In an interview with surf legend Wayne Lynch, I asked him about surviving sharks in the 60s to which he stated, “I learned to read the signs, and I don’t mean signs posted on the beach.”
This got me thinking about the shark bite news articles that stated the surfers had been warned and that conditions were poor.  Are we worse at being aware of dangerous conditions or simply not care? Or a combination?

Then I thought, "What if shark attack databases included a category called 'preventable', or 'human error', or 'stupidity'?"  We have provoked and non provoked, fatal and non fatal (by the way, under non fatal are included attacks with no injury whatsoever, yes, those are recorded). Point being, would it affect our approach to safely entering the ocean if this little titbit of information was subconsciously planted in our minds?  If we saw the vast number of shark bites that occurred when someone made a decision to ignore warnings would that 1. Improve our attitudes toward sharks? Would it lead to people reading further to know what those poor conditions were or what the warnings came in the shape of?
 
The ocean has predators, not only does it have predators, but we’re in an even more vulnerable position in those ocean encounters than with land predators.  So what do we do? Preemptively kill everything that can kill us? Or, what about learning how to improve our own self preservation?
Warnings come in different forms.  There are the warnings that nature will give you if you are paying attention, and there are warnings that are provided by other humans, such as posting beach signs, sending tweets or other alerts, sirens, or lifeguards literally saying, “Hey, don’t go in there!”
Going through the global shark attack file it will blow your mind how many of the recorded bites occurred after such warnings were heard, seen, and ignored.  I’ll give a few examples in a moment.
The other warnings, the ones nature provides, aren’t as obvious, but re still clear to those who have learned to see them.  I’m not saying I’m one of those people, I have a ton to learn, but I can tell you that I’m not going to go swimming with a dead whale in the vicinity.  SCUBA dive yes, swim, no. Why? That’s a different video.
Wayne lists a few examples, such as, fish shoaling, dawn and dusk, shark sightings, and a sixth sense, a connection with the ocean, something he suspects is lacking the increasing population of people using the ocean.
Enter Chris Lowe’s quote, “We have a growing population with a decreasing ability to access risk”
 
Of course you don’t have to stay out of the ocean when a shark is spotted, in truth sharks are probably there when they aren’t spotted, so shark presence doesn’t necessarily mean shark threat.  And even when there’s a shark bite you don’t have to stay out and you still might be OK
 
Let’s look at some examples.  Wait, before we do that, again, why am I bothering?  Well, I am a shark advocate and I would like to see us actually learn how to better coexist with them rather than killing them.  I’m not saying sharks don’t bite people and I’m not saying they won’t continue to in the future. I’m saying, that your best chance of not being bitten lies with knowledge, not with baited hooks and indiscriminate nets.
 
EXAMPLES
 
Example 1
Fish Hoek, South Africa, a fishing town within False Bay and not the best place on the planet in terms of shark bites on humans.  In this example, the beach had been closed, the shark warning flag was up, warnings had been issued, and the guy went in anyway. At the time of the bite the victim was the only person in the water.
I’m not going to say the names of the victims in this video, but I have provided links to the incidences if you want to look into them yourself.  I provide both a news article and the Global Shark Attack File report as a cross reference.


References
http://www.nbcnews.com/id/44703849/ns/world_news-africa/t/shark-bites-legs-swimmer-who-ignored-warning/#.WvcM59MvzOQ

Global Shark Attack File
http://www.sharkattackdata.com/gsaf/attack/south_africa/western_cape/2011.09.28.a
 
Example 2
Next, Hawaii, a kayak fishermen has his leg bitten while dangling his feet in the water while fishing in waters known to have many tiger sharks AND he and his fellow fishermen were aware that fishing attracts the sharks and makes them more aggressive
Let that sink in.
 
I mentioned signs provided by nature earlier.  Would you consider the fact that the turtles had cleared out of the area as a sign?
 
