Coast Guard video of the medevac showed personnel from an MH-65C rescue helicopter lowering a rescue swimmer to the boat. The victim was conscious. The video showed his foot and a portion of his leg had been wrapped before he was lifted to the helicopter. A Coast Guard spokesman said the helicopter reached Air Station New Orleans around 11:40 a.m. and the man was taken by ambulance to a hospital. His condition wasn’t available Saturday.

By ROBIN FITZGERALD, Biloxi-Gilfport and South Mississippi Sun Herald

Thursday, July 23rd saw the beginnings of a pumping south swell — and a white shark spotted about 300 yards off Malibu. This is on the heels of many sightings at both San O and Sunset Beach in LA.

Says shark expert Ralph Collier: “Although it would appear that there is an increase in the number of shark encounters, this could be an artifact of simply more individuals reporting observations and not necessarily an increase in the shark/ocean user populations. However, there appears to be an increase in the number of events at specific locations, Sunset and San Onofre State Beaches, and possibly the same individual sharks being involved in these events at these sites. We could have juvenile and/or sub-adult White Sharks utilizing specific sites for feeding as these incidents appear to increase during Grunion spawns.”

UPDATE: Apparently there was some controversy at the local news station over whether it was a Mako or a Great White Shark.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3wcdIoJD0M

… For example this video is one of the primary reason the Mexican Navy enacted a ban on chumming at Isla Guadalupe in 2008. This ban affected an entire fleet of operators and shark divers from all over the planet. All due to a video and the complete lack of any media control exercised by a commercial shark diving company.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_EIGI9qFp4

“On November 4th (2007) we had an incident that was pretty darned exciting. CC, or Cut Caudal, one of our regular sharks, accidentally ran into one of the main cages on the Searcher. CC came up nearly vertical about 20 feet away from the cage and grabbed one of the hang baits, which he is known to do on a regular basis.

However, on this particular day he swam right into the portside cage’s viewing window. As CC took the bait he instinctively rolled his eyes back, couldn’t see where he was going and accidentally swam directly into the viewing window. CC’s entire head went inside the cage and he was stopped just short of his pectoral fins.

Well, we all know that white sharks have no reverse and CC was too far in to turn around. He tried to turn, but he could not quite get his snout to clear the corner. He rolled on his side and began to thrash up and down trying to free himself. Being a rather large white shark he just ended up making the opening bigger by simply removing the front of the cage so he could get out of the cage. CC literally removed all the lower front vertical bars and the horizontal bar that connects all of the vertical bars to the main frame of the front cage panel and then swam away.

What was amazing is that it took only about 10 seconds to do this. What was even more amazing was that there were 2 divers in the cage at the time and they thought that this was the coolest thing they had ever experienced and walked away completely unscathed. The divers also said that CC was just fine too!

We were all very relieved that no one was injured. We were also pleased that our divers listened to the safety briefing prior to diving and followed the instructions and evacuated the cage when this incident occurred. One diver utilized the emergency escape hatch and somehow managed to film the entire event. We learned something from this and we will take appropriate measures to prevent this from happening again.

When we said, “You can get face-to-face with the ultimate predator” this is not what we had in mind!

The Searcher’s cages are 6 years old now and we have learned a great deal since we first built them. We are going to take this opportunity to design and build new state-of-the-art cages that will be safer and stronger. We will unveil the new cages in spring 2008.”

Great White Shark Adventures

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvha8N3a28U

Victoria Bay, New Zealand

The whale that washed up on Victoria Bay beach has been removed and the beach will probably reopen on Friday.

The George Herald reported that swimmers were ordered out of the water on Sunday after the authorities were notified by a resident who spotted a whale washed up between rocks on the east side of the bay. The whale had been dead for days and was “already rotting” when it washed up on the rocks, said George’s Fire and Disaster Management chief, Barend Nelson.

A boat was sent out to tow it out to sea, but the mission was aborted as the whale was too heavy. The Humpback was originally estimated to weigh 15 tons but was bigger than expected, said Nelson.

Early on Tuesday morning the whale was wrapped in a net, and 150m cables were attached for three vehicles to tow it off the rocks. The 40-ton capacity cable began to fray once the whale was on the beach, and chains had to be attached for the last tug.

The dissection began with workers from Tree Master using chain saws, which attracted a lot of attention from locals.

“We tried to keep the spectators away because it was very smelly and messy,” said Nelson.

Seven hours after they began, 30 tons of whale meat was loaded into 10 vehicles and driven to the rubbish dump for burial. Nelson said on Wednesday there were still “little pieces of whale in the water”.

George Herald reporter Wessel van Heerden said the rocks and sand were covered in a white, fatty layer and in some places, pieces of blubber were floating around. “They’re busy rehabilitating the beach and picking up all the little pieces,” said Nelson.

