Oregon newsp/shark attacks
Peter_Brueggeman%U...@sdsc.bitnet
WORRIED ABOUT SHARKS? NO PROBLEM: STAY ASHORE
OREGONIAN - MONDAY, January 11, 1993
By: JOHN GRIFFITH
Edition: FOURTH Section: NORTHWEST Page: B05
COOS BAY - The best way to avoid a shark attack is to stay out of the
water. That was the advice given Sunday by a California-based shark
research biologist to a Coos Bay audience of about 70 surfers,
divers, environmentalists and oceangoers. The event was arranged by Coos
Bay surfers, one of whom was attacked by a shark Jan. 2. Biologist Mark
Marks said the next best way to avoid attack by sharks is to pay attention
to clues the sea lions might give. If you're out there and all of a
sudden the seals and sea lions split . . . good clue. Leave the water,''
Marks said. Marks, an undergraduate at Humboldt State University in
Arcata, Calif., has gathered shark data he uses when lecturing in the
United States and abroad. He is a founder of the Shark Protection
and Preservation Association, which researches the large predators.
Dale Inskeep and Bill Weaver, two Coos Bay teachers, were attacked Jan.
2 while sitting on their surfboards waiting for waves at Bastendorff Beach.
The shark swam under Inskeep and attacked Weaver's board. Weaver was not
hurt, but his board was destroyed. Weaver was the 10th Oregon surfer
since 1976 to be attacked by what researchers assumed were white sharks,
also known as great white sharks. Three attacks have occurred in the past
10 months on the Southern Oregon coast. Marks said white sharks have
an important role in the marine environment. Except for occasional
incidents by killer whales, sharks are the only predator to control seal
and sea lion populations. If sharks are killed in the hope of minimizing
danger to humans, seals and sea lions are left free to feed on more
fish. Sharks also eat whale carcasses, keeping the oceans cleaner, Marks
said.
Marks used video recordings of white sharks killing and eating seals to
explain the difference between actual feeding attacks and most assualts on
surfers, which he prefers to call encounters.'' One video showed a shark
biting a 600-pound elephant seal in half. Occasionally, sharks have
apparently mistaken surfers for food and hit hard and fast. But his
research suggests that the bite was a way of finding out what the surfer
was, Marks said. He rejects a popular idea in the marine science community
that sharks bite surfers once, mistaking them for seals, and then stand
off to let the presumed seal bleed to death without offering any danger
to the shark. If we were prey, people would be hit all the time, and
there would be fatalities all the time,'' Marks said.
Marks debunked several shark myths. For example, sharks don't go into a
frenzy at the scent of blood. Nor do sharks necessarily prefer warm
water. Marks said there were different species of sharks for virtually
every type of marine habitat. Some live in tropical seas. White sharks
feed largely on seals and sea lions, which tend to live in cooler waters.
The increase in shark-surfer encounters could be caused by anything, but no
one knows for sure. Surfers often stay in the water a long time now
because wetsuits are made to better withstand the cold, and this may
attract sharks. It may just be coincidence, Marks added.
AFTER SHARK ATTACK, COOS BAY SURFERS WONDER ABOUT SAFETY
OREGONIAN - WEDNESDAY, January 6, 1993
By: JOHN GRIFFITH - Correspondent, The Oregonian
Edition: FOURTH Section: NORTHWEST Page: D10
COOS BAY - They're happy that their colleague wasn't hurt or killed by the
shark, but Coos Bay surfers regret that the attack took place at
Bastendorff Beach. It's the last safe place we thought we had to
surf,'' says Wayne Schrunk, 43, of North Bend who's been surfing
Bastendorff since 1964. The shark attack Saturday on Bill Weaver, 28,
of Coos Bay was the third shark-surfer incident on the Oregon south coast
in the past 10 months. But it was the first ever at Bastendorff, according
to Schrunk. That was kind of our safe spot,'' says Schrunk, and now
our safe spot's had an attack.'' A shark estimated at 15 feet long
took a bite out of Weaver's board while he and partner Dale Inskeep were
sitting in relatively shallow water outside the breaker line at
Bastendorff Beach on Saturday afternoon. The shark took two bites at
Weaver's board, then swam away. Weaver and Inskeep paddled in to the beach.
