The Shark Migration Is Back

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http://www.towleroad.com/2008/07/jumping-the-sha.html

GRAPHIC INJURY PHOTOS FOLLOW







The blacktip sharks migrate south in the late fall to Broward and Miami-Dade Counties and then head back north to the waters off the Carolinas in January to April to give birth. For some reason many of the incidents you hear about occur during the northerly migration. A surfer was bitten on the foot near the Deerfield Beach Pier, apparently by a five foot spinner or blacktip shark. The surfer didn't notice evidence of sharks in the area and was about 50 yards off the beach when his foot was struck. A five foot spinner shark then launched out of the water nearby spinning. He received 50 stitches to close the lacerations.


More at: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/local/br...019-story.html

Spinner and blacktip sharks aren't fond of the way we taste apparently, given the frequency in Florida of non-fatal, bite and run attacks like this. Still, when bait are running particularly during some of the larger migrations like the bluefish at present, sharks are likely following along in numbers. The shark may strike, decide it wants something fishier and moves on. The severity of the damage depends in large measure what is bitten and how intensely. Then there are the larger sharks which may prey upon the often smaller spinner and blacktip sharks following the bait migrations as well like hammerheads, tigers and bull sharks. The bite radius alone even in the case of a bite and run attack with these larger and at times more aggressive species can be far more dangerous given the amount of tissue damage that may be involved. Kiteboarder Steve Schafer died as a result of severe vascular wounds suffered off Stuart, FL in 2010 likely from a bull or tiger shark bite during the blacktip/spinner migration.


No joy for me at Boynton Inlet although the birds and fishermen seem to be having a good time.

Like many kiters I have been taking full advantage of this great first bout of wind we've been having in South Florida. Yesterday I was going to head off the Boynton Inlet but was dismayed to see a mass of seagulls and bait clouding the water right at the mouth of the cut. Lots of fishermen were pulling in bluefish as fast as they could cast their lines out. Looked like shark sign to me big time, so I headed further south. I stopped at a park almost a mile south and spoke to a kiter who had just come off the water. He said the bluefish were pretty thick off there being chased by some monster tarpon. He didn't see any sharks but unless they are spinning you often never do but they are likely still there.


Kiting last night off Hillsboro Inlet. Ironically, that could be a small shark about 40 ft. ahead of me slightly off to the right on a diagonal. I have picked up sharks before when I ran close to the north jetty and caught them on the kite camera.

I went all the way to Pompano and had a session seeing little bait except for a small pocket inside the south jetty of Hillsboro Inlet. Still, there are sharks frequently around all inlets and this one is no exception. I just didn't see a lot of bait, feeding birds, etc., yet. Still, as the photo below shows sharks can swim along at anytime in these waters. Fortunately, they usually ignore us. I tried to photograph them in the water but they always swam off out of visible range. Perhaps in the heat of chasing migrating bait they may get a bit worked up.




So, have a care out there. Avoid bait being worked evidenced by jumping fish, sea birds, spinning sharks, etc.. The reality is that attacks can occur outside of such areas. All you can do is use common sense to try to reduce the odds. Staying out of the water and on plane may help. Most of our problems in past years seemed to have happened when kiters are in the water and off their boards.

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Here is an image looking south from the north jetty of the Boynton Inlet over the south jetty crowded with fishermen pulling up bluefish. You can see a small, fairly tightly packed group of surfers nearshore to the south. They were within about a 100 yards of the working birds and jumping bluefish. As tight as the surfers were packed, makes you wonder if they were staying closer together as a precaution against or in case of shark attack? You can make out a kite almost a mile south. This is the guy I later spoke to in the parking lot as I headed south myself. I ended up driving all the way down to Pompano Beach to kite. I didn't see any obvious shark sign or many fishermen either. Despite that four miles north of where I went kiting a surfer was bitten a little earlier that same day. I found out about the attack the afternoon of the following day. The bluefish are moving south along with the predators that dog the school until late winter, early spring when the spinners/blactips will head north again.



From http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...ne-surfer.html
I went looking for some good birds working schools of bait shots and came across this one from the Daily Mail. Those guys do a lot of good photojournalism. This was in Australia but the scene may not be much different here at time say with the blacktip/spinner shark migration. You can see the mass of the schooling fish, the overflying and diving birds and the holes the sharks create in the schools. Other larger predators like tarpon and jacks can create holes as well.



The bait and sharks themselves can come very close to shore. The sharks can be seen in bare inches of water flapping among bait on the sand at times. So, just because you are close to shore don't assume sharks can't work in close too. Again, take out the schools of fish particularly those been aggressively fed upon and things can be more sedate with the sharks. They may swim off in fact if you come close to them, in SE Florida, much of the time. This may or may not be the case elsewhere particularly if they are distracted by hunting prey, seals, etc..



That is a lot of sharks but at times we may have similar groupings around Florida. The fish school may be a lot easier to see than the sharks from the ground surface. Not all sharks jump that much or do the classic dorsal fin glide at the surface so popular on TV. Usually, it is hard to see them, you just assume under certain circumstances that they may be there.

The Daily Mail article made one amusing statement; "The rules are dead simple and every surfer knows them. Don't go out there when there are bait fish around because there will be plenty of sharks in the area who are ready to eat more than just the fish." This may be the case in Australia, maybe, where the shark attacks can result in severe injury and fatality rate are much higher than say in Florida. We have far more attacks but few fatalities by comparison. Our surfers seem more inclined to ignore obvious shark sign and take their bites. Hopefully, the bites will be minor with no fatalities or permanent disfigurements. The later can happen at times but forewarned is forearmed. I recommend avoiding schools of fish particularly those being worked by predators for all the reasons given above.

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I finally made it off Boynton Beach Inlet tonight. It looked clear from the livecam at my office unlike in the last couple of days. By the time I got down near the end of the day, there was a ton of fishermen, a number of sea gulls flying around the area. I thought, not again. I walked down for a closer look and to talk to some of the fishermen. They said they hadn't seen any spinners (jumping sharks) nor thick patches of bluefish school. Looking at the birds they were grabbing what they could from the fishermen as opposed from the water, so I headed out. It was a nice session with good wind, waves and sun. I didn't see any sharks, jumping or otherwise, jumping bait or plunging sea birds. I had a couple of GoPros on my kite making spotting shallow sharks fairly easy. None showed up there either. I have little doubt sharks were in the area as always but they seemed to be in a low key mood. So, there was risk of a negative encounter, just not a high one this time in my view from what I had learned.







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