White Shark Attacks FL Diver, Another GW Heads For S. Florida?

[ricki]

Heads up South Florida, Katharine was just pinged offshore of Delray Beach and still moving south fairly fast. In speaking with George Burgess of the Florida Museum of Natural History, International Shark Attack File, he indicated that white sharks travel south with the right whale migration to linger in NE Florida waters. The whales calve in those warmer waters this time of year while the sharks prey on what they can find in the migration. He indicated that at times motivated by other prey and water temperatures the white sharks may head further south and even swim into the Gulf of Mexico at times.


(Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission/National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)

Mr. Burgess also said that prior to the extinction of the Monk Seal in our waters early in the last century, white sharks likely maintained residence in these parts year round. I wondered if something drew them to the deeper waters off the Keys at this time of year.


An illustration of a Caribbean Monk Seal declared extinct in 1948.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caribbean_monk_seal)


Tracking maps from http://www.ocearch.org/

At any rate, we have Katharine and perhaps other Great Whites moving south into our waters currently.


The sharks over all passage to mid day today.



A closer view of progress heading south. There is at least one white shark and perhaps more moving off South Florida. Wonder if the right whales are moving more to the south than normal?

p.s. - some have questioned the use of the word "attack" in the subject line of this post. I actually thought it over before posting it. I tried to find a concise definition for "shark attack" online without success. Looking at a definition for "attack:"

noun: attack

1. an aggressive and violent action against a person or place.

The action of shark was aggressive by any reasonable interpretation, the downward projected pectoral fins through much of the clip and arched back at one point only add to this conclusion. Looking at it another way, if a 12 to 14 ft. White shark likely weighing a couple of thousand pounds bit or slammed into my tank and then proceeded to make runs on me several times with increasing agitation, I would conclude it was an attack.

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