be just as or even more dangerous than surfing with sharks in the area. as the homeboys say check yo'self befo you wreck yo'self.

 

Maybe this is a good job for all the sup'ers

 

me, too. Almost every surfer on the east coast does the sandbar faceplant, eventually. Mine pushed my face across the sand, giving me a busted nose, fat lip and a strawberry from nose to chin.

 

You mean..."twat yachts"???

 

That's classic & totally apropos of this summer's vibe, TLo ! good stuff

Coop.....AI wild side has been dorsal centro......heal up & hit the OBX with gusto. The odds are still in your favor.

 

Yeah I guess its kind of a right of passage for EC surfing huh? Better than faceplant on rocks or coral though, that's for sure.

 

Thanks Yank, happy 4th to you and all the swellers out there.

 

Climates' are changin'! - Better get used to it!