A Juvenile Great White Shark Doing What It Does Best

By Malcolm Holland

Port Stephens, Australia

At least 27 great white sharks have been discovered swimming yards off the sandy tourist beaches of Australia’s Mid-North Coast, a video crew said Friday.

The crew said it spotted the 10-feet-long juvenile sharks in the Port Stephens natural harbor as it was in a boat videotaping for a fishing DVD.

The sharks, the world’s largest known predatory fish, could grow to more than 20 feet long and weigh up to 5,000 pounds.

On three other days Al McGlashan and his Strikezone video crew found an average of 16 great whites a day — all between 6 feet and 10 feet long.

“I’ve never heard of anywhere near this many in one area,” McGlashan told The (Sydney) Daily Telegraph. “It’s amazing. They are just babies or young sharks,” he said.

It is understood Department of Primary Industries shark research division is investigating why the sharks have congregated at the spot. They were found from within metres of the long beaches in the area to several kilometres offshore.

Great whites are about 1.5m long at birth so many of the sharks spotted near Port Stephens are extremely young – despite already being athletic hunters.

Mr McGlashan used fish on a length of line to tease the first shark they found into coming closer to his boat and he and his crew watched in awe as it exploded from the water chasing the bait.

“The encounter proved to be not a one-off but a concentration of juveniles that could well be the highest concentrations of these apex predators in the world,” he said. “They showed no fear of the boat, instead they seemed very inquisitive.”

Swimmers might take solace in the fact juvenile great whites are fish eaters. What has puzzled Mr McGlashan is why they are there.

“The bizarre thing is there is no food there at the moment – we saw few or no salmon which they love eating,” he said.

CSIRO research has found an adult great white migration from South Australia up the east coast to Queensland.

Tiger Shark Feasting on a Goat

KGMB 9 News

A group of people diving off the Big Island saw something in the water they never imagined – a tiger shark, devouring a goat.

Joyce Blutt took the pictures about half a mile off Kawaiahae last Monday. She says the shark had eaten half of the goat by the time they got there. If you look close you can see a hoof on the right hand side. Joyce says everyone on board the Kohala divers boat was awestruck.

“We are going oh my goodness, it’s a goat, it’s a shark and you know everyone’s all excited. And here’s 11 people looking at this. Steven kept taking the boat a little closer and the shark would grab it again and have it in it’s mouth and more of it was disappearing,” Joyce Blutt said. “It was pretty amazing,” she said.

Joyce says when the shark got close they realized it was a tiger because they saw it’s stripes. Joyce says the experience, on November 10, was the highlight of her vacation.

Surfer’s Village Global Surf News

South African surfers have teamed up with marine scientists to launch a campaign for the conservation of sharks. The Wavescapes Surf Film Festival and Save Our Seas Foundation (SOSF) will educate audiences about the global plight of sharks, which are being killed at the rate of 100 million a year.

Global head of the Foundation, Chris Clarke, said that the synergy was important “to create awareness for sharks and help pass on tips to reduce the risk of accidental encounters with the animals. We fear what we do not understand!”

Festival director Steve Pike said that a perceived irony about surfers coming out in support of their “traditional nemesis” was based on misinformed views. “Yes, surfers are at the frontline of the ocean. We aim to prove that healthy shark populations benefit surfers, and are not a threat.”

Wavescapes, which runs from November 26 to December 14 in Cape Town, includes an outdoor screening on Clifton Fourth Beach on Friday December 5. Surfboards decorated by top comic, graffiti and other artists such as Konradski, Willie Bester and Mak1 will be auctioned by comedian Mark Sampson to raise funds for the Shark Spotters and NSRI.

The surfboards, on display at the VEO Gallery in de Waterkant from 26 November to 3 December, will be shown alongside the award-winning photographs of sharks by SOSF chief photographer and marine biologist Thomas Peschak. Several large-format, signed photographs will be auctioned with the surfboards.

The SOSF supports more than 72 projects in 30 countries, and has been active in South Africa for more than five years, recently opening the Save Our Seas Shark Centre in Kalk Bay.

Head of the shark centre, Lesley Rochat said: “Sharks are nature’s outcasts, they are feared and loathed, largely due to misperceptions, yet only one person in the world was killed by a shark last year. By Wavescape embracing our Rethink the Shark campaign we are confident that together we can make a difference.”

Scientists from the NGO have pioneered research on white sharks in False Bay and on tiger sharks in KwaZulu Natal. They are also responsible for satellite tagging and releasing ragged tooth sharks from the Two Oceans Aquarium as part of the SOSF M-SEA Programme. There is also a Save Our Seas Shark World exhibit at Iziko Museum, and a number of exhibits at the aquarium.

