Interesting Marina Guest

[Bad Obsession]

Lately there has been some media about some bull sharks that were caught in nets near Point Lookout, MD.

What you won't see in the media is that there have been some local reports of a 6' long Bull Shark in Monroe Bay (Colonial Beach, VA). Several water men have witnessed this shark and these guys are good sources. Another member of my marina also saw this shark on an occasion. It was near my marina!

I don't think that this activity is really rare because bull sharks are known to venture into fresh water. The water in the area of Colonial Beach is classified as brackish. I also remember reports of the beaches of Westmoreland State Park being shut down because of shark sightings. Colonial Beach is close to 30 miles from the mouth of the Potomac River.

 

[Bad Obsession]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POr3pRXyOl0

 

[IH82BL8]

Hmmm...and Point Lookout is only 40 miles south of my marina.

 

[Anonymous 121765]

Yo Bad, how ya doing pal?

Funny how you bring up Bulls.

I can tell you from up close experience, this is one nasty fish.
Things to remember are that they are territorial, aggressive, & don't care who or what they bite.

As a spear fisherman, I've witnessed a many times divers have been forced to throw their fish stringers at them just to get away. Every time we come across this, we run interference to allow the divers to scramble onboard. There's been some really close calls. If they like a ledge, any diver has to be careful. They do like to bump you first, & when that happens hope your speargun is cocked.

I always dive with my 223 powerhead ready. Not ready to fire, but as a bang stick.
One guy was attacked in the ICW off his dock recently. His wife was trying to pull him up on his dock, but could only watch, as he bled to death. Dangerous times are morning, late afternoon/early evening & nite.

I don't know how many folks near you swim in the water, but you should get the word out for your area to be cautious if swimming, cleaning etc. You may petition local authorities to have him put down. If the food supply is good for him, he may stay around for awhile.

Stay safe my friend.........

CR

 

[Gunni]

Oh, that is just great! I've been telling the kids that they have an over-active imagination and that bull sharks are very rare in these waters. I made them quit watching the Discovery channel! Now what am I going to tell them? Can I fish with a smoothbore?

 

[Ross]

Just one will stock the freezer for the year.

 

[rgranger]

...
Things to remember are that they are territorial, aggressive, & don't care who or what they bite. ...

Hey... not trying to stir the pot:stirthepot:

But I found this thread really interesting, especially the video clip... and there just happens to be a marine biologist who studies sharks with an office one floor below my office... so I asked him about it... Look at what he said... it is radically different than the conventional thinking... mind you ... this is not my opinion and... he says it is preliminary research... but it is very interesting and relevant...

From Dr. John Morrisey (Professor of Marine Biology)
Don't trust it. I did my PhD on the movement, home ranges, social structure, activity rhythms, and habitat selection factors of sharks... and no species has ever been shown to be territorial, including bull sharks.

BUT, recent work by a student in Louisiana is providing really, really compelling data that bull sharks, like salmon and shad, are anadromous, swimming into rivers to give birth! She has very strong data from years of tracking adults and juvenile in fresh waters that dump into the Gulf that the adults are there [rivers] temporarily to give birth and screw, returning year after year to the same creek, whereas the pups stay put for 2-3 years before departing!! So, after years of assuming that excursions into fresh water was a pseudo-random event with unknown causes, we're now starting to accept the notion that the reproductive strategy of bull sharks is a lot like that of salmon!

In science, we call this COOL ****!!

Maybe they are dangerous because they are protecting their young...???

 

[Bad Obsession]

I have heard similar stuff to what the Biologist told you. Some of these sharks may be going way up river. Maybe as far as DC.

Another possibility is that the sharks are going tack to old migration patterns that they use to use.

 

[shemandr]

There is a story about Bull Shark attacks in a river in NJ, I think, many years ago. If I remember the sharks bit several victims over a period of time. The water being a river was brackish.
I just looked on a shark attack web site and it appears to have been in July 1916 in Matawan Creek. Another shark website indicates Bull sharks are often found in brackish and even fresh water (Ohio River). This is one scary website if you like to swim: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fatal,_unprovoked_shark_attacks_in_the_United_States

 

[nolasafari]

I like the Scientific term "Screw", which is of course why I don't swim in the ocean

Jim

 

[Gunni]

In the Chesapeake Bay we have lots of fish traps this time of year. They are basically net fences that herd fish into a pen, where the watermen can gather them. Guess it was about 15 years ago, a guy up on the Patapsco (Baltimore) found a bull shark in his trap. That is nearly 200 miles from the ocean.

 

[LuzSD]

a little hijack.. maybe?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POr3pRXyOl0

On the subject of sharks.... yesterday a neighbor drove by and mentioned I should check out his son at this website. http://purakai.com/adventures-of-aquatic-man/bid/309292/Witness-to-a-Tragedy-Finding-Beauty-in-the-Death-of-a-Blue-Shark
I think his intention was for me to see a cool article about the son "riding" a tiger shark.... but that's not the first article to pop up so I read/watched the one that did...... and my heart sunk and tears flowed. I am probably hijacking this thread, and if so, please forgive. I think its an important article and I hope it is shared. What I think makes this most powerful is the fact that Deron is a fisherman, diver, spear fisherman, photographer.

I hope this is appropriate and not considered rude to add it here. If so, feel free to remove it admin guys

 

[justsomeguy]

A sad story, LuzSD. Thanks.

 

[Scott T-Bird]

I happened to read a Readers Digest about the summer of fear in New Jersey in 1916. It seems that there were coincidental attacks during the same time period with a Great White that killed a few people in the ocean along the northern NJ shore and a (probable) Bull Shark in Matawan Creek. The Matawan Creek incidents occurred when some kids were swimming in a swimming hole in the creek, which is just a tiny creek off Raritan Bay. The Matawan Creek attacks occurred after attacks were made in the ocean so people at the time thought they were related to the same shark ... especially because a fisherman caught a Great White in Raritan Bay soon after the attacks in the creek and, iirc, human remains were found in the sharks stomach.

Only later, did scientists consider that it would be more likely that the incidents in the ocean, which were known to be a Great White, and the creek where they never did identify a specific shark species, could be different sharks because it would be unheard of for a Great White to be in a creek that far upstream from salt water. So it is now believed that it was a Bull shark that was responsible for the attacks in Matawan Creek.

When you drive thru Matawan, and see how small the creek is and how far upstream the location of the attacks is from Raritan Bay, it really is unbelievable.

Last night, I was watching Shark Week episode about the Great Whites that are now hanging around the beaches in Chatham, Cape Cod. This very close to Woods Hole. These researchers were tagging sharks, one was about 14' and the other about 17' and around 2,000 lbs! Then, with the radio receivers that were attached, they had a small torpedo like devise that honed in on the radio signal so it could follow the sharks and film their movements.

The researchers were actually following behind the sharks in a boat while the sharks swam within a few hundred meters of crowded beaches filled with people and surfers. They then became concerned about when they should warn the Harbor Master (responsible for beach safety) about the proximity of these huge Great Whites. In the end, the sharks swam off in different directions, but the torpedo devises followed these sharks into areas that were in very shallow water along beaches where they were looking for seals.

It is pretty scary to suddenly realize how close so many people may be swimming with Great Whites in the water at these beaches when there are no devises around for warning.

 

[Bob S]

I don't think there is much to worry about unless you're a seal. These creatures have been roaming around for a long time. We often drop anchor within site of Chatham. I have yet to see one. If we do I might never get the admiral out again. This is a cool site if you want to follow the sharks that have been tagged.

http://sharks-ocearch.verite.com/