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from today's Long Beach Press-Telegram:
CATALINA
"Shark bumps, dumps kayaker"
Los Angeles: A woman kayaking off the Catalina isthmus had a close encounter with a shark Sunday.
Bettina Pereira was in an area she has frequented for years when a shark bumped her kayak, KCAL9 reported.
"The shark was cruising under me and lifting the kayak up with its body," Periera told KCAL. "I landed out of the kayak right onto the shark's body."
Periera's son told her husband a shark was atttacking her, but the shark swam away and Periera started swimming towards the shore, KCAL9 reported.
--City News Service
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Wow. It doesn't say which side of the isthmus she was on....
but I'm thinkin' that could have been any of us....
and that I'm super-glad she's okay.
CATALINA
"Shark bumps, dumps kayaker"
Los Angeles: A woman kayaking off the Catalina isthmus had a close encounter with a shark Sunday.
Bettina Pereira was in an area she has frequented for years when a shark bumped her kayak, KCAL9 reported.
"The shark was cruising under me and lifting the kayak up with its body," Periera told KCAL. "I landed out of the kayak right onto the shark's body."
Periera's son told her husband a shark was atttacking her, but the shark swam away and Periera started swimming towards the shore, KCAL9 reported.
--City News Service
******
Wow. It doesn't say which side of the isthmus she was on....
but I'm thinkin' that could have been any of us....
and that I'm super-glad she's okay.
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Los Angeles
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Re: Near miss with a shark!
Tue, June 24, 2008 - 8:08 AMOkay now that makes me glad I didn't try the kayaking.
Scary...... -
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Re: Near miss with a shark!
Tue, June 24, 2008 - 8:53 AMHoly crappola,
So glad that wasn't me. I would have had a heart attack first...
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Re: Near miss with a shark!
Tue, June 24, 2008 - 9:07 AMI wonder what kind of shark it was. From what I remember from my one summer at CIMI (Catalina Island Marine Institute), most of the sharks off Catalina are not dangerous. -
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Re: Near miss with a shark!
Tue, June 24, 2008 - 2:18 PMMost shark species off the CA coast are mostly harmless. But we do also get Great Whites, looks like that was the case here:
Shark expert Ralph Collier this morning weighed in on what he thinks happened on the backside of Catalina this weekend, when a woman was knocked off her kayak by a great white shark, a bump that sent her flying into the water screaming while her family and other anglers watched helplessly from a boat.
Bettina Pereira survived the encounter with out a bite, and just sore muscles. When she flew into the air, Pereira actually stepped on the shark at one point, then pushed off in the opposite direction, her husband Andrew said in an interview Monday.
Collier, who runs the Shark Research Committee, contacted Andrew and confirmed it was a great white they encountered, based on the description and behavior of the shark.
“They’ve been at the island for millions of years,” Collier said. “So the fact that something has finally happened over there does not surprise me. I’m surprised it’s taken this long. ”
Collier said that it was an “investigation attack.”
“The shark was not interested at all in eating her, otherwise it would have stayed in the area and eaten her,” he said.
It was unusual behavior, however, for the shark to come back and ram the kayak, which knocked her into the air and flipped the kayak over.
Snagged the above info from beach.freedomblogging.com/2008/...r-off/ -
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Re: Near miss with a shark!
Tue, June 24, 2008 - 8:00 PM“They’ve been at the island for millions of years,” Meanwhile, millions of humans have been there without incident.
That's why I despise reports that get repeated like this. It's the kind of thing that leads to torch wielding villagers.
Near miss, my ass. -
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Re: Near miss with a shark!
Tue, June 24, 2008 - 8:22 PMNot sure I understand what you're complaining about.
Great Whites bump as part of their hunting pattern. They don't just randomly bump things. It was hungry and investigating the possibility that she was food. It decided otherwise.
She should consider herself very fortunate, because if the shark had just a bit more confidence that she was edible, it would have bit first, asked questions later. That's what happens with most attacks on surfers - the shark doesn't figure out that it's attacking a human, rather than a sea lion, until after it takes a bite. Similar things have happened to kayakers in the past, where the shark will just take a big bite out of the kayak ... and if your legs happen to be in that part of the kayak, well, that bite will get your legs, too.
