EDITOR, The Tribune.
Another fatal shark attack on a tourist has prompted calls again for culling sharks.
Some say there are more shark attacks because there are more sharks yet there are more visitors too: we’ve had eight million tourists before the end of the year, reported the news on Tuesday, 5th December.
We have a lucrative shark tourism industry. There are also more enterprising Bahamians captaining boat charters for visitors.
Rather than killing sharks maybe it would be better to regulate this burgeoning industry. This would protect not only the captain and his crew but the visitors too.
Education should be a must. We — including tourists — should know the possible dangers if we are swimming in the sea, which is the shark’s home: don’t chum the water then go swimming nearby; don’t swim near where people have been cleaning fish or feeding sharks; keep eye contact with a shark if you see one and slowly swim away without splashing; don’t panic.
Overfishing and reef damage must also be considered. The depletion of the fish could be leading them closer to the shores for food.
Let’s look at everything. We are a threat to the sharks much more than they are to us.
JOLIKA BUCKNER
Nassau,
December 5, 2023.
Comments
Porcupine 4 months, 3 weeks ago
Thank you! Voices of reason are few and far between. We have the results to prove it.
sheeprunner12 4 months, 3 weeks ago
It is stupid to believe that sharks should be able to reproduce exponentially without having any form of culling (control of population) of such deadly creatures enforced by Man. Are we that controlled by the so-called (foreign) environmentalists that we cannot act with reason anymore?????
If a land beast mauls and kills a human, the Government acts to remove and euthanize it. Why can't we do the same with a dangerous marine beast??????? Maybe the same people who are blocking capital punishment (humans) are doing the same with the wild beasts ............ Based on what the letter writer is suggesting, I am sure that NO chum was near Sandals that day when the lady was savagely attacked by the shark.
In Lousiana, they have the alligator hunting season and in Florida, they have the python hunting season. Why is it such a far fetched idea to have a shark hunting season in The Bahamas?????
The Government must act quickly before our seas become too dangeorus for our citizens and tourists alike to be able to SAFELY harvest fish and enjoy recreation in our waters.
becks 4 months, 3 weeks ago
If a land beast, say a bear or a wolf, mauls and kills a human we first try and trap that particular beast and remove it far into the wilderness and only if that cannot be done do we kill it. There is virtually no way to identify the specific shark that attacked that woman so your whole idea is absurd and of no value. Stick to playing with sheep.
becks 4 months, 3 weeks ago
By the way, it is not stupid to believe sharks should be able to breed exponentially without culling……they were doing it just find for hundreds of thousands of years even before we came along a few thousand years ago.
ScubaSteve 4 months, 3 weeks ago
Sharks are extremely vital to the Bahamas... especially from a tourism perspective. In my 30+ years of diving, I've been just about everywhere in the western hemisphere. After much thought and many years of travel, we decided years ago to purchase property and a house in the Bahamas -- primarily because of the incredible scuba diving and the sharks. Trust me, there were other locations we were more interested in buying; however, there weren't any sharks or just not enough to see them regularly. If you cull the shark population (which is absolutely insane and so backwards... it is almost laughable) in your area -- the effect would be significant and severely damaging to the marine environment for generations to come. And for what reason? Keep in mind, more people DIE from car accidents or lightning strikes or dog attacks each year than from sharks.
FreeportFreddy 4 months, 3 weeks ago
Why not just get 6 Brave Nassau men and say that the shark used to be a ray and they will beat it up (probably with guns cuz they so 'Brave')
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