A diver has almost bitten off more than he could chew after a cage dive with great white sharks in Mexico turned ugly when one of the giant sharks broke through the protective metal bars.
The video, which was posted on Thursday by an American man who was holidaying with his family on Guadalupe Island, has already received thousands of views, with many people pointing out the obvious fact that if you swim with mammoth sharks there’s a chance you might get bitten.
To be fair to the shark, it doesn’t seem likely it was out to kill a human – it was only taking the bait offered to it when it somehow (seriously how though?!) broke inside the cage while a diver was underneath. Onlookers, and even the tour guides, seem totally shocked when the diver emerged from the water unharmed.
The guys who posted the video explains that the man in the water was a master diver and remained calm and “ended up outside the bottom of the cage, looking down on two great white sharks.”
The man also added: “Everyone on the boat returned to the cages the next day, realising this was a very rare event.
“The boat owner, captain, and crew are to be commended for making what could’ve been a tragic event into a happy ending.”
Here is the whole video on You Tube:
Can we just say, we hope the shark is OK!
The controversy over cage diving with giant sharks such as great whites has long been brewing. Many people who oppose the practice say it familiarises sharks with humans too much and sharks are no longer too shy to come up and check out boats. Critics say instead of being scared of the noise and swimming away, sharks now investigate.
New Zealand fishermaner Richard Squires, who has been attacked by sharks, believes cage diving is causing major problems for local watermen on the South Island.
“We’ve been attacked twice,” Mr Squires told The New Zealand Herald in 2015. “A shark came up and bit a buoy on the stern of the vessel. It came charging out of the water with its mouth open.”
However, in that same report Allan Munn, who directs conservation services for the southern South Island, told the Herald it was “highly unlikely” shark diving had anything to do with increased great white activity.
While diving with sharks is available in parts of Australia, like off Port Lincoln in South Australia, shark culling is a topic on the lips of