Saying that millions of people have been there is somewhat misleading - as most of them having engaged in activities (kayaking or surfing) that are easily mistaken by sharks as prey.
Trust me. I say this as someone who has researched shark behavior:
If you get bumped by a big white, you had a very near miss.
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Re: Near miss with a shark!
Tue, June 24, 2008 - 9:50 PMI'm complaining because this kind of thing gets so much publicity and discussion. People worry about it in such disproportionate amounts compared to, oh I don't knows, traffic accidents from driving too fast, a little under the influence, or while paying more attention to the cell phone, the ice cream cone, or the drippy cheeseburger than the several tons of steel they should be tending to. Those things that kill in real numbers, like heart disease, complications due to diabetes, smoking, or chronic lower respiratory diseases are conveniently forgotten when there’s a good rattle snake story to tell. So many people would rather panic about killer bees, pit bulls, or flesh eating bacteria as they help themselves to that fourth slice of pizza and another brew to wash it down. -
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Re: Near miss with a shark!
Wed, June 25, 2008 - 12:29 AMI agree with both of you.....
and of course the point that's *usually* missed is that when we are attacked by sharks, WE are in THEIR territory.
Just like when we lollygag on train tracks. You can't really say it's the train's fault if it hits you. (I'm sure this analogy only goes so far....)
Humans really, really should realize that we can't have EVERYTHING on this planet. We seem to think we can (hence the bumper sticker, "Humans aren't the only species on this planet, we just act like it") We can't have ALL the real estate, ALL the habitats, ALL the resources. Some places should be left completely wild. Others, we can't complain when we go in there and the way of the wild happens.
I'm glad they apparently didn't try to go after the shark.
I'm also glad the shark didn't try to eat me when I was swimming around in the bay, my first time swimming in the ocean in over 10 years (although I'm sure I wasn't as far out as the kayak was). -
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Re: Near miss with a shark!
Wed, June 25, 2008 - 11:30 AMActually Andrea, Sharks mostly feed right in the surf zone, which is where you and I and everyone else was swimming... In any event, getting eaten by a shark is a MUCH better story than "I got run down by a Hummer" when you are waiting in front of Saint Pete and being rejected...
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Re: Near miss with a shark!
Wed, June 25, 2008 - 11:33 AMKevin and Bean had a story this morning about a brain eating amoeba. A freshwater amoeba that swims up your nose and EATS YOUR BRAIN! I don't know about the rest of you, but personally, I really like my brain.
Somehow I don't think we are going to have to look forward to "Brain Eating Amoeba Week" on cable anytime soon though.... -
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Re: Near miss with a shark!
Wed, June 25, 2008 - 12:28 PMWe are an integral part of nature and everything alive. If we make sure we don't threaten the wild animals then we don't need to fear them. -
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Re: Near miss with a shark!
Wed, June 25, 2008 - 1:25 PMAppropriately quoting george carlin
"Here's one they just made up: "near miss". When two planes almost collide, they call it a near miss. It's a near hit. A collision is a near miss."
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Re: Near miss with a shark!
Wed, June 25, 2008 - 1:38 PMPersonally I want to know about the risks I'm taking,]
whether it be riding in a small car, or swimming/kayaking
in the ocean. If there is a decent chance that I may encounter
a shark in the waters in which I am deciding whether or not I
want to swim in, I may choose to ankle wade instead.
I absolutely want to know about shark encounters in local waters
in the same way that I want to know that certain small cars can
decapitate the drivers in a bad accident. I want to make my choices
by weighing risk vs. necessity/want. To do that I need information
like this news story. I already knew there were sharks in those
waters, thus why you didn't see me going in deeper than my waist.
It was just not worth it to me.....but I won't tell anyone else what they
can do. That's your choice to make. -
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Re: Near miss with a shark!
Wed, June 25, 2008 - 2:41 PM"If there is a decent chance that I may encounter a shark in the waters in which I am deciding whether or not I want to swim in, I may choose to ankle wade instead. "
That is my point exactly. There is NOT a "decent chance" that you may encounter a shark in those waters. According to the story, this was the FIRST such event out there. In all of the times all of the people, locals and visitors, who have been in that water, this was the FIRST time it happened. According to the Avalon City manager in a previous interview, “He and other officials were quick to point out that while several species of sharks--including great whites--do visit the island, areas frequented by most tourists have never been closed because of shark sightings and there has never been a documented attack on a human anywhere near the island.” Even if you erred on the side of caution and DOUBLED the reported incidents, that leaves you with a grand total of two.