Wavescapes – supported by African Surfrider magazine, Men’s Health, Wavescape.co.za and the Cape Times – will screen the film Zulu Surf Riders, the story of the Mqade brothers from Umzumbe on KwaZulu-Natal South Coast. The arty documentary Thread features the sand art of Jim Denevan, who uses the beach at low tide as a giant canvas for vast patterns. Sea Fever is a lyrical film about surfing in Ireland, including the giant waves of Aill n Searrach (Aileens).

“One of my favourites is Sliding Liberia, a beautifully made film about surfing in Liberia. We also have Out There, a call to surfers to protect our coastline, and a one-off screening of the Shaun Tomson film Busting Down the Door, among others,” Pike said.

The festival will screen the feature documentary Sharkwater and a short called Shark Angels, featuring Alison Kock, a SOSF white shark researcher. The first 500 festivalgoers who purchase tickets for the indoor screenings will receive a free surfing movie from surfing brand Hurley.

Another dedicated reader sent in this incredible footage of a surfer and a great white shark playing in the surf. Its authenticity is disputable, and here at The Fear Beneath we tend to believe that this shark would be ripping those surfers into several pieces. We’ll let you draw your own conclusions.

The re-enaction of a shark attack on surfer Todd Endris

By Daniel Lopez, The Monterey County Herald

A re-enactment of a great white shark attack on a surfer off Marina State Beach last year is scheduled to be part of a TV production for Animal Planet.

A production crew from England has been in Monterey County for about a week filming the story of Todd Endris, the 25-year old Marina resident who was attacked while surfing on Aug. 28, 2007.

Endris suffered bites to the lower back and thigh that morning that caused him to lose half his blood. But he survived thanks, in part, to three other surfers who brought him ashore and called for help. His wounds required 500 stitches and 200 staples to close.

But neither Endris, the men who helped him nor the great white shark — believed to be a 12-footer — will be the focus of the television show.

“It’s all about animal heroes. People saved by animals,” said Ruth Harries, an assistant producer for Big Wave Productions, the filming company from Chichester, England, making the show.

Harries said the episode featuring Endris’ story will focus on a pod of dolphins that were swimming near the surfer when the shark attacked.

Endris has said he tried to fight off the shark by repeatedly hitting it where he thought its eyes were. The shark bit him three times. Endris said he does not know what caused the shark to let go after the third bite, but he has said he thinks the dolphins swimming near him might have saved him.

Endris, who signed an exclusive rights agreement for his story with a different television show in the weeks following his attack, could not be reached for comment Monday.

Harries said that, according to Endris, the dolphins circled around him, protecting him so the shark couldn’t get back at him. “If Todd would have been bitten one more time that would have been it,” she said.

The four-person film crew with lifeguards from California State Parks and actors hired to portray Endris and the surfers who helped him, staged a re-enactment Monday at Marina State Beach.

Nick Craft, playing the part of Endris, had the back of his wet suit open and fake blood covered his back.

“It’s incredibly dramatic for a man to be out there and a great white come and knock you off your surfboard,” Harries said. “It’s an incredible survival story.”

As part of the production, Harries said interviews are done with the people behind the story and animal experts who explain how animals can come to the help of humans. “Dolphins will act with empathy toward humans,” she said.

The attack on Endris is the 10th recorded in Monterey County waters since the early 1950s, said the state Department of Fish and Game. Two attacks have been fatal.

Dominic Spinardi, 24, a Half Moon Bay surfer hired with his brother Andrew to portray the men who helped Endris in the show, said the possibility of a shark attack is something that lingers in the back of his mind when he’s on the water but not enough to keep him away.

“It’s not going to stop you from doing something you love,” Spinardi said.

Harries said the TV series is scheduled to air in the United Kingdom sometime in February with a 2009 date for showing on Animal Planet in the United States to be determined.

Daniel Lopez can be reached at dlopez@montereyherald.com or 646-4494.

Bored? Try your hand at some Great White Shark fishing - casting from the beach!

Life’s boring on a 40 kilometer stretch of coast near Boat Harbour, Australia, so some deranged Aussies have taken fishing to a new level of ridiculous, by catching Great White Sharks… from the beach.

The video’s a little lengthy, we’ll grant you that much, but it’s well worth watching and shows some ballsy – or moronic – behavior: paddling a chunk of bait into Great White Shark-infested waters.

The Fear Beneath would like to remind its readers that the Great White Shark is a protected species, and we condemn this behavior as irresponsible.

You’ve got to ask yourself what sort of chances you honestly expect to have against a beast of this magnitude. These apex predators are spotted frequently in the waters of Northern Santa Barbara County.