Fatal shark attack

[conchxpress]

West Palm News at wptv.com has some incredible video of the amazing number of sharks in the water near the area where the attack took place. They were taken the next day. Here are a couple of stills taken from that video. If you go down in the water, either falling or if the wind dies, I don't see how someone would have a chance of not being bitten. With that number of hungry predators competing for food, I don't think it matters what goes in the water. From the autopsy reports, they said that the flesh didn't appear to be torn, so it doesn't appear that the sharks were interested in consumption, probably only investigatory bites from a large competing group. It would be great if, along with the wind and waves forecast, there could be video like this to alert people of the shark density. I only hope that during the paddleboard ride back to the beach, Stephen's mind was at peace knowing that someone had rescued him from the horror that he had been through.

[kent]

I also offer my sincere condolences to his family. I didn't really know Steve, but I have seen him on the water and on the beach before. The photos of him that I saw made this event so much more real. He was obviously an accomplished rider and waterman from what I understand. This is really something that could happen to anyone. I only wish that he could have been reached earlier despite the obvious extraordinary effort that the guard put into saving him.

While this is tragic, I personally wouldn't read much more into this attack than what it was. This was sadly just a bad luck event with a terrible outcome. After events like these, the media gets all excited, launches the choppers, and brings the experts. The sharks are there all of the time, although maybe not in these numbers. Spinners aren't going to do more than nip and it generally takes some time for them to get up the courage to do anything. I wish that I knew the circumstances surrounding this attack. I have my own ideas, but I guess that we will never know. As I'm sure Rick will attest to, it is generally pretty hard to get a shark interested enough in you to attack, especially unprovoked. I spearfish all of the time and have encounters with sharks every time I go. Even in the water with injured fish, an attack is still pretty unlikely provided that you keep your eyes open. I guess that it is probably a bit more dangerous on top of the water, but once again this must have simply been Steve's time. I don't think that there was anything that he could have done to change this outcome after the events started to unfold. I see a few posts about people’s fear of sharks. I came from South Dakota originally and therefore when I came to Florida this is all that I thought about. After spending a good amount of time in the water with them, I am far more comfortable. I still take precautions and avoid swimming the inlets, etc., but wouldn't expect that this is the start of any trend.

My thoughts are with Steve and his family.