Bastendorff Beach is 14 miles south of the Umpqua River mouth at
Winchester Bay, where there has been three shark attacks on surfers since
1976, the latest on March 8, 1992. A large colony of harbor seals lives at
the Umpqua River mouth, and white sharks eat seals and sea lions. The other
recent shark attack was Sept. 13, 1992, at the mouth of the Rogue River, at
Gold Beach. Around the point from Bastendorff is Simpson's Reef, a major
resting and breeding area for seals and sea lions. Schrunk and
others previously thought that if a shark attack occurred at a Coos Bay-
area surfing spot, it would probably happen at Simpson's Reef. Now they
aren't sure of anything.
You talk to most of the guys that surf, they're going to go out but
there's always that hidden fear,'' says Charlie Yates, 41, of Coquille. I
kind of take that with a grain of salt, but I don't know what to take with
a grain of salt anymore. I like the sport so much, but I don't know what to
do anymore.'' Yates and Schrunk have surfed the Coos Bay area since their
high school days, apparently longer than anyone else in the surfing
community. Yates said he and two surfers were out at Lighthouse Beach
in October when he saw something swim under his board. When the three
got to the beach, Ron Whitley, one of the surfers, told Yates he had
felt something bump his board while they were in the water, Yates said.
I'm going to go back out there,'' Schrunk said about Bastendorff
Beach. But I'm going to wait a couple weeks in hopes that shark moves out
of there.''
OREGON COAST SURFER ESCAPES ATTACK BY SHARK
OREGONIAN - MONDAY, January 4, 1993
By: JOHN GRIFFITH - Correspondent, The Oregonian
Edition: FOURTH Section: NORTHWEST Page: B04
COOS BAY - A monster'' almost ate Bill Weaver alive during the weekend.
Think of the scariest monster you can imagine,'' said Weaver, 28, of Coos
Bay, who was attacked by a shark Saturday while surfing. There's nothing
I could have done. I came really close to being eaten and there was nothing
I could have done.'' Weaver, an elementary school teacher, was not injured
in the attack but his board was destroyed. He recalled the attack Sunday.
Weaver was surfing about 3:45 p.m. Saturday with a friend at Bastendorff
Beach near Charleston when the attack occurred, the third shark attack on a
suffer on the Southern Oregon coast in the last 10 months. Weaver said
the shark was about 15 feet long, and the attack lasted eight seconds in
about 8 feet of water. Until a marine biologist can inspect the bite mark
in Weaver's board, he won't know what kind of shark attacked him. He said
it was dark gray on top and lighter-colored underneath. Weaver and his
friend, Dale Inskeep, were sitting on their boards talking when the
shark attacked. I felt a jolt and started to rise up out of the water,''
Weaver said. The second it hit, I knew what it was because the water was
washing off its sides like a submarine.'' According to Weaver, the shark
pushed the front of the board up, making a dent in the bottom and then
rolled suddenly. It then bit the board where Weaver's right leg had been
hanging over the side before he started sliding off. The shark tried to
pull the board away from Weaver. It then bit a second time, with Weaver
hanging onto the back of the board. I didn't want to be in the water.
I wanted to be on land, and that board was all I had,'' Weaver said.
The first bite went through the fiberglass covering and took a wide
chunk from the board. The second slashing bite tore more fiberglass and
foam from the bottom. Apparently, the torn fiberglass somehow cut the
shark, because both corners of the big bite mark have blood in them. Weaver
was not cut. The shark then made a hard turn toward shore and slowly sank
away. Inskeep, who was just a few feet away the whole time, said he'd
never forget the crunching sound of the shark chomping'' through the
surfboard. He said the shark's tail nearly hit him in the head during the
attack. Surfers Ed Ellingson and Jim Qualic, who were about 150 yards
to the south, said they saw a huge splash when the shark slammed its tail
into the water during the second bite attempt at Weaver's board. Weaver
and Inskeep were able to paddle to shore after the attack.