Bahamas shark bite aboard Shear Water, official thread 
Februrary 24, 2008 shark bite aboard Shear Water
Last Update: 12 June 2008 07:41 AM
33 comment(s) | discuss in forums
Author: Eric Cheng ( echeng )
Related Link: shark bite discussion
This is the official thread on the February 24, 2008 shark bite (what some are calling a shark attack) in the Bahamas.
On February, 24, 2008, a 50 year old man was bitten by a shark in the Bahamas while on a shark diving expedition aboard the M/V Shear Water (also mentioned in the press as “Shearwater” and “Sheerwater"). The man was bitten in the leg by a shark while scuba diving and was reportedly flown via Coast Guard helicopter to Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami for treatment, where he passed away.
I just spoke with Jim, who is just clearing immigration right now back in Florida. At the moment, he is completely swamped with everything that must be done. He did say that he is praying for the diver’s family and loved ones, and that the accident was extremely unfortunate.
UPDATE: February 25, 2008— We are looking for testimonials about Jim Abernethy, his dive operation/Shear Water, and Markus Groh, the diver who passed away. You can also sign a petition in favor of shark diving in the Bahamas. If you want to do more, we have posted a suggest list of actions you can take.
The Wetpixel staff would like to share our condolences with Mr. Groh’s family, and hope that this accident will not adversely affect anyone in the diving industry in the Bahamas.
We’ll report facts and news coverage links as we get them.
Note: the Posted date of this article is inaccurate. The original post date is early afternoon, February 24, 2008. We’re updating the post date as we go to make sure this article floats to the of the page after each change.
(reverse chronological order)
June 12, 2008
Shark Huggers: Tourists can’t wait to get next to them – even if they are eating machines - The first fact-based article I’ve seen about the incident, and about general shark tourism in the Bahamas and Florida (it covers a wide variety of shark topics). The author, Amy Guthrie, wrote me a one-line email some time ago asking if Wetpixel’s July trip was still scheduled to go as planned. I don’t remember if I even replied. Worth a read, if you’re into sharks (or if you’re afraid of them).
March 3, 2008
Time, When Adventure Tourism Kills - talks about the greater issue of risky adventure tourism. Also talks about lawsuits and what might go down if Groh’s family sues. I was pleased to see the article link to an in-depth article called Under Attack that discusses sharks and the threat of extinction.March 2, 2008
Miami Herald, Tourist’s death sparks shark-diving debate - talks about both sides of the shark baiting debate, and also mentions Jim’s supporters and the SharkSavers petition. Also, this is a good sign: “When the dust settles, pro-cage-less divers may have little to worry about… Michael Braynen, the Bahamas’ director of marine resources, said none of his government’s agencies restrict any form of diving, and as of Friday afternoon, he hadn’t heard of any effort to change that.”
March 1, 2008
Palm Beach Post, Chum dives called bad for divers, sharks alike - Some articles are starting to talk about the greater issue: baiting sharks. This one interviews people who don’t agree with Jim, but some of them say that Jim conducted safe dives despite their disagreement about principles.
CNN Video, Shark dives debate - people are releasing more footage. The piece starts with a great white shark putting its nose in a cage, shot by a diver who says that people should be allowed to dive with sharks if they assume the risk, and then shows actual footage of bull sharks from End of the Map, supplied by Shark Diving International. The piece continues with an interview with Neal Watson and footage from Sharkwater / interview Rob Stewart.
NBC Today Show, Shark population in crisis - finally, a piece that talks about threat humans face to global shark populations. My buddies at the Bimini Biological Field Station did a great job explaining the issue.
Februrary 29, 2008 - More news.
AP, Shark Feeding Questioned After Attack - this article tries to associate “dangerous” sharks with “diving in the deep, open ocean.” The story isn’t very sophisticated, and superficially quotes opinions from both sides of the shark diving debate. I’m sure it will be picked up by local news everywhere. It also features Neal Watson’s soundbite.
February 28, 2008 - The media continues. Most stories released today seem to be based on the old facts and are only a few paragraphs long. But some are starting to show both sides of the story.
RedOrbit, Shark Enthusiast: Most Recent Death ‘Freak Accident’, Feb 28, 2008 15:00 CST - a shark enthusiast comes says that diving out of the cage with tiger sharks might be risky, but that he is contemplating doing the trip anyway. “They’re not interested in you,” he added. “They’re interested in the fish.”
February 27, 2008 - MSNBC’s The Today Show and CNN feature Bahamas shark footage online and interview both Neal Watson and Rob Stewart. Other news articles are starting to be varied instead of all regurgitating the same content.
TODAY: People, Fatal shark bite highlights danger of sport, 6:32 a.m. PT, Feb 27, 2008 (with video) - The article puts Neal Watson’s comments next to Rob Stewart’s comments to show both sides of the story. It includes a video that primarily shows footage from other operations. Ironically, most of the video footage shown is of reef sharks feeds around divers, which have a much more aggressive look than footage of the slow movements of larger sharks (which are not actively fed on Jim’s trips). The real irony is that the footage looks similar to what might have been taken on one of Watson’s trips.
The Today Show did use some footage provided by the Shark Angels project (which I am involved in), which shows clips from Rob Stewart’s dives with Jim Abernethy. Although the footage was from Tiger Beach, you can see that the sharks are not excited; they are moving slowly, and are milling around, drawn to the area by the scent of fish in the water. Shark Angels provided the Today Show with minutes of non-sensationalist footage they could have shown. Instead, they chose to show more aggressive footage from operations whose underwater practices are nothing like those conducted by JASA.
CNN Video, Shark talk - CNN’s Kiran Chetry interviews Rob Stewart, who comments about the shark bite on Jim’s boat. CNN shows more typical footage from Jim’s operation, with lemon sharks swimming around calmly. Strangely, they also show footage of a great white shark trying to get bait on the surface while Rob is still talking about the specific event.
Sun-Sentinel, Austrian killed by shark was experienced diver, father says - Article writes about Groh’s family and interviews divers who have been out with Jim Abernethy, all of who have positive things to say. There is a poll included in this story that asks whether authorities should regulate or ban these expeditions. So far, 81.5% of 2739 responses say that they should be.
