Sharks feeding on chum from diving tours
Now you would think that dive tours would understand the implications of chumming the waters just to watch sharks feed, to allow people to experience a shark feeding frenzy firsthand. That type of business is absolutely ludicrous because it not only puts people who use the area for recreation in danger, it will attract the larger more aggressive cousins of the White Tips and Black Tips as well as Tiger Sharks and it will cause public outcry if the sharks attack a person (on accident, of course) thinking they are chum or bait. After all, how is a shark to tell?
Let’s tackle the first issue here. People that live near the Maunalua Bay area use it to practice various water recreation sports. Several people surf in the area several times a week, canoe, swim and go boating. Like one of the individuals point out, “How many of us have gone out in boats and jumped into the water to cool off? Sharks won’t be able to distinguish the difference.” It’s not that sharks are stupid by any means, it’s just that when something (or someone) crashes into the water the sharks won’t be able to distinguish a difference thus putting scuba divers and swimmers in major danger.
The second issue here is that larger, much more aggressive predators will be attracted to the area. Sharks can smell one particle of blood in 1 million particles of water (that’s one drop of blood in 25 gallons of water). Once a shark comes across a scent they follow a scent trail until they theoretically find the source. Let’s say, hypothetically, one of these shark tours does put chum in the water to lure sharks, a large, aggressive shark follows the scent right into a popular surfing/scuba diving/ swimming area. A person is attacked (accidentally) because they are mixed in among the scent. Whose fault is it? Naturally, everyone will point to the species which cannot defend itself and did the “attacking,” the shark.
As you can tell chumming water to lure sharks is totally irresponsible and should, if possible, be stopped. Not only will it keep sharks safe, it will keep people in the water safe as well. Do you want to be attacked by a shark who associates you with chum? I know I wouldn’t 🙂
Curious about the source of all of this? Here’s the article.
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