Kite-surfer shark attack: a theory
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Reports have popped up this morning on a number of news outlets — CNN, The Drudge Report, and the Palm Beach Post News on-line (cited here) — about a unfortunate Florida kite surfer who was apparently killed yesteday by bites from multiple sharks.
The Palm Beach Post story, written by Michael LaForgia and two other staffers, states:
Stephen Howard Schafer, 38, of Stuart was kite surfing south of Stuart Beach about 4:15 p.m. when the sharks attacked him, according to Bureau Chief Doug Killane of Martin County Fire-Rescue and Martin County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Rhonda Irons. A lifeguard through his binoculars spotted the man floating about a quarter-mile offshore in an unguarded stretch of ocean, Irons said. The lifeguard paddled to him on a rescue board, pulled the man away from the sharks and carried him back to shore. . .Sharks have been gathering along Palm Beach County beaches recently in their annual chase of baitfish, Palm Beach County Ocean Rescue Lt. Don May said last week when a hammerhead shark was caught off Ocean Reef Park.
Rescue workers gave Schafer CPR but he died a short time later at Martin Memorial Hospital, apparently due to cardiac arrest that was aggravated by significant blood loss.
A multi-shark attack is a rare thing, seen historically in situations involving ship-wrecked people adrift at sea. However, people who have been attacked by just one shark, especially in Florida, probably suffered their attack with numerous other sharks not far away, especially if we’re talking about bull sharks (pictured here), an aggressive species that at times occurs in numbers close to shore.
What I think is most significant in this case, however, is what Palm Beach County Ocean Rescue Lt. Don May says about the sharks being in the area chasing baitfish. The sharks — whatever their species — in the waters off Stuart Beach were already keyed in on chasing significant numbers of prey. Predatory fish also often use a tactic of pushing baitfish up against the ocean’s surface, corralling them like little sheep. Sometimes you will see a school of baitfish explode over the ocean’s surface in a bid for escape from a predator below.
So, given that the sharks were in an alerted, finding-food mode, they were ready to act upon any kind of vibration, especially something slapping in the surface film.
Now, what is a kite surfer doing? He’s hopping over the water, making a splash-splash-splash sound. The sharks felt the vibrations of what they perceived as the sound of a large, wounded baitfish thrashing on the surface, or even what they might have interpreted as other sharks already attacking a school of fish on the surface, and they quickly attended. The rest is thoroughly bad fortune: bad place, bad timing.
Schafer kite-surfed right over a group of what were probably bull sharks. They moved in and found something unexpected, but, being sharks, they attacked and bit to find out just what they had. Update: A few reports* are now suggesting the possibility that a small group of juvenile great white sharks might be responsible, or perhaps a group of tiger sharks.
A local news report that can be found on YouTube, which refused to allow embedding in this post, features an interview with one of the rescuing lifeguards, and shows stock footage of a great white shark, but the TV news reporters and news readers offer no actual species ID.
Apparently no single shark delivered a lethal bite, although Schafer had bad bites on his thighs. The cumulative effect of four or five, maybe half a dozen sharks attacking what they perceived as a viable prey was too much for one man.
*Note: The world “man-eater” is surfacing in some of the on-line news stories about this fatal attack. Schafer was not eaten. I’ve not yet read a report that says he lost any limbs in the attack. He died of the cumulative effect of multiple bites, including one 10-inch bite mark, but a 10-inch bite mark is not huge for a bull or tiger shark.
via Stuart man, 38, identified as kite surfer killed by sharks off Stuart Beach.
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Yes, I think you’re right, Scott. To the fish, this poor guy was simple a huge chunk of bait being trolled from a kite. It’s true that fatal shark attacks are uncommon in FL, but a little reported fact is that there are dozens of victims of shark bite a year there. Often downplayed by some sort of statement like, “you are more likely to die in a car wreck,” it seems to me that if you spend 1000 hours in a car you are unlikely to get hurt. But if you spend 1000 hours in the surf in FL you have a pretty good chance of ending up with a shark bite.
Bob — Thanks for the comment. Florida is a regional hot spot because, as you point out, bathers put in a lot of in-the-water hours here. Add to that healthy numbers of a variety of abundant shark species, including bull sharks, and you start to get stats that are unlike other coastal destinations. I’m not trying to demonize the bull shark, of course, but the species is a likely culprit. I think lemon sharks are credited with just a few attacks, but that doesn’t mean they weren’t involved in this case. I’ll see what reports surface today and tomorrow.
In response to another comment. See in context »I wonder if the ratio of shark attacks to swimming hours is higher in FL. Yeah, bull sharks are legendary. They’re the sharks that swim up rivers into Lake Managua and attack lots of people there. Had one come by me when I was spearfishing in the FL Keys. A flashing spectre of a being. Just awesome.
In response to another comment. See in context »I hear you. I had a black tip make a very close pass on me once while I was snorkeling in the Caribbean. He was looking to see if I had a bag of fish, and when he didn’t see the correct profile — human shape + leash + fish bag — and smelled no blood, he turned and left me as if I’d insulted him. But for the five seconds we were swimming side-by-side, I was in awe.
In response to another comment. See in context »P.S.: Have you read Edward Marriott’s book, “Savage Shore”? If not, get it.
In response to another comment. See in context »Sounds like a good book. In a typical overabundance of PC you find lots of people saying “Oh, no, sharks aren’t the killing machines that people say they are.” Er, sorry, they *are* very ambitious predators, needing to eat all the time because they have to swim all the time to push water over their gills. Your black tip wasn’t insulted, but it did need to hurry on to find its next meal.
In response to another comment. See in context »In a sense nature played a trick on them denying them a good respiratory system, thus necessitating a voracious appetite. But then sometimes I feel the same way about humans being given large brains.
a kind of Richter Scale for shark attacks, which assigns a numerical value to attack severity. value to attack severity http://usspost.com/kite-surfer-shark-attack-www-usspost-com-5052/
They moved in and found something unexpected, but, being sharks, they attacked something unexpected http://usspost.com/sovereign-debt-www-usspost-com-5058/
[...] Video Reports have popped up this morning on a number of news outlets — CNN, The Drudge Report, and the Palm Beach Post News on-line (cited here) — about a unfortunate Florida kite surfer who was apparently killed yesteday by bites …Read more [...]
[...] sharks bit Schafer, and that possibly a school of juvenile great white sharks were responsible. I tossed out my own theory why multiple sharks would attack one man (the sound of his board attracted them) but I doubted the [...]