Also, this story states that the current investigation by the Coast Guard is not a criminal one: “The inquiry is not a criminal one at this point. ‘It’s simply a maritime accident we’re investigating,’ Lt. Cmdr. Chris O’Neil said. ‘Whenever you have a maritime accident, we look into it to determine what the causal factors are and to prevent a reoccurrence.’”
Miami Herald, Shark-dive boat operator in a tight spot - article states that the Miami-Dade County Medical Examiner’s office listed Groh’s mode of death as accidental, but that the autopsy report was not yet finalized as of yesterday. The Bahamian Ministry of Tourism is reported by be evaluating whether Abernethy violated any of the country’s charter-diving guidelines. Here’s a good one. Nalini Bethel, the Ministry spokesperson, said it was a tiger shark that killed Groh. Just yesterday we were complaining about Shark Diver’s misleading blog, which implies that a tiger shark bit the diver, and today, it’s in a news article. Oh, and Patric Douglas of Shark Diver was quoted in the article. I hope it was coincidence.
Fox News, Shark Kills Austrian Scuba Diver in Baited Water (with video) - Greta interviews Doc Anes of San Diego Shark Diving Expeditions: “You’re dealing with wild animals here. It is not like going to the zoo and looking at the lions and the tigers… Think of yourself on a safari. You’re walking through the Savannah there, and you have a guide with you. Now, you’re doing everything that you can to mitigate the risk. But suppose you have a leopard that is in a tree that you did not see.”
CNN, Rob Stewart makes a statement on Anderson Cooper 360 - I can’t find the video of the Anderson Cooper 360 segment, but I hear that it was a balanced discussion between Rob Stewart and George Burgess of the Shark Attack File. I know that in the background, CNN actually took the time to listen to folks who wrote in with some hard facts about the issue, which may have turned the piece into something about diving with sharks instead of a public lynching of Jim Abernethy. If someone finds the video, can you post a link here?
February 26, 2008 - Shark Savers has put up a petition in favor of shark diving in the Bahamas. Please add your name to the list if you support the cause.
February 26, 2008 - It looks like other members of the Austrian press are picking up on information from the nullzeit.at article that claims that the lawyer came into contact with the bait, and that the lawyer died of a pulmonary embolism (CNN reported blood loss as cause of death).
February 26, 2008, 4:57pm - WPTV NBC5, Dive community reacts to rare, deadly shark attack - “Rare. But widely publicized. It’s why divers debate whether any further change in shark-diving laws would be an over-reaction. But almost all agree any further demonizing of these creatures - would be misplaced.” Finally, an article that is quoting people who don’t have agendas!
Februrary 26, 2008 - CNN’s article states that Miami-Dade Medical Examiner’s Office said that Groh died from loss of blood. Neal Watson continues to bash Jim.
CNN, Shark tour leader was warned of danger, diver says, 3pm, Feb 26, 2008 - “Groh, 49, died from loss of blood resulting from the shark attack near the Bahamas, The Miami-Dade Medical Examiner’s Office said.
“Watson told CNN he also offers a cageless shark tourist experience in the Bahamas, but only with less dangerous species: Caribbean reef sharks, blacktip sharks, blacknose sharks, nurse sharks and silky sharks. [Watson wrote] ‘We recommend all operations immediately cease and desist conducting open-water, non-cage shark diving experiences with known species of potentially dangerous sharks such as tiger sharks, bull sharks, hammerhead sharks, lemon sharks, and mako sharks.’”
Lemon shark? Has Watson ever been in the water with a lemon shark? Wait, let me guess, their operation doesn’t do lemon shark dives. Therefore, they are dangerous? I’ve been told that Watson’s operators hand-feed reef sharks. Personally, I’d take a baited tiger shark over a hand-fed or chumsicled reef shark any day.
February 26, 2008 - Shark Diver spreads misinformation about the geographic location of the shark bite
Shark Diver, Death on Tiger Beach-Why It Matters, Feb 25, 2008, 6:53PM - Shark Diver, a shark diving operator (with cages), titles their blog post, “Death on Tiger Beach.” This suggests that: 1) the incident happened at Tiger Beach, 2) the diver died at Tiger Beach, and 3) there might have been a tiger shark involved. In the article, they use a photo in blue water of a diver surrounded by sharks.
We know that the bite did not happen at Tiger Beach. Going further back into Shark Diver’s blog, all of their articles about the event have stated that the accident happened at Tiger Beach. Some of them even show photos of tiger sharks. Don’t these folks know how to check facts? What irresponsible reporting.
We have posted a letter from Andy Sallmon to Shark Diver, and Shark Diver’s dismissive response.
February 26, 2008, 8:50AM PST - The story has now hit major news networks, including the Today Show, CNN, and others. Rob Stewart of Sharkwater will be on the Today Show tomorrow, and is expected to comment on the bite.
CNN.com, Diver in chummed waters dies after shark bite, 3:18am EST Feb 26, 2008
February 26, 2008 - In-depth articles with information from reporters on the ground are starting to appear.
Miami Herald, Cageless shark-feeding dive turns fatal - this article, marked as being released on February 25 even through it wasn’t online until the 26th, is more in-depth than any others to date. It quotes George Burgess, Director of the International Shark Attack File, as saying that this death marked “the first time anyone has ever died in a shark-feeding incident.” In my experience, dives at this dive site are not shark feeds, and it would be unfair to characterize them as such. Neal Watson is also quoted. Note that no article so far has pointed out that Neal Watson runs a competing diving operation. They only quote him as president of the Bahamas Diving Association.
February 25, 2008, 7:00PM PST—The Shark Angels, a team of engaging, young conservationists, respond with a press release.
February 25, 2008, 11:10AM PST—a diver in our forums reports:
“The shark was a bull shark and the incident occurred far to the south of “Tiger Beach” in about 75 fsw in Bahamian waters. The diver was bitten in the calf and was assisted to the surface immediately by Shearwater crew whereupon the Coast Guard was summoned immediately for an evac and professional first aid was administered to the diver by Shearwater crew.