References
News
https://www.canoekayak.com/kayakfish/kayakfish-news/an-awful-first-shark-kills-kayak-fisherman-patrick-a-briney/
GSAF
http://www.sharkattackdata.com/gsaf/attack/united_states_of_america/hawaii/2013.12.02
 
Example 3
Reunion Island, a guy gets in where water sports are banned because of shark bites and after being warned
Or this guy who, along with his friends, saw a shark and decided to risk staying out, and gets bitten.  THEN, another guy, who heard about that incident gets in anyway and is bitten 7 hours later. Turns out there was a dead whale in the area leaking the ultimate shark dinner bell, but no one knew yet.  Which brings up a provoking question; even if no one else has issued a warning, if you are going to enter an active ecosystem and don’t want to be bitten, is it not in your best interest to investigate those conditions yourself?  Sounds like in this case these guys were the type who might have gotten in anyway, which, they have the right to do, and neither of them is calling for the death of sharks. BUT, these are recorded in the shark bite database and provide fuel for those who want to kill sharks.


References
News
https://news.sky.com/story/man-dies-in-shark-attack-off-reunion-island-after-ignoring-danger-warnings-10776354
 
Examples 4 and 5
Or the guys who got in knowing a shark was in the vicinity.  The second guy got in knowing the first guy had been bitten 7 hours earlier.
https://au.news.yahoo.com/wa-fisheries-minister-says-shark-attack-victims-ignored-warnings-40034841.html
 
 
 
I could go on with those sorts of examples all day.  Let’s move on to other forms of fucking up.
 
Example 6
Boy sticks finger in captive shark’s mouth after repeatedly being told not to.  Boy gets cut. Incident is recorded as a shark bite. They were nice enough to put it in the provoked category, but unless you’re going to read the details, it’s just another number added to the list of shark attacks on file.  On that topic, just in case you didn’t know, also padding the stats are events when fishermen are bitten while shark fishing. Meaning that a shark, fighting for its life, manages to get hold of the creature that inflicted the harm upon it first, and now is listed as a shark attack.
How about this ass clown who shoots a shark then the shark retaliates?  Guess what, that’s in the shark attack database.
https://www.theherald.com.au/story/2299983/child-ignored-shark-warning-before-being-bitten-staff/?cs=303
GSAF
http://sharkattackfile.net/spreadsheets/pdf_directory/2014.05.22-Aquarium.pdf
 
 
And then you have people who are bitten as a result of other people’s actions.
 
Such as Tathra, New South Wales, 2014, illegal shark fishing leads to a woman who had been swimming in the area for 14 years without incident to lose her life.  Has anything happened to the illegal fishermen? No. Are they culling sharks in New South Wales? Yes.
NEWS
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/shark-attack-tragedy-at-tathra-was-foreseen-20140403-360lc.html
GSAF
http://www.sharkattackfile.net/spreadsheets/pdf_directory/2014.04.03-Armstrong.pdf
 
A similar story back in the United States occurs when a fisherman illegally hooks a white shark and fights it for 40 minutes at Manhattan Beach Pier place known for surfers sharing water with juvenile white sharks without an incident EVER until an animal fighting for its life ends up running into a swimmer.  
http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2014/07/05/man-critical-after-being-attacked-by-great-white-shark-off-manhattan-beach/
GSAF
http://sharkattackfile.net/spreadsheets/pdf_directory/2014.07.05.b-Robles.pdf
 
Again, I’m not saying sharks don’t bite people, I’m asking you to look at the results of our own choices and our own behavior.  No matter what the circumstances, it’s chalked up as a shark attack. We can choose violence and vengeance or we can actually learn how to survive.
 
Video footage and photos by Skyler Thomas and Andy Dellios or taken from published news articles.
 
Links to shirt shown in video
Shark tooth shirt
http://www.whitesharkvideo.com/store/p65/whitesharktooth
 
I kill people shirt
http://www.whitesharkvideo.com/store/p62/sharksdontkill

"An 18 foot white shark slid up out of the water without a sound and looked at us."

Wayne Lynch recounts the time a white shark circled him and another surfer he'd rescued from a rip tide for 20 minutes. 

​Wayne Lynch’s words offer so much for us to learn from that I’ve decided to post his entire interview. Sit back and enjoy the wisdom and entertaining shark stories from one of Australia’s greatest surf pioneers.

​Background: When I was in Australia to make the film ‘Great White Lies’ in 2014 I was fortunate enough to have Kent Stannard (accomplished surfer and founder of Tag for Life) introduce me to surf legend Wayne Lynch. We drove from Melbourne to Wayne’s home near Urquhart Bluff in South Victoria overlooking the very waves Wayne used to surf. We proceeded to chat about the culling taking place in Western Australia (at that time), his feelings about culling, how surfing and the approach to surfing have changed, keys to surviving the ocean, Vietnam and dodging the draft, and some of his best ocean stories (including crazy shark tales).

