Is It Safe to Go Back in the Water?

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You've been studying shark behavior for more than 40 years and yet you admit there is still much we don't know. Why is it so difficult to understand this animal?
It's true, we still know so little. This is a very difficult animal to study. We need special equipment to observe them in their natural state. I take a boat out frequently and bring in some white sharks with bait, but I can't assume every behavior I see is natural, because there is a boat there, and that's not natural, and neither is a cage. The noise from the boat, my regulator from my air line, the cameras humming and whistling. None of these things are natural.

What about placing a hidden camera in the water?
I've been trying to get funding for these types of cameras for many years, to get cameras placed in specific locations where we know sharks exist and put tags on sharks that will turn the camera on when the shark comes into range. The camera will then rotate and follow the shark, and the camera is silent and concealed in a black housing dome so it resembles granite rocks. This hasn't been done to this point. Funding is difficult. If you give me the amount of grant money that is spent on just one cruise missile, I'll assemble a group of scientists worldwide and give you, at the end of five years, a great white's life history. In five years we'll give you total picture of what this animal does in life; we'll know more than we have ever known before about the great white shark. But no one wants to fund this research.

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Posted By: observer101 @ 05/02/2008 12:37:12 PM

Definately dont pee in the water either...thats a sign of an animal in distress and they go after that like they do blood.
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Posted By: Cssndra @ 05/01/2008 11:42:05 AM

I still think the same things I was told as a child apply: don't swim if you have a cut or are bleeding, don't wear jewelry, don't dangle your legs off a float or surfboard, and don't wear dark clothing to swim in. All those things make you look or smell like dinner. Just use common sense!
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Posted By: where in the hell @ 04/30/2008 3:14:26 PM

I would rather prefer think that the human being cannot threat the animal environment. Is true that the people needs to go into the water, wherever the reason is. but is also true that the human being needs to be extremely careful during the animal environment interaction.