“The diver was transported by USCG helicopter to Jackson Memorial hospital in Miami. He died.”
February 25, 2008 - Nullzeit.at reports that the death was as a result of pulmonary edema from rapid ascent. Has this been confirmed by a death report? It seems highly speculative.
Bahamas: Österreicher bei Haiköderung getötet 25.2.2008 16:58 [translated to English] - “According to the last news, the cause of death was, by the way, not shark bite. Instead, as it seems, the panic ascended to the surface too fast. The resulting pulmonary embolism may have caused the deaths.” (translated)
It’s good to see that they are not referring to sharks as mindless killers: “Sharks are not the dangerous monster they are always portrayed to be. They are just free-living wild animals. Humans are not in the shark’s normal list of prey, and sharks do not attack divers unmotivated. But if you are putting bait in the water, they can—like any predator—behave erratically...” (translated)
February 25, 2008 - The media bloodbath starts. Neal Watson is associated president of Bahamas Diving Association, but also owns a competing shark diving operation. Watson’s operation features an organized shark feed.
Sun-Sentinel, Man bitten by shark off S. Fla. dies, February 25, 2008, 1:41 PM EST (including video) - The man is identified as 49-year old Markus Groh, a lawyer from Vienna Austria. Neal Watson, a competing Florida diving company owner, calls Abernethy ”irresponsible.”
February 25, 2008—news reports are coming in that say that the man died in the hospital. This is a devastating loss for the diving community, and our thoughts are with the man’s family and loved ones. The man was identified as 49-year old Markus Groh, a lawyer from Vienna, Austria.
One news report says that “divers on the trip have said the man was bitten by a bull shark at a dive site called ‘The End of the Map’.”
Local10.com, 50-Year-Old Man Bitten By Shark Dies, February 25, 2008 11:15 am US/Eastern - It’s been made public that the diver did not survive the shark bite.
UPDATE: Florida Diver Dies From Shark Attack, February 25, 2008 2:00pm US/Eastern - A SwimAtYourOwnRisk blog entry on the attack includes a misleading photo of a great white shark.
DIVE UK: Shark dive tragedy, February 25, 2008 - DIVE Magazine UK coverage mentions the death is being investigated by Florida police.
NBC WPTV5: Austrian diver dies after shark attack - cites Wetpixel.com as source. Has a photo of Markus and mentions bull shark as the shark who bit him.
February 24, 2008, 11:30 AM PST - AP/Reuters article is starting to hit the news. The best way to search for these articles is by using “sheerwater” in the search because the first article that came out misspelled the boat name. Here’s a google search that will bring them up.
Sun-Sentinel, 2:32 PM EST, February 24, 2008 - reports man bitten at 10am and evacuated to Miami
Miami Herald Headline: Shark Bites Man Off Ft Lauderdale - February 24, 2008 - Headlines make it sound like it was right off the beaches of Ft Lauderdale, even though it was in the Bahamas. Media truth distortion already starting.
NBC6 S.F., Diver Attacked By Shark Off Fort Lauderdale, 4:43 PM EST, February 24, 2008 - With the circumstances still unknown, the incident has become a shark ‘attack.’
CBS4.com, Diver Bitten By Shark Off Ft. Lauderdale, February 24, 2008 2:48 pm US/Eastern - What’s with everyone saying it was in Ft. Lauderdale? This bite was more than 4 hours by boat from Ft. Lauderdale.
WPTV.com, Diver on a Riviera Beach boat is bitten by a shark, February 25, 2008 12:18am US/Eastern - Misidentifies the boat as the “Shear Dimensions,” but does include a comment by a dive instructor stating how rare shark bites are.
CONSERVATION PRESS RELEASES Tragedy Occurs During Shark Dive: Shark Angels Express their Condolences, February 25, 2008
OTHER DISCUSSIONS Scubaboard forum discussion: Shark bites liveaboard guest
Digideep forum discussion, in German: Attacke an Bord der M/V Shear Water
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Comment(s):We would like to extend our prayers to the person bitten by a shark and their familiy. We also pray for you to have a speedy recovery and this incident doesn’t have too much of an effect on your life or effect your family.
We have formed an organization for Shark Attack Survivors operated by Shark Attack Survivors at http://www.sharkattacksurvivors.com.
We are the only organization that provides resources, information, and assistance for past, present, and future shark attack victims and their families.If you were involved or know someone who was involved in a shark attack, Please visit and contact us at http://www.sharkattacksurvivors.com.
If there is anything your fellow shark attack survivors can ever do to assist you or your family in any way, Contact Us!SharkAttackSurvivors.com also has pages and pages of shark attack information to help others avoid being attacked, visit us.
Director
Al Brenneka
Shark Attack SurvivorsPosted by sharkattacksurvivors on 02/25 at 08:10 AMMan bitten by shark off Broward is dead
Posted on Mon, Feb. 25, 2008Digg del.icio.us AIM reprint print email
BY ADAM H. BEASLEY
A 50-year-old diver bitten by a shark in waters off Broward County Sunday has died, according to Petty Officer Jennifer Johnson, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Coast Guard.His identity has not been released by the Coast Guard.
The man was diving off a 70-foot commercial vessel named Sheerwater about 50 miles east of Fort Lauderdale on Sunday when he was bitten.
It’s unknown what type of shark bit the man.
‘’He got away before anyone was able to identify it,’’ Petty Officer Nick Ameen said.
The Coast Guard received a mayday from a Sheerwater crew member at around 10 a.m.
The crew of a Coast Guard HH-65 Dolphin helicopter took off immediately from Air Station Miami.
The diver was safely hoisted and flown to Jackson Memorial Hospital.
Posted by r.m.jackson on 02/25 at 09:32 AMFrom the UK: Shark dive tragedy
A 50-year-old diver has died after being bitten by a shark in the northern Bahamas on 24 February. He had been diving on a remote coral reef which had been baited for shark diving.The man was part of a group of Austrian divers on boad the Shearwater, a liveaboard that operates out of West Palm Beach in Florida and specialises in shark diving. He was bitten on the leg during a dive in which a crate of dead fish was placed on the reef to attract sharks.