Great quotes from the interview:

Regarding surviving sharks - “Part of surfing was reading the signs, and I don’t mean the signs on the beach.  There were some indications that were clear, but sometimes you just had a feeling.  You had to be aware, and awareness seems to have decreased now.  There are people from all walks of life with minimal understanding of the ocean who are now into surfing.”

Regarding shark numbers supposedly increasing - “I grew up surfing in the 60s and there were way more sharks back then. We saw sharks regularly and had to get out of the water regularly.”

“We are ecological members of the planet and if anything we should be stewards of it.”


“This ocean was alive with fish…with everything.  Now the ocean is diminished on all fronts.  I remember a day watching thousands and thousands of dolphins go by nonstop for hours and times when the bay was so full of fish there must have been one every few inches.
Sharks were everywhere, going past me, under me…it’s just something you lived with.”


“Sometimes sharks told me to get out.  They never really took an interest other than sometimes letting me know they weren’t happy with my presence.”


“One time an 18 footer slid its head above the surface without a sound and looked at us.  When a shark gets that big you don’t look at the length, you look at the width.”


Regarding Vietnam.  “We had no place there.  I wonder how many wars we would be in if politicians were sending their children to the front lines.”


“I truly sympathize with people who have lost a loved one to a shark, but I just can’t see how killing other sharks solves that.”


Photos appear courtesy of and with direct permission of Lalo Saidy and Maarten Jozef Billen.  Video footage by Skyler Thomas.

You can support Kent's shark work at http://whitetag.com.au/

whitesharkvideo.com/blog/waynelynch

Sometimes we imagine white sharks only hunting in the open blue of the ocean or launching breach attacks from the deep.  However, their most susceptible prey are the new seal and sea lion pups who are just venturing from shore for the first time, or that are swept out to sea by a large wave.  With that in mind it is actually common to see white sharks patrolling close to shore, and in Andrew Fox's case, he's actually seen these predations take place deep in the bay of the Neptune Islands of South Australia.  Other locations where this has been witnessed include South Africa and Cape Cod.
This is a small segment from Skyler Thomas's interview with Andrew Fox in 2014, which can now be viewed in its entirety at below.

Full Interview with Andrew Fox

LeBron James, The King of Flop, has flopped his way into the second round of the 2018 playoffs. Here's a tribute, showing what might happen if LeBron went shark diving. Gotta have a little fun with the shark videos, so this one is a light-hearted break as I edit the depressing documentary, Monsters. On this trip we were tiger shark diving, but no tiger sharks showed up, so we had a little fun. And I still love lemons and nurse sharks.

Imagine if the media put as much effort into educating the public as it does instilling fear and inciting drama. Please don't fool yourselves that journalists have your best interests in mind. They are feeding off human tragedy to manipulate emotions of other humans who tune in to hear about that tragedy. What if even a small portion of the broadcast was used to teach people methods of self-preservation? How about just an information bar at the bottom showing apps, websites, and phone numbers where they can check the safety conditions of beaches? What about the fact that a surfing competition was scheduled during a natural ocean feeding event? People will be angry at the money lost for canceling or postponing such an event, which again villainizes sharks, but perhaps we should instead look at the fact that recreational activity (in this case designed to generate the almighty dollar) was placed in the middle of a very bad time to enter the ocean. Fair warning, those of you who seek death as the first option over seeking means of coexistence will not like this video. Shark videos without the hype of shark fear. If you can suffer through not having your emotions manipulated by typical shark production drama, stick around and you might learn something on this channel! Footage Andy Dellios, Skyler Thomas, Walter Bernardis, 7News Perth

Walter Bernardis discusses three very close encounters with tiger sharks and white sharks.

In this clip Skyler Thomas reviews some of Walter's video footage archives to ask him questions viewers at home might be interested in, such as; What kind of advice do you give to divers regarding sharks? Have you ever made mistakes around sharks and paid the price for it? Why did the great white shark seem to "go after" a particular diver in your video? Why did a white shark seem to "go after" you in another of your videos? What were the defining moments that made those encounters end positively rather than with injury?

