does tahiti have shark attacks?

[OUTSIDEWAVE]

I always hear about   the Hawaiian islands having shark attacks. Which island has the most? What about other island like tahiti or indo etc?

[14 West]

Yup. Google search it. Just way less publicity because there are way fewer people and thus fewer attacks and so on...

[addapost]

This http://www.sharkattackfile.net/ is THE resource for world wide shark incidents.

[PonoBill]

There are about 50 reported shark attacks worldwide so far in 2013, it will probably be about 100 by the end of the year--as it was in 2012. Ten were fatal in 2012. There are probably more actual attacks, but outside the USA the reporting is a bit sketchy.

I have a hard time coming up with something that's more rare or more random than shark attacks. There are a little over 1 million fatal car accidents in the world per year. Six million people die of heart attacks, three million die of diarrhea, 1.1 million from measles. Five from sharks. You really want to worry about sharks? That's a phobia, pure and simple.   

[headmount]

Every so often we see them, sometimes very close.  There's that brief moment where you inhale and then you exhale ... and hope it's looking at the guy behind you.  What can you do but keep paddling?  Like PBill said, It's a phobia. 

Some people on this forum have mentioned turtles but I think the influx of akule and other types of bait fish, is a much bigger magnet.   Sometimes there's nothing out there and other times, it's teeming with small fish.  If they bite a human, it's because they were in that bite everything mode, not because they want to eat us.  Yesterday the water erupted around me with the biggest swarm of Malolo (flying fish) I've ever seen.  Wondered what flushed them until I saw the ulua fin and was a tad more relaxed.

And Tahiti... well let's just say if you've got a shark phobia, you won't be comfortable in the water.  Paidmydues grew up there.  He knows.

And the West Coast of America and Western OZ and South Africa.  I did go to one place where they've been fished out almost completely but there's no surf.

In 2001, I went to the small atoll of Tiki Hou in the Tuamotos.  These huge local guys took me to this pass in the reef where they had a fish trap.  They go in with these sieve buckets and just bucket fish into a boat above them.  There were also many sharks inside the trap.  Those guys grabbed them and threw them out without a care.  Big guys like I said, but with reactions as quick as lightening.   Not one iota of fear.

[PonoBill]

The only place I would really worry about sharks is in the water off the Farallon Islands. I did dive there once, on the shoal side. Saw lots of smaller sharks but none of the big Whites that the area is famous for. Then again one might be more worried about the nuclear waste that was dumped there, though as usual, there isn't any detectable increase in radioactive contamination of surface and near-surface water despite the huge number of barrels of contaminated stuff that was dumped there--about 50,000 barrels as I recall, mostly Navy stuff.

[DavidJohn]

There are about 50 reported shark attacks worldwide so far in 2013, it will probably be about 100 by the end of the year--as it was in 2012. Ten were fatal in 2012. There are probably more actual attacks, but outside the USA the reporting is a bit sketchy.

I have a hard time coming up with something that's more rare or more random than shark attacks. There are a little over 1 million fatal car accidents in the world per year. Six million people die of heart attacks, three million die of diarrhea, 1.1 million from measles. Five from sharks. You really want to worry about sharks? That's a phobia, pure and simple.   

I agree 100% .. Much, much bigger chance of being struck by lightning.

DJ

[Celeste]

There are about 50 reported shark attacks worldwide so far in 2013, it will probably be about 100 by the end of the year--as it was in 2012. Ten were fatal in 2012. There are probably more actual attacks, but outside the USA the reporting is a bit sketchy.

I have a hard time coming up with something that's more rare or more random than shark attacks. There are a little over 1 million fatal car accidents in the world per year. Six million people die of heart attacks, three million die of diarrhea, 1.1 million from measles. Five from sharks. You really want to worry about sharks? That's a phobia, pure and simple.   

I agree 100% .. Much, much bigger chance of being struck by lightning.

DJ

In that case, does Tahiti have lightening? and if so do the sharks worry about being struck by it.

[OUTSIDEWAVE]

 i think it is in the ratios   how many surf, standup, or dive get attacked what percentage?   Every  body has a heart  how many die from a heart attack ? I think that is how to look at it.   if I am gonna get it by a shark  I want my  insurance paid up first. LOL

[paidmydues]

yes,shark attacks in Tahiti,but I personally never heard of a tiger shark attack.Mostly from 2 species that cruise the reefs(yes,under your feet when you're surfing),Raira and Mauri,white and black tip,and always when spearfishing,or nowadays when feeding sharks for tourists(never heard of tourists being bitten,only the idiots feeding the sharks,although a woman recently lost a hand to a moray eel)(big eel).In the Marquesas,that don't have fringing reefs,just like Hawai'i,less shark attacks than the Tuamotu or Society islands.I have seen way more sharks in Tahiti,but way more tiger sharks in Hawai'i.I don't even surf Pier 1 on Maui anymore,been spooked too many times.Recently,my friend's son was out on a kayak fishing with a buddy outside Maliko when a tiger bumped his kayak twice.He could see him clearly under the kayak.kinda hard not to think about that when you're doing a downwinder.Will make you jump back up faster on your ship,eh?On a oc-1,when you flip over on a downwinder,you have to turn all 21 feet of canoe all the way around to get the ama upwind again before you can flip it back up.On my first Maliko, on a really tippy canoe and  straight east wind,I flipped 12 times.

[JimK]

Bill,

Love your stat more people die of Diareha

JimK
www.extremewindsurfing.com

[Old School 213]

Bill, someone once told me the odds of getting attacked by a shark were about the same as getting "molested" by dwarfs while driving to the beach. Going by your stats I'm surprised that there are that many aggressive, frisky dwarfs out there.

[feet]

Freakonomics: Conditional Risk - Sharks and vending machines

http://freakonomics.com/2011/09/08/how-are-sharks-less-dangerous-than-vending-machines-an-exercise-in-conditional-risk/


Sharks vs. a number of different dangerous things:

http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/sharks/attacks/relarisk.htm

[leroy13]

There are about 50 reported shark attacks worldwide so far in 2013, it will probably be about 100 by the end of the year--as it was in 2012. Ten were fatal in 2012. There are probably more actual attacks, but outside the USA the reporting is a bit sketchy.

I have a hard time coming up with something that's more rare or more random than shark attacks. There are a little over 1 million fatal car accidents in the world per year. Six million people die of heart attacks, three million die of diarrhea, 1.1 million from measles. Five from sharks. You really want to worry about sharks? That's a phobia, pure and simple.   

Well said, 

[KiwiSupGreg]

"Re: does tahiti have shark attacks?"

Do Bear's shit in the woods?