He was taken to the surface by a fellow diver and received emergency treatment on board the Shearwater. The Florida coastguard sent a helicopter to airlift him to Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, where he was subsequently declared dead.
The Shearwater is well-known in the diving world for its shark diving trips, and has attracted prominent filmmakers and photographers from all over the world. Owner Jim Abernethy said he was shocked by the death, which he described as a ‘terrible accident’. ‘At this time my heart goes to his family and loved ones,’ Abernethy told DIVE.
Shearwater’s baited dives are carried out in remote areas of the northern Bahamas, where the crew has established an array of sites. Other divers on the trip have said the man was bitten by a bull shark at a dive site called ‘The End of the Map’.
The death is being investigated by Florida police.
Posted by stargazer on 02/25 at 11:40 AMupdate from the Sun-Sentinel (clipped for newly added info/opinion): The company offers shark trips to the Bahamas for enthusiasts and photographers hoping to interact with hammerhead and tiger sharks, according to its Web site.
Operators for the company stir in fish and fish parts to “chum” the water and attract the sharks, reads the itinerary. “Please be aware that these are not ‘cage’ dives; they are open water experiences,” states the Web site.
Abernathy had been told by the Bahamas Diving Association to exercise caution with more aggressive sharks such as mako, lemon, tiger and hammerhead sharks.
The association, a group of 36 charter businesses that operate in the Bahamas, sent a letter to Abernathy and other boat owners in the past year recommending a cease and desists to conducting “open-water non-cage Shark Diving experiences with known species of potentially dangerous Sharks,” said Neal Watson, the association president.
Attempts to reach Abernathy by phone were not successful.
“Most operators do a safe dive behind cages. But Abernathy, for whatever reason, simply refused to comply with the safe diving practices in violation of our standards in the Bahamas,” said Watson, who operates a diving company out of Fort Lauderdale.
It is tempting to offer a cageless option to customers: both the photographs and personal experience would be enhanced. But the risks are too great, Watson said.
“Him working with tiger sharks and bull sharks uncaged is totally irresponsible and dangerous,” he said. “It wasn’t a matter of ‘if,’ it was a matter of ‘when.’”
Posted by stargazer on 02/25 at 01:32 PMThanks for all the comments and news items so far. Please include a link to the specific article if you post snippets.
Posted by Eric Cheng on 02/25 at 04:00 PMB Section of the Orlando Sentinel—At the top of the page today (I’m at a conference):
“Inside: Shark-baiting turns deadly near Bahamas, B3”
The headline of the article on B3: “Man dies from shark bite after open-water dive in bloody waters”
Apart from the gratuitous sensationalistic headlines, the article does not add much information to what is already posted here. However, they did get through to JASA and got a “no comment”. I’m on one of the free internet terminals at my conference so I can’t even open a second screen to provide a web link to the article, should one exist. I’ll post again in a minute if I find it.
Mike
Posted by MikeO on 02/26 at 04:34 AMWell, it appears that the article I just referenced in the Orlando Sentinel is from the AP and pieces and parts of it are everywhere at this point—online and elsewhere. The headlines appear to be the work of the Sentinel itself . . .
Posted by MikeO on 02/26 at 04:45 AMSitting in my conference center again—CNN’s “This American Morning” show is advertising a feature (to be shown at some point later this morning) on “Why people are jumping in the water to swim with sharks”. The anchor went on to say that they are even doing it “after the water is seeded with bits of fish. Divers say it really isn’t dengerous. I don’t know, how does a shark even know the difference between a diver and piece of chum?” I’m not going to get to see the piece as I need to run into a session, but they showed a teaser video—anyone know the video source?
Posted by MikeO on 02/27 at 05:09 AMHere is a video interview with Rob Stewart that ran this morning on CNN’s “American Morning”:
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2008/02/27/intv.rob.stewart.shark.cnn
Mike
Posted by MikeO on 02/27 at 09:06 AMThe situation has become absurd:
Posted on Wed, Feb. 27, 2008
Shark-dive boat operator in a tight spot
BY ADAM H. BEASLEY AND EVAN S. BENN
Jim Abernethy, the charter boat operator whose passenger was fatally mauled by a shark near Grand Bahama, could lose the right to lead tours in those waters, Bahamian authorities said Tuesday.
But he also faces a more immediate concern: a criminal investigation by Miami-Dade homicide detectives.Abernethy issued a brief statement Monday expressing condolences for ‘’this unfortunate accident.’’ Attempts to reach him Tuesday were unsuccessful.
As officials sorted out Sunday’s fatal adventure, divers across the world lit up online message boards about the controversial practice of cageless shark diving while baiting the predators with bloody chum.
Markus Groh, a 49-year-old Austrian lawyer, died at Jackson Memorial Hospital Sunday after being flown there on a Coast Guard helicopter. He was bitten during a shark-diving excursion with Abernethy’s Scuba Adventures from Riviera Beach.
A Miami-Dade police spokeswoman said the investigation is routine, pending definitive autopsy results. ‘’We’re involved because once the shark attack occurred, they brought him to shore and he died at Jackson Memorial,’’ Detective Nelda Fonticiella said. ``Our role is to wait for the medical examiner to make an official ruling.’’
The Miami-Dade County Medical Examiner’s office listed Groh’s mode of death as accidental Monday, but the autopsy report was not yet finalized Tuesday.
A Bahamian Ministry of Tourism spokeswoman said authorities there are trying to determine whether Abernethy violated any of the country’s charter-diving guidelines. ‘’We have rules for diving,’’ said Nalini Bethel, the tourism department’s senior director of communications. Abernethy had been warned by the Bahamas Diving Association not to lead cageless dives in chum-baited water with tiger sharks, hammerheads and other potentially aggressive kinds.
The Scuba Adventures website said the purpose of Groh’s six-day trip on the 70-foot Shear Water was specifically to find tigers and hammerheads. Bethel said it was a tiger shark that killed Groh.
She also said Sunday’s incident could lead Bahamian authorities to forbid Abernethy from leading shark-feeding dive excursions there. It’s already illegal off Florida’s coast. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission banned shark dives with chum baiting in 2001—sending operators like Abernethy toward the Bahamas.