If you enjoy listening to a few shark divers sitting around talking sharks over drinks make sure to watch the full 'Drinking with Sharks' video (below).  

sharks, white sharks, tiger sharks, walter bernardis, skyler thomas, white shark video, drinking with sharks, wsv, monsters, dan abbott, ollie putnam, south africa, aliwal shoal, black tip shark, apex predators, don't act like prey, shark interactions, shark diving, shark bite, avoiding shark bites

Actually it's sharks NOT biting each other.  Sorry to disappoint, but once again, these amazing animals prove that they are NOT mindless monsters.

Over the years I’ve witnessed many baited situations with multiple species of shark. While there is only sent in the water the sharks are interested, but are in “standby mode “so to speak... just slowly cruising and exploring, trying to figure out the source of the smell. But when an actual piece of fish enters the equation the behaviour changes so my: the shirts speed up and are constantly changing directions watching for a feeding opportunity. When those opportunities come (fish is offered up by the bait handler) several mouths filled with razor sharp teeth suddenly descend upon the same target with lightning speed. One year it finally dawned on me that I wasn’t seeing any casualties, all the sharks were swimming away apparently unscathed. How could that be? I thought to myself. I understand that they don’t want to eat each other, nor do they want to engage in a battle that would leave them wounded, but surely mistakes are made while in such a high speed competition! On a recent diving trip conditions did not allow us to dive so we took advantage of the lemon sharks at the surface by sticking our go pros in the water to capture what it looked like from the viewpoint of the shark’s mouth. The sharks managed to avoid biting our go pros for the most part, but did mouth a couple of them in their pursuit of the fish that we dangled at the surface of the water. But my footage also revealed the links the sharks want to not to bite each other. At the last millisecond sharks could be seen turning away when they realised a competitor had beaten them to the prize. But even more impressive was seeing their reactions when a shark did end up in their mouths. Instead of biting down the shark actually opened its mouth wider to let the shark get out. My friend Andy Brandy Cassagrande contributed some footage of his own showing an even more dramatic example of this control. Two sharks pursued the bait head on. One actually swallowed the bait right before the other shark ended up in its mouth - but even in the act of swallowing it’s catch the shark left it’s mouth agape to allow the less unfortunate shark the opportunity to escape! Love sharks or hate them, you’ve got to be impressed by this level of control and willingness not to injure each other in a dangerous situation

#skylerthomas #sharks #lemonsharks #gopro 

In an ironic twist, a group of oceanic black tip sharks attacked shark advocate Skyler Thomas while working on his next conservation film.  Blood filled the water as his film crew pulled him out of the water.
Video footage captures the horrific moment.

That's what you call clickbait - the use of any headline, no matter how inaccurate, to get a reader to click on the story. The media uses the tactic unabashedly and no topic is abused worse than sharks. 
So why did I do it? For a few reasons.
1. To demonstrate the effectiveness
2. To provide a moment of self reflection as you realize how badly you wanted to see the carnage. We're a bit bloodthirsty eh? Even my friends probably wanted to see a little blood. And all the shark haters out there who can't stand that a provide a voice for these animals...they definitely were hoping I got killed. Let's be honest, the news wouldn't constantly show violence if we didn't tune in for it. So what's that say?
3. The word "dangerous" is used a lot in the context of sharks and I'm going to start discussing that topic in future videos.
4. MOST IMPORTANTLY I'm going to release the full video on Christmas and thought it would be a good idea to explain that particular segment of footage because what could be seen as frightening and aggressive behavior is actually a demonstration of fantastic shark behavior.
Slowing down the footage shows that the shark was simply steering away from another shark and in doing so ran into me. He bounced off and moved on. In avoiding the first collision and shrugging off the second one, this shark chose non violent action in the face of conflict not only once, but twice in a matter of seconds. Maybe we can strive to be more like sharks in the new year.
RETHINK THE SHARK
________________________________________
#whathappenedtothemedia #clickbait #sharkattack #attack #sharkbite #bite #sharkfatality #shark#rethinktheshark #factsnotfear 
#monsters #monstersfilm #sharkculling #justifyingevil #sharkcull #lies #greatwhitelies #durban #sharknets#natalsharksboard #beachtourism #drumlines #nets #sharknets #skylerthomas #oceanicblacktip#whitesharkvideo #wsv