Featured Image Credit:WOWAmazing.com
We’re doing a double-take this week. Another great white shark entered a surface cage off the coast of Guadalupe Island, Mexico.
A photographer was snapping the usual underwater shots, with assistance from the “wrangling” method, when a shark plunged through an open space in the cage. Be careful, the video below may give you goosebumps.
Brian Skerry is an experienced shark photographer, who has been snapping pics of sharks for several decades, and he contributes the accident to the tuna filled chum bag that was teasing the naturally instinctive animal. Skerry commented, “If you bait repeatedly and the cage has a big opening, the shark will follow it in and at the last minute open its mouth, close its eyes, and end up running into the cage.”
During this situation, the videographer on board, Brian Ernst, thought the repeated impact of a 2,000 lb animal on the diver was more concerning than perhaps a bite. Ernst recalled, “The shark is trying to get out of the cage and was going crazy. We were thinking we might be seeing somebody die. Luckily the crew were thinking properly, opening up the top of the cage. A few seconds later, we saw the great white flinging out.” Shortly after the great white made it’s not-so-graceful escape, the diver exited through the top of the cage.
Due to the little sprinkling of blood, the crew could not be 100% certain that the shark exited completely unscathed. However, it is likely that the fish simply knocked out a few teeth. This is somewhat of a best case scenario because sharks actually have several rows of backup teeth.
Katie Yonker, Bluewater travel group’s operations director, after her shockingly similar incident put a strong emphasis on the fact that this was definitely not classified as a shark attack. The incident was spurred because of the chum bag luring the great white blindly to the cage.
Skerry has an interesting point of view when it comes to the recent increase of a relatively rare incident. The underwater photographer notes, “When I started diving with sharks 30 years ago, no one was interested in seeing them. Now there are shark ambassadors around the world. They’ve done some good things in trying to change the view most people have that they are dangerous villains.”
Sharks are being removed from the oceans at alarming rates. Over ten hundred million sharks die every year due to the slow and painful death of shark finning. How can we expect our oceans to maintain its ecosystem when several of their keystone species are being wiped out?
Lastly, Skerry thinks “that diving in shark cages to witness sharks firsthand has helped to raise awareness of sharks’ dwindling numbers and nuanced behavior, and it’s helped spur advocacy efforts worldwide.” While these incidents are not welcome, or on purpose, they ARE bringing much needed attention to the fish by displaying their raw beauty.
Want to read the National Geographic Article?