In the shark-diving community, Abernethy, 50, has always evoked strong opinions—and now more so than ever. Some consider him a pioneer of cageless diving and a protector of shark ecology. Others disagree with his methods.
Patric Douglas, a California diver who runs the blog sharkdivers.blogspot.com, said in an interview with The Miami Herald he has long considered Abernethy’s cageless dives to be reckless.
But Eric Cheng, editor and publisher of the diving-photography website wetpixel.com, posted a litany of supportive messages from divers who have been on trips with Abernethy.
Even if the official investigations result in no criminal charges, maritime experts say Abernethy could have a legal headache awaiting him.
‘’I would sue the operator, sue the people involved,’’ said attorney David Neblett of Miami Maritime Law.
It would be far from an open-and-shut case, Neblett acknowledged. Like nearly all diving companies, Abernethy likely has his clients sign waivers, which are legally binding, according to attorney Michael Karcher, an adjunct professor at the University of Miami School of Law. ``The waivers try to be as absolute as possible.’’
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© 2008 Miami Herald Media Company. All Rights Reserved.
http://www.miamiherald.comPosted by r.m.jackson on 02/27 at 12:06 PMHas anyone actually established that the shark bite is what killed Mr. Groh?
TR
Posted by timrock on 02/27 at 01:14 PMNo one really knows everything yet. That is why it is do disheartening to see the “news” oulets publishing inflammatory statements from others with axes to grind and something to gain from this tragedy.
Posted by MikeO on 02/27 at 01:20 PMCNN stated that the examiner’s office said the death was a result of “blood loss.” But who knows. I don’t believe anything I read anymore.
Posted by Eric Cheng on 02/27 at 02:06 PMFirst, my family and I send our most sincere condolences out to the family of Markus Groh. Even though we did not know Mr. Groh he obviously had an admiration for the great sharks of our great blue ocean. Once he participated on a shark expedition aboard the Shearwater he joined a unique group of enthusiasts and I consider us all to be family. Our prayers are with the Groh family.
Our hearts and prayers also pour out to Jim and the crew of the Shearwater and the staff at JASA. Jim is a very good friend of ours and everyone at JASA are truly family to us as we have been diving almost exclusively with JASA and on-board the Shearwater for more than 12 years now when my wife first got certified. I have personally been on four separate expeditions aboard the Shearwater, my wife on two and my kids on two. I am very disheartened at the irresponsible and derogatory comments that are being made by some members of the dive community, clearly before any substantiated information was available. It is very disappointing and it will most definitely affect my decisions, and those of the dive community that share our understanding of sharks, to whom we will patronize in the future. Mr. Watson - you are way off base and should know better and you definitely will not be visited by my family for any dive excursions nor will those that support your statements and position, which is clearly an opportunistic one. Sorry Eric – I will keep it positive from here on.
In my opinion I have never been diving with a more safety conscious dive operation than JASA especially during the shark expeditions on-board the Shearwater. Preparation is meticulous and unmatched by any other operation that I have been diving with. Safety preparation does not stop after a briefing, it is continuous. The crew is always watching out for the divers and constantly pointing out where divers can improve and ensure their safety. We all as divers understand the inherent risk we take when we step off the stern and into the wild of the ocean. At no time, EVER, during all of the diving I have done on-board Shearwater did I feel caution and safety was being thrown to the wind. I have personally made hundreds of dives with Jim Abernethy and have been in the water with him during some of my most memorable dive moments. The most special has to be about 5 years ago when my son at 10 years of age made his first voyage on the Shearwater for a shark and dolphin expedition. The video I have of my son standing at 60 feet deep at the site known as El Dorado surrounded by dozens of reef sharks and other species is absolutely incredible. I still get chills thinking about it and it is all because we have a person like Jim whose passion is infectious and makes these wonderful trips available. You also realize that as long as you don’t do something stupid underwater you can be with these magnificent creatures safely.
I am a very advanced diver and even with all the time I have spent in the water with Jim he has never hesitated to get on to me when I am doing something wrong or being a little to adventurous and sacrificing safety. You have to respect that and everyone should know that safety is priority one with him. We will not hesitate to make future trips aboard the Shearwater even after this unfortunate accident.
Jim – I know you heart is with the Mr. Groh’s family at this time and I am sure you are asking yourself how this could have happened. This is probably killing you inside. We all get it and know what we are signing up for. It is a tragic accident and I am sure you realize that. Keep doing what you do and don’t lose your passion.
Sean Field
Dive PiratePosted by sfield on 02/27 at 07:16 PMHow terrible for Mr Groh’s family and friends. How terrible for Jim, and the crew and divers on Shearwater. How ridiculous the response, as expected, in the media and from the lawyers.
The mortality from climbing Everest is, proportionally, huge. The mortality from diving with sharks is, proportionally, tiny. I would support, with all my heart, all my effort and all my passion for diving, anyone who knows the risk and undertakes either adventure.
I fear for the sharks, both in the Bahamas and worldwide.
Tim Priest
Posted by tdpriest on 02/28 at 06:39 AMI have been watching this discussion for a while now and am suprised to see how one-sided the discussion has become. I think its a shame to see such an obviously environmentally aware community miss the one salient point. Wild anamals anywhere should not be fed. This is a lesson that we have learned time and again. Its not good for the echosystem, its not good for the animals and its not good for human-animal relations. We have learned long ago that a fed bear is a dead bear. Sharks and bears are no different in this respect. Teaching animals to associate food with humans is a bad combination, not only for safety but also for the health and behaviour of the animals themselves.
I admit I have not been on one of Jim’s trips. Given all acounts, I grant that he is an extremely careful and safe dive operator who has taken all the precautions that are possible to mitigate the risk of shark diving. I grant that he loves the animals more than anyone and has the best of intensions in mind for the preservation of sharks. I also grant that diving itself is inheriently dangerous and that the assumption of risk lies with the participant, I’m sure that Mr. Groh fully understood the risks involved. These are the same risks that I happily accept in other sports like climbing, whitewater kayaking and mountaineering skiing. The participant has the right to participate in inheriently risky activities. It is still a tradgedy and my heart goes out to his family. Further, I am realistic and understand that shark diving could not exist without baiting sharks. They simply would not come and the amazing photos would not be possible. I also recognize that preserving the species is a noble and necessary thing and that sharks are threatened worldwide as are all large predators and that interacting with animals is the best way to engender support for saving them.
