Sunday, December 5, 2010

Jaws : Sharm Sharks

Jaws by Tom Whalen
I think many of you have been following that new real life “Jaws” taking place in Sharm El-Sheikh in the past 4 days , I have been following it since  the news came from Sharm through twitter : A Russian tourist suffered from huge injuries as a result of a shark attack , another 3 Russian tourists suffered from similar horrible injuries that needed treatment in Cairo from shark’s bites..etc
Later we found out that there was or were hungry sharks roaming the Sharm El-Sheikh shores forcing the resorts to close its shores temporarily in the area until the menace is over and people can snorkel again. Then the news came on Friday , the government managed not only to hunt down one Shark but two and the shores were open again. It is not a real good news because HEPCA issued a statement saying that the two sharks caught or hunted down last Friday were the wrong ones !!
Here is a video from Al Wafd portal showing how the fishermen got the two sharks.
The two sharks hunted down
First of all according to what I understand sharks do not attack people suddenly for no reason , either there is lack of food and thus they would search for alternatives or just like any creature using attack as defense.We should not forget we are the intruders , we are the aliens in the marine world. The sharks will not come closer to the shores where the snorkels are except that there is something forcing them to do so , something abnormal.
One of the hunted sharks 
Second of all hunting down all the sharks in Sharm will not solve the problem but rather will create an ecological catastrophe as you are hunting down a specie on the verge of being endangered “Oceanic whitetip sharks”. I am not a marine life biologist or a diver and I am know this so you can imagine the experts’ opinions about this. The government’s response as usual is wrong as in any other problem or issue in this country , a fast reaction without any study from any kind !!
The city of peace is not threatened by sharks but rather by humans , have mercy on the environment of Sharm El-Sheikh and its eco-balance. Do not launch a witch hunt against the sharks endangering a rare specie and think for once in your miserable life in an ecological way. You have to study what made the sharks made and more important you have to stop exploiting the environment in Sharm !!
Update :
Al Ahram online has reported that the sharks hit again and this time a shark managed to kill a  70 years German tourist north at Na’ema bay. The Al Ahram Arabic portals says it happened at the Middle garden region in front of the Regency Hyatt resort. Did not I tell that this is a real life Jaws !!??
My condolences to the family of that tourist.
Poster source : Graphic designer and illustrator Tom Whalen whom I love his work and style.

8 comments:

  1. I guess you will be updating this post to add the new fatality today.
    Im now afraid they will kill all the sharks, read the officials words, they r idiots.
    I found this and thought its interesting, showing that attacks in Sinai arent as few as ppl were led to think and white tips have attacked and killed a French tourist in Jan 2010.

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  2. Sorry, there is the link, some interesting dates and numbers of shark attacks in Egypt's Red Sea
    http://www.yosurfer.com/content/oceans_and_environment/shark_attack_file/all/egypt/n/

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  3. I understand the captured sharks were tortured into confession and yes anonymous1 I totally agree with you, apparently they are ready to kill all the sharks in the area just to save the industry there and appease the dumb tourists.. idiots galore at Sharm. They don't understand that such attacks are very rare and it can only be one shark that's responsible for it..you can keep hunting down an innocent shark everyday but that will not stop the attacks... they won't stop until they've killed every single shark in the area, idiots idiots idiots

    People don't understand the sea is theirs not ours, we need to respect their habitat before we tread there... for many years and as tourism expanded that respect was lost and this was very likely to happen.

    http://news.stv.tv/environment/214145-egypt-killed-wrong-sharks-after-diver-attacks-ngo/
    http://www.save-our-sharks.org/

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  4. O Mubarak, please take a dip in the lovely warm waters of Sharm while you are there.

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  5. "The sharks will not come closer to the shores where the snorkels are except that there is something forcing them to do so , something abnormal."

    Baloney. Zeinobia, they are sharks. SHARKS! Big fierce apex predators who want to EAT YOU FOR DINNER. That's what they do. They survive by being efficient, opportunistic killing machines. In fact, they're probably Israeli sharks. (Just kidding.)

    "The government’s response as usual is wrong"

    I don't like Mubarak either, but finding a way to bash him with this story is crazy.

    "Do not launch a witch hunt against the sharks"

    The difference is this: There are no such things as witches.

    My suggestion is to catch them and grill them with lemon, garlic and olive oil.

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  6. if the Egyptian government deals with the sharks the same way it deals with it's own people...then I can only imagine....Please God have mercy on the sharks

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  7. If these are Oceanic White Tip sharks (they are usually an open water shark)-- they are responsible for more human deaths than any other shark. They are very aggressive and have been known to take on much bigger predators to secure a food source which sometimes, unfortunately, include humans. They have been known to ravage shipwrecks leaving very few survivors. As deep water sharks they live on whatever is available since the pickings are rare.

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  8. @Last anon: its been reported that 2 attacks where carried out by the mako that has been already killed and the remaining 3 where by a female white tip, that apparently was pictured hunting v close to corals! But, wt you wrote is true, they are known to be behind the death of victims of ship and plane accidents in the sea.

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