Title – I tried to gouge its eyes: surfer battles to drag girl from jaws of 16ft shark
Source – The Times
Date – 13th January 2009
After a spate of shark attacks in Australia this winter (UK winter that is) some people will hear the classic Jaws music in their heads as they enter the water off the coast of Australia. Should they worry?
Australia does have a reputation as a country full of dangerous and deadly animals both on land and in the water, but it is also a country that understands these dangers and where they manage these risks through information and preventative measures.
Snakes although being some of the world’s deadliest kill very few people in Australia and in comparison with South East Asia; the numbers of fatalities is so low as to be insignificant. Why? The answer is that people in Australia generally wear footwear which those working the fields in South East Asia don’t.
What I am getting at is that we need to have perspective, the fear from shark attack is completely disproportionate to the threat they pose. In Australia the far greater threat comes from your vehicle breaking down in the outback.
Understanding risk goes a long way to reducing it. Should you swim off the coast of Australia? Absolutely, but be careful and listen to local advice about the safest place to swim; the rip tides and currents are dangerous in Australia and are responsible for some 15 tourists fatalities a year; make sure that you are a capable enough swimmer and physically fit enough for the conditions. Lifeguards in Australia rightly complain about the number of ‘poms’ they have to drag from the water because they are drunk, have a hangover or generally do not pay attention to the warning signs. Ask a lifeguard on Bondi Beach around Christmas time what they look out for most and the answer of a ‘pasty pom’ will be near the top of their list.
These stories of the great courage shown by those attacked and those who helped save them, tell of punching sharks when attacked or gauging at the eyes. In the case of attack you should try anything you can, but it still remains the case that prevention is so much better than the cure. Humans are not natural prey for sharks, many bite and ‘spit’ people out; avoiding those places they are known to frequent is the best way of preventing an attack and the Aussies know where most of those high risk places are. Being afraid of sharks is natural if a little disproportionate; being afraid to ask for advice and to take it is actually quite dangerous.
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Beyond The Blue (Safe Gap Year) our Gap Year and Independent Travel Safety & Awareness Workshop (GYITSA) considers issues of Travel Safety, but how to protect against shark attack is not high on the agenda; understanding risk, evaluating it and putting proactive measures into place to prevent risk are. To do this we take a very rational view and look at the facts not the myths. It is still the case that on average there are about 1.2 fatal shark attacks a year in Australia’; that makes Sharks about 10 times less dangerous than swimming itself.Source – The Times
Date – 13th January 2009
After a spate of shark attacks in Australia this winter (UK winter that is) some people will hear the classic Jaws music in their heads as they enter the water off the coast of Australia. Should they worry?
Australia does have a reputation as a country full of dangerous and deadly animals both on land and in the water, but it is also a country that understands these dangers and where they manage these risks through information and preventative measures.
Snakes although being some of the world’s deadliest kill very few people in Australia and in comparison with South East Asia; the numbers of fatalities is so low as to be insignificant. Why? The answer is that people in Australia generally wear footwear which those working the fields in South East Asia don’t.
What I am getting at is that we need to have perspective, the fear from shark attack is completely disproportionate to the threat they pose. In Australia the far greater threat comes from your vehicle breaking down in the outback.
Understanding risk goes a long way to reducing it. Should you swim off the coast of Australia? Absolutely, but be careful and listen to local advice about the safest place to swim; the rip tides and currents are dangerous in Australia and are responsible for some 15 tourists fatalities a year; make sure that you are a capable enough swimmer and physically fit enough for the conditions. Lifeguards in Australia rightly complain about the number of ‘poms’ they have to drag from the water because they are drunk, have a hangover or generally do not pay attention to the warning signs. Ask a lifeguard on Bondi Beach around Christmas time what they look out for most and the answer of a ‘pasty pom’ will be near the top of their list.
These stories of the great courage shown by those attacked and those who helped save them, tell of punching sharks when attacked or gauging at the eyes. In the case of attack you should try anything you can, but it still remains the case that prevention is so much better than the cure. Humans are not natural prey for sharks, many bite and ‘spit’ people out; avoiding those places they are known to frequent is the best way of preventing an attack and the Aussies know where most of those high risk places are. Being afraid of sharks is natural if a little disproportionate; being afraid to ask for advice and to take it is actually quite dangerous.
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