25 replies to this topic

[Cold_H2O]

I have always been taught.. when the sharks arrive the dive ends.
Found it odd that they state they had been fishing for a while and had caught lots of fish BEFORE the shark appeared but still felt the need to keep fishing.

hmmmmmm ~ have speared lots of fish (good haul in the boat) ~ shark arrives ~ feels the need to keep fishing !!!!!! Yep.. story doesn't add up.

[Victoria]

These guys must be so proud of themselves! National exposure resulting from staged photos.... it's pretty apparent that the shark is dead in all three of them. All three pics of our 'hero' "struggling" with the shark are from the same angle, and it's highly unlikely that the shark would be vertical in the water in all three pics if it were alive... Puhleeeeeez

[scubaski]

Links to interviews on CBS & NBC




http://www.cbsnews.c...tml?id=4863787n

http://www.msnbc.msn...674867#29674867

[ScubaPunk]

Links to interviews on CBS & NBC


http://www.cbsnews.c...tml?id=4863787n

http://www.msnbc.msn...674867#29674867

They sound like a bunch of blood thirsty fools to me. I find it very hard to believe that they couldn't have gotten away without killing the shark. He said he filmed the shark charging him, but we don't see that in any of the pics. We only see the ones where the shark has multiple spears sticking in him.

[Bubble2Bubble]

I watched the Interview on NBC this morning and came to the conclusion that they killed the shark and then took turns between breaths to keep it around so they could haul it on the boat. I saw three guys in the interview but I didnt see any hero's IMHO.

Good Thread tho Scubaski TY

Bubski

[patches]

Im friends with two of these guys, DJ and Ryan, surf with them often. Ryan is the guy running the camera and here is his side of the story. Just figured since i had access to it i would give you guys the perspective from the guy in the water. I can get you his contact info if you guys have any other questions. Not trying to stir any pots just give a diffrent perspective.

The real story:

- This happened 9 months ago, and I did put the original footage of the shark in an episode of my podcast. I didn't bring light to the fact that it was killed because it's something we aren't proud of and the animal is very beautiful alive and swimming as seen. That's the type of content I try to capture on camera.

- The event went like this: I was at least 150 feet away from Craig/DJ who were handing guns up to Cam on the boat. I was filming squid at the surface, turned around, saw the shark broadside 15' away, pressed record, it charged and then turned away less than 1' from camera (elapsed time 7 seconds). No gun, no fish, no chum involved. I yelled for support, Craig/DJ sprinted over to me as the shark came back in. Floatlines were fouling the props so Cam couldn't operate the boat over to us. The shark began a tight circle to our right, fins down. Craig was in the middle, I was behind and to his left, DJ behind and to his right with an unloaded gun. It turned in towards DJ aggressively and Craig fired into it's gills(elapsed time 35 seconds). It took 3 more shafts, 'wrestling' it to the surface, tailroping and dragging it backwards behind boat, then severing the spine with a knife before it died (elapsed time almost 2 hours). Leaving it wounded wasn't an option. DJ and I document life for a living, we continued taking photos and video during this because it's what we do.

- We ate a bite, contemplated what to do. We took the jaws and tail to use for educational purposes. The photo of Craig displaying them was for scale of the size of the shark, he is smiling however it is from disbelief/shock not pride. DJ regrets that photo escaping his grasp because it is very misconstrued.

- The OUTSIDE article originated from DJ submitting other pics from that trip and was intended to bring light to spearfishing being an ethical practice and clean fishery. Once the shark incident was mentioned in conversation they insisted on running that in the story but promised to portray it accurately and I feel they did.

- An online article in the UK stemming from the OUTSIDE one ran last week and got 10 million hits the first day. We didn't know this was happening, and the article was grossly exaggerated and inaccurate.

- Thursday morning at 6am our phones were exploding from the networks calling to book us to get the story. We really had no choice because the facts had been lost and our primary concern was the fallout within the spearfishing community, let alone the rest of the world. If you're reading this then it was for respect for you that we went to New York.

- Several shows neglected to play the original charge from the event and said this shark wasn't being aggressive. Some wanted sensation and machismo, but others actually gave us a chance to shed light on what took place and also to defend spearfishing, CBS and NBC specifically. I'm sure we disappointed many of them with our humility and remorse for the situation. Discovery online had 'experts' chime in who had no knowledge of the events and we got blasted, that one hurt. Wolf Blitzer and several others can kiss my aft end... their jobs must suck.

It's over now and I'm looking forward to getting back to a peaceful life on the coast. It's so unfortunate that all this craziness came from the worst day of diving in my life, talk about irony. I have no doubts that what we did was justified, from beginning to end, and I have even more respect for the ocean now than before any of this (which I didn't think was possible). I've turned down offers from Discovery and Animal Planet because they wanted something that just wasn't there and this attention needs to pass.

Thanks for the input, support and objections, it's all part of being accountable for our actions and passionate about the sea. Please PM me if anyone would like further information, there is nothing to hide.

Ryan McInnis

[timalso]

Sorry Ryan I'm still not believing this story.

[Capn Jack]

I'm a believer in the story as related by a participant, they are predators, this one thought it had something to prey on. I would do the same if I was in that situation.

I still stand by my objection to the consistent press position of every encounter being a "Shark ATTACK" no matter the circumstances. From what I've experienced and read, this is a very rare and unusual event, and not what one should expect on every water entry. The constant portrayal of aggressive, human-hunting sharks further endangers them. I'm wondering what the ocean will be like without them.

[techintime]

I'm in the believer camp on this one as well. If these guys had made it up over some kind of search for glory then they would have released the story immediately. They sound honest, convincing, and genuinely contrite on the news clips and I haven't seen any other attempts by these guys to capitalize on this event.

[justscuba]

Where do you have the extra spears when you have the gun in one hand? I can't carry more than two and they are small ones...one in gun and one attached to side of gun. Just thinking how to have that many with me.

[techintime]

Where do you have the extra spears when you have the gun in one hand? I can't carry more than two and they are small ones...one in gun and one attached to side of gun. Just thinking how to have that many with me.

They stated that after the first shot, it took them two hours to finally kill the shark, so it seems logical that they would have handed the diver additional spearguns from the boat.