I am certain that Jim did nothing wrong in this particular incident and by all acccounts did everything right in handling the accident. He clearly went to extraordinary lengths to get the patient the best care possible. I would hope to have such a responsible dive operator when an accident happens to me.
It matters little what species of shark is being baited or weather cages are involved. Teaching animals to associate people with food only makes it more dangerous for others who are not involved in the practice and ultimately harms the species. Who hasn’t been to a national park where you are pestered by squirrels begging for handouts with their hair falling out from cheetos. While it may be adorable, its not the natural experience I came for. For years people set up bleachers and stadium lights to watch the bears at the garbage dump. However, photographers have long since learned ways of interacting with animals and spreading the conservation message without interfering with the echosystem directly--think of the McNeil River bear expeditions for example. These should be the model of successful shark diving operations in the future.
Go ahead and flame me if you want but I don’t see how you can reconcile on the one hand promoting a natural experience, AWARE, leave no trace values, and preservation of the worlds oceans with interfering with a species in such a direct and destructive way.
Posted by UWphotoNewbie on 02/28 at 11:46 AMUWphotoNewbie - no one is going to flame you for rational thoughts about the incident. There are obviously going to be differing opinions about this event, and about shark diving in general.
I don’t think anyone thinks that this is a natural experience. Yes, it’s an experience in the wild, but it is definitely manipulated.
Most of the discussion is about whether shark diving in the Bahamas should be regulated arbitrarily. On this board, the opinions are definitely one-sided about that issue.
Posted by Eric Cheng on 02/28 at 12:13 PMUWphotoNwb -
Yours is an intelligent and thoughtful point of view - something sorely lacking in affairs like this thus far. Open & honest debate is what issues need, and I still have some hope that that will happen where shark diving is concerned; sadly, most of what occurs is a few impassioned defenders of the animals and our interactions with them being horribly outshouted by masses of incredible arrogance & ignorance.
If we can debate honestly however, we can get somewhere.I truly hope this doesn’t spell the end of Jim’s operations in the area, but my expectations here are understandably low.
Posted by pterantula on 02/28 at 01:21 PMUWphotoNwb -
I do appreciate your point of view ,however as it pertains to sharks specifically, I am not aware that there is any data that ‘Teaching animals to associate people with food only makes it more dangerous for others who are not involved in the practice and ultimately harms the species’. If you have such data I would be happy to change my mind. My observation of shark chumming and feeding operations on the ShearWater and at Stuart Cove’s specifically, is that though the sharks may associate feeding with certain times of day or even the sound of a boat as has been previously mentioned. I have not noticed however that they specifically associate the feeding or chumming with people - in other words if people get in the water without food, the sharks do not approach them, and when the food is withdrawn, they tend to disperse.Posted by loftus on 02/28 at 02:20 PMMy condolences to the family of Mr. Groh.
As an expat compatriot of his, I still read online versions of Austrian newspapers. I can tell you that it was despicable how the population of our land-locked country turned into shark “experts” and “diving psychologists”, condemning him on the bulletin boards. It is refreshing to read an intelligent discussion on the subject here.
I think there are 3 points here:
1. Is shark-baiting an extremely dangerous activity? Given the large number of such dives, carried out for many years with few accidents, it does not seem so.
2. Is this activity detrimental for the ecosystem due to an alteration in shark behavior? Possibly so, but are there data for this? Are there any studies? Has anyone who has worked for years on a boat involved in baiting observed changes in behavior?
3. Is this activity useful, in that it promotes dive tourism as an alternative to shark finning and other destructive acts? In that it lets people see and appreciate these sometimes threatened animals?Any effort to regulate shark diving should take all 3 points into account.
Posted by Klausi on 02/28 at 06:28 PMDanke Klausi.
Does anyone know if autopsy results clarifying whether the cause of death was the bite, embolism, or something else? I have not been able to find much objective reporting in papers like the Miami Herald.
Thanks.
Posted by danclem on 02/29 at 01:54 PMLoftus, you are correct about your comments. Even for the case of the bears in Yellowstone which were dump bears for many many many years I do not believe there was ever an incident that lead to the death of a park visitor. Probably a few near misses. However, what happened was there were bears that instead of searching for food in their natural surrounding had now associated food with human surroundings. This is known as habituation. The same has already happen with sharks. A boat shows up, the sharks come a swimming. The only difference between the two is the bear is an apex on land and the shark is an apex in water.
I personally do not look at the issue that feeding sharks will lead to them thinking humans == foods. The same as for all bears thinking humans == food. It is human activity that is the problem. However, what will happen are accidents like this one, or like the one last summer where an young boy was mauled to detah by a black bear in our local mountains. (There are animals where humans are food but that is a natural matter). And there will be the cases where a shark will visit a spear diver with game just like bears have visited hunters with game.
I take the issue to a more fundamental level. In what kind of environment do I want to observe the fauna? For me I want it to be as natural as possible to the point that I have sat out dives on live-a-boards when baiting was used. For me part of the thrill is in the “hunt”, i.e. learning about an animals habits. I have hiked for miles and sat on my butt for hours trying to get a shot of big horn sheep. My shots are few an far between but those that I have have meaning. Just like my experiences with many other critters. We bait for sharks should we bait for other critters? Where does the line get drawn? This is the more fundamental for me.
I think UWphotoNewbie is making a similar argument.
Posted by allen on 02/29 at 10:43 PMUWphotoNewbie
Having made over a hundred shark feeding dives--the real point is that “feeds” make friends for sharks--and sharks from the media flurry attendant to this incident--NEED friends. With finning out of control and the only animal on earth of which there are to many--bi-peds--the shark feed is really the only realistic chance that most divers will ever have to encounter sharks up close. Whether you equate the experience as “zoo like” or whatever--the important fact remains that in my experience when divers encounter sharks on their first feed experience, they become ambassadors for sharks. Their smiles in finding that sharks are not mindless killers IMHO outweighs any loss of natural contact that would probably never occur in the wild.
Posted by murderone on 03/01 at 07:21 AMMy name is Jeb Corliss and my job is risk evaluation. It’s what I do for a living. I get paid to figure out how to do things in a safe way that appear very dangerous. Out of all the activities I do shark diving is by far the safest. It’s what I do to relax when I have time off work. I have learned through my 16 years diving with sharks that they are actually far from the evil monsters the media portrays them to be. I have found that they are actually very intelligent and cautious hunters.
When doing any activity there are rules that must be followed in order to do them in a safe way. Rather it be playing football, riding a motorcycle, jumping from an airplane or driving a car. If these rules are not followed any one of these things can cause injury or death. Shark diving is no different. Jim Abernethy has one of the most amazing understandings of how these animals work. He has come up with a set of rules that he lays out the instant you set foot on his boat. You fallow his rules and you will have a safe and breathtaking shark experience. You brake his rules and you increase the risk of injury exponentially.
Jim watches his clients very carefully when underwater to make sure the rules do not get broken. If you brake the rules once you get a poke with a stick while underwater and then a very strong talking to when you get to the boat, reenforcing what the rules are and why they are important. If you brake them twice you are done diving. Jim had to give me the talk because I broke one of the rules. People who take pictures underwater have a tendency to focus on taking pictures and forget they are in the water with sharks. I was focusing to hard on what was going on in my view finder and letting sharks sneak up on my back. You must pay attention when you do these kinds of things. But lucky for me Jim was there to poke me with a stick and get my attention :)
I learned more from Jim in 7 days then I did from 16 years of shark diving. The man is probably the best qualified person I have ever come in contact with when it comes to Tiger Sharks and diving with them. Before I met Jim I thought diving with tiger sharks without a cage was impossible. He quickly showed me how wrong that perception was. If you do very specific things then you can spend hours underwater with these amazing animals in an environment safer then driving in your car to work.
If you look at Jim Abernethy’s safety record it speaks for it’s self. Over 20 years of taking people in the water with sharks and this is the first accident? You can’t get those kind of statistics with any other activity. Driving to the market to pick up some milk becomes more dangerous when you compare the stats.
Jeb Corliss
Posted by JebCorliss on 03/01 at 09:15 AMI have never been on one of Jim’s shark excursions but have been leading dive trips around the world for many years and have been in on too many shark feeds and similar excursions to recall. I have no doubt in my mind that Jim leads proper and safe adventures. I also have no doubt in my mind that sharks, as well as almost all animals in the wild, are unpredictable. And like the inherent risk in skydiving or scuba diving, one must be willing to face and take those risks. It is not Jim’s operation that is at fault, nor is it the sharks who are at fault. It was an accident, period. No blame and no litigation can change that.
Steve Douglas
http://www.worldfilmsandtravel.comPosted by steve on 03/01 at 02:08 PMThe Times Online has a story today. Only interesting in that is is the first place I’ve seen a USCG person quoted as saying that they strongly advise tourist to avoid trips like this:
http://travel.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/travel/news/article3458341.ece
MIke
Posted by MikeO on 03/02 at 08:06 AMIn Mid 2007 we at Shark Attack Survivors learned of shark bites taking place at Aliwal Shoal in South Africa on shark viewing/feeding dives. We began to ask questions about the bites.
At first we learned that there was an unknown operator that had 2 people bitten in 2007, but paid the persons bitten to keep quiet.
Then we contacted others involved shark feeding operations at Aliwal Shoal via shark discussion boards to try and learn more about the bites.
NOTE: These are comments made by South Africa shark viewing/feeding operators. These were comments made in mid 2007 which is prior to the Bahamas incident. The comments and problems are those in South Africa shark viewing/feeding dives not the Bahamas.
First answer from Patrick Douglas at SharkDiver.com about bites and problems at Aliwal Shoal South Africa.
Second answer from Mark Addison http://www.bluewilderness.co.za
Sorry but the responses and comments exceeded the character limit so here’s a link to the Aliwal Shoal, South Africa shark feeding/viewing problems PDF.
http://www.sharkattacksurvivors.com/index_files/shark_feeding.pdf
If shark viewing/feeding in the Bahamas has problems similar to those in South Africa let us all learn how to better the industry, protect our fellow humans and sharks.
Al Brenneka
http://www.sharkattacksurvivors.comPosted by sharkattacksurvivors on 03/02 at 09:58 AMSee the following regarding witch hunting:
http://miamiherald.typepad.com/crime_scene/2008/03/another-shark-t.html
Posted by r.m.jackson on 03/03 at 06:55 AMI have been diving from Palm Beach county based dive charter boats since the mid 1980’s, and was even instrumental in gaining recognition and a large increase in dive tourism for Palm Beach diving…This occurred as I helped get the dive operators of Palm Beach county to work together to market the diving here “hand in hand” with the hotels and with County tourism. I had to spend a tremendous amount of time diving on as many of the Palm Beach county charter dive boats as possible, in an effort to “categorize” each boat, so I could then help divers find the “ideal boat for them”. This was one of the functions performed by the South Florida Dive Journal ( http://www.sfdj.com ), the internet’s first diving Magazine. Now with over 2 decades of familiarity with Palm Beach dive charter boats, and their captains and crews, I can state categorically that at no time in the past 20 years, or today, has any other Dive charter business or captain in Palm Beach county ( or Florida) done more for raising the standards of the Dive Charter business than Jim Abernethy.
Jimmy Abernethy has always found a way to add more safety ideas and concepts in his pre-dive briefings, yet also create more excitement and “expectation of adventure” than any other operator I have ever been out with. From the first moment you hear Jimmy in his briefings, you can immediately tell that this is a man who truly loves diving, and he has had this love affair with the ocean for over 20 years now. When other dive operators had put in their 5 years and were starting to get tired of the whole life, Jimmy was just getting even more committed to bring his love of the oceans to even more people.
In the context of the shark attack which occurred recently on a Shear Water dive trip, it is hard to get beyond the tragedy—the death of Markus Groh, and the pain his family will now have to live with… However, this incident has created a huge controversy, over whether negligence, wrongdoing, or different laws need to be addressed…To this, I must say “ABSOLUTELY NOT”. As I have said, I have never been on a dive charter boat with a more professional or better crew than on Abernethy’s boats. I wish the dive industry could learn from him, about how to brief for safety, how to plan it, yet still deliver pure fun and adventure. I see competitors of Abernethy trying to gain market share by attacking Jimmy now in the news, while none of them could ever have come close to the level of quality dive experience JASA has been putting out since it’s inception.
If a potential investigator “could” fine a way to experience a JASA dive trip, they would immediately experience how baseless the claims of Jimmy’s competitors are---and that safety and extensive planning are handled with amazing professionalism. What would also become dramatically obvious, is that the divers who go on Abernethy shark dives on Shear Water, are extremely advanced divers, typically serious photographers or videographers, who have searched far and wide for the ability to get the photo experiences that Jim delivers with virtually every trip. This is why National Geographic, Discovery channel, Ron and Valerie Taylor, and virtually every top talent in shark photography or videography will be found to have been diving with Jim. You will also hear from these experts, that no one runs a safer or better trip, than does Jim Abernethy.
What should also be clear, is that JASA does NOT run it’s shark trips for novice divers. This is marketed to advanced divers, the divers are screened, and proper planning and diver behavior is enforced.
This is not a population of people that you could imagine suing someone because they were served hot coffee, without a warning it could burn them….These are people that are keenly aware of the danger of diving with sharks, they knew the risks, and they paid huge money to do these shark dives with Jimmy. These divers all feel they have THE RIGHT to be able to dive with these sharks, and that the non-diving public of America should NOT have the right to determine what kind of diving is “safe” for these advanced divers….I submit, non-divers or novice divers do not have the requisite experiences with sharks to know anything about what kind of dive with sharks is safe or not. Sharks showing up at a natural feeding event, such as a dead whale, do not have their behavior effected by the other fish which show up ( like groupers, barracuda, etc) , or by humans who show up as “incidental visitors”. There really is no reasonable parallel with land based wildlife—this has nothing to do with “feeding the bears”, as the natural feeding event occurrence in the ocean has NO similarity to any feeding behavior of apex predators on land ( bears/lions/etc). Yet too many of the non-diving public, or non-diving lawmakers, are more than happy to make a determination that “Don’t feed the bears” is somehow “instructive” for diving and shark encounters. Even forgetting that JASA just scents the water—they don’t actually have food being eaten by sharks in their form of a shark dive, the land based ideas of how a predator finds food , just don’t apply in the ocean.
In any event, in this my testimonial, I would like to make it clear that I believe Jim Abernethy runs the highest quality dive operation that there is…that I know of no diver operator more concerned or more capable of planning and executing a safe, adventure dive than Jim….and that Jim’s customer base should be the confirmation source for the assertions I have made in this testimony.
I would further add, that with any tragedy like this diver death, lawmakers can find themselves compelled to find a scapegoat—and here, I believe strongly that intelligent lawmakers would determine that scapegoating the JASA operation would be much like blaming Burger King for a customer burning themselves with hot coffee—and asserting they had no idea that hot coffee could burn them. JASA should NOT be the “scapegoat” used to make people happier.
Regards,
Dan Volker
http://www.sfdj.comPosted by dvolker on 03/03 at 06:59 AMWell, the Miami Herald has an article today on the “debate” around cageless shark diving. You can add your comments there if you wish as well:
http://www.miamiherald.com/top_stories/story/441726.html
Of course, you have to register (free).
Mike
Posted by MikeO on 03/03 at 07:27 AM“There really is no reasonable parallel with land based wildlife—this has nothing to do with “feeding the bears”, as the natural feeding event occurrence in the ocean has NO similarity to any feeding behavior of apex predators on land ( bears/lions/etc). “
Dan, there is no “natural feeding event”. Chum is being introduce into the water to attract sharks. Whether is for scenting or feeding it is not natural. This is the same as leaving a cattle carcass out for a attracting bears, lions, or tigers. There are two issues, first, does the introduction of “chum” habituate sharks to a human presence, second, does the introduction of “chum” increase the chance of a negative shark human interaction. For the former I think it is clear sharks like bears in some areas have become habituated to a human presence. The latter, I think is not clear.
So the above statement is simply an opinion based on observation just as those who have compared sharks to bears.
Posted by allen on 03/05 at 11:50 AMHere’s a link to an editorial on this topic:
http://www.bikesportmichigan.com/editorials/0000120.shtmlPosted by Tom Demerly on 03/10 at 11:59 AMI received my “Undercurrent” e-mail today and it contained the following:
“Diver Dies From Shark Bite in the Bahamas : By now, you have surely read about 49-year-old Austrian Markus Groh who died from a shark bite during a Bahamas shark-diving liveaboard trip with Jim Abernathy’s Scuba Adventures. For years, Abernathy has been offering cage-free dives with hammerheads, tiger and bull sharks that Abernathy attract with chum. Undercurrent will write more about this in the April issue, but the question of liability will be a big one. Apparently, Groh signed a standard waiver releasing Abernathy from liability – the kind we divers hate to sign. While waivers have held up well in court, with the high profile of this death, expect an all-out attack on the waiver’s validity. In a letter last year from the Bahamas Dive Association, all companies operating in Bahamas waters were told to cease and desist openwater, non-cage shark diving with potentially dangerous sharks. Neal Watson, the association’ president, confirmed the letter was targeted at Abernathy’s company, which was viewed as an “accident waiting to happen”. Abernathy has refused to comply. In the March issue of Undercurrent, we write about this topic in “Please Don’t Feed the Fish” – read about the hazards of fish-feeding and shark-baiting here.”
Perhaps a few e-mails before Ben goes to press with his issue woul dbe warranted. We might at least point out he’s spelling Abernethy incorrectly . . .
Posted by MikeO on 03/11 at 05:59 AM
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