These things are blown completely out of proportion.
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Re: Near miss with a shark!
Wed, June 25, 2008 - 6:13 PMMe thinks your and my definition of "decent chance"
vary just a wee bit. When I was in Avalon snorkling
about 15 years ago the man who rented me the gear
said they see sharks "in the area" fairly frequently.
In fact at that time they were running "shark watching"
expeditions from the harbor there.
These waters are their territory, I respect that, in the
same way that I respect that our local mountains
are where Bobcats live. You give me my space
I'll give you your space. That's my thinking.
I'm not saying panic or don't ever go swimming
off the coast of CA again. Just be careful.....
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Re: Near miss with a shark!
Wed, June 25, 2008 - 1:51 PMYair, I'm assuming you mean on an individual basis; since collectively our very existence/activity pattern is certainly threatening every wild animal alive.
In this case, however, there is certainly cause for fear even though we wouldn't have been threatening any wild animal, just swimming in the ocean. Sharks certainly aren't threatened by their food; and that is pretty much what this woman would have been, had the shark decided it had an appetite for her.
Sometimes "an integral part of nature" means being part of the food chain. While I generally don't like the way humankind has bypassed the natural rhythms of life and ecosystems--I certainly don't want to be on the "giving" end of the food chain like that! (Ahh, hypocrite! Well, everyone decides where they're going to draw the line, I suppose.) -
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Re: Near miss with a shark!
Wed, June 25, 2008 - 2:49 PMHarrr...methinks we forgot to read ye olde nautical chartes, which clearly state that beyond the breakwaters, "there be monsters here". Ya, Catalina is shark territory, as is every other island off the coast...just beyond the reach of the big white teeth of the sharks that can swim on the land ;-) -
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Re: Near miss with a shark!
Wed, June 25, 2008 - 2:59 PMWell of course there are monsters. I never said there weren't monsters. -
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Re: Near miss with a shark!
Wed, June 25, 2008 - 3:03 PMI do mean on an individual basis. Ofcourse we have a collective responsibility as well, but it is our individual behavior that would eventually matter and determine our fate. It's not all just about survival, in fact it is the opposite of that. View this to see what I mean:
people.tribe.net/yair/blog...5c0ce7e0e8
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Re: Near miss with a shark!
Wed, June 25, 2008 - 6:18 PMOkay so they may not attack people but it doesn't mean
they're not here.....
www.sharkresearchcommittee.com/pa...htm -
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Re: Near miss with a shark!
Wed, June 25, 2008 - 8:38 PMOh, I know they're there and they regularly have dives to go watch them, but like with the bobcats, without sober reflection it's this kind of thing that comes before the hunting parties that wipe out populations of predators that lead to explosions in populations of prey that lead to stresses on the rest of the ecosystem.
I guess it boils down to saying that as the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy so sagely reminds us: Don’t Panic.
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Re: Near miss with a shark!
Wed, June 25, 2008 - 9:58 PMi'm still scared of sharks. unless they were on land then i could take em. alligators though..... they got the both of em covered pretty well.
won't get me out the deep swimming around looking like bait. fug dat!!!! -
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Re: Near miss with a shark!
Fri, June 27, 2008 - 6:31 PMthis is kind of funny because i must have talked about Catalina's prevalent shark population like 50 times last weekend. for one reason or another it just kept coming up and surprisingly so many people wanted to be in denial about the fact that THERE ARE ALOT OF SHARKS OFF OF CATALINA ISLAND. now, this being said, a vast majority of them are leopard sharks or other reef sharks that are not normally considered very dangerous but there are regular, but NOT excessive numbers of great white sighting out there too. the good news is that its not really considered a white feeding ground...you are most likely in more real danger swimming off Blacks beack or LaJolla Coves or even malibu to ventura than off of Catalina.
either way, if i were that lady i woulda shat myself. -
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Re: Near miss with a shark!
Fri, June 27, 2008 - 6:34 PMoh, id also like to point out that the opposite side of the island from where we were is considered significantly more dangerous than where we were.
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