August 25 2011
It is raining. A good time for blogging – I guess!
In my previous post I mentioned something about a shark attack. Unfortunately there has been a fatal shark attack here in idyllic Seychelles. And it gets worse. There were two. Yes, two fatal shark attacks within just three weeks of each other and to add spice to this whole freak show, at the same place, the same beach.
It happened on Praslin island, to the north of Mahe where I am staying. It’s about 40miles as the crow flies from here. The repercussions of these two attacks are quite staggering to be honest. And I am not just talking about the family and close friends and related industry – personally I have put away my swimming goggles. Getting swimming fit and any hopes of hitting the open sea, as I have been dreaming about in the previous months have been put aside. Even when I covered two dings on my surf board with duck-tape, there was this underlying laxness in my effort.
Naturally the event has been all over the press and where ever I go, people have been asking, “Are you here to look for the shark?” To answer no, at such a time would be callous. “Yes, I will be keeping a good eye out for any large sharks with nasty teeth…” and people would smile and nod heads – happy that something is being done. The fact is every local fisherman has been out in the area with hooks, catching every shark willing to take the bait. Even Helicopter Seychelles have been in on the action, sponsoring and deviating flights to “keep an eye” out for the shark.
Suffice to say, shark is the talk of the town. Rumour has it that fisherman have been taking an unusual amount of large sharks from the west coast of the main island in recent months – apparently a few Bull sharks in excess of 3m’s and two Tigers sharks of 5m each. Ironically this is also exactly the area we do the whale shark encounter trips too! Given the shark hunting history of Seychelles, this is an unfortunate turn of events. With sharks (especially in Seychelles) very threatened this new pursuing of shark leaves a bad taste in the mouth.
But it is not all negative. The Save our Seas Foundation, have brought out a crew to try and put a different spin on the whole shark take. Instead of catching sharks they intend to use camera’s to help identify the culprit. Though I have not been able to establish exactly their technique it should be interesting to see what transpires over the next few weeks. Of course, personally I couldn’t help but feel a slight return of enthusiasm when I put wax on my surfboard yesterday – fewer sharks mean less chance of any biting me!
Wish you were here!
:)
It is raining. A good time for blogging – I guess!
In my previous post I mentioned something about a shark attack. Unfortunately there has been a fatal shark attack here in idyllic Seychelles. And it gets worse. There were two. Yes, two fatal shark attacks within just three weeks of each other and to add spice to this whole freak show, at the same place, the same beach.
It happened on Praslin island, to the north of Mahe where I am staying. It’s about 40miles as the crow flies from here. The repercussions of these two attacks are quite staggering to be honest. And I am not just talking about the family and close friends and related industry – personally I have put away my swimming goggles. Getting swimming fit and any hopes of hitting the open sea, as I have been dreaming about in the previous months have been put aside. Even when I covered two dings on my surf board with duck-tape, there was this underlying laxness in my effort.
Naturally the event has been all over the press and where ever I go, people have been asking, “Are you here to look for the shark?” To answer no, at such a time would be callous. “Yes, I will be keeping a good eye out for any large sharks with nasty teeth…” and people would smile and nod heads – happy that something is being done. The fact is every local fisherman has been out in the area with hooks, catching every shark willing to take the bait. Even Helicopter Seychelles have been in on the action, sponsoring and deviating flights to “keep an eye” out for the shark.
Suffice to say, shark is the talk of the town. Rumour has it that fisherman have been taking an unusual amount of large sharks from the west coast of the main island in recent months – apparently a few Bull sharks in excess of 3m’s and two Tigers sharks of 5m each. Ironically this is also exactly the area we do the whale shark encounter trips too! Given the shark hunting history of Seychelles, this is an unfortunate turn of events. With sharks (especially in Seychelles) very threatened this new pursuing of shark leaves a bad taste in the mouth.
But it is not all negative. The Save our Seas Foundation, have brought out a crew to try and put a different spin on the whole shark take. Instead of catching sharks they intend to use camera’s to help identify the culprit. Though I have not been able to establish exactly their technique it should be interesting to see what transpires over the next few weeks. Of course, personally I couldn’t help but feel a slight return of enthusiasm when I put wax on my surfboard yesterday – fewer sharks mean less chance of any biting me!
Wish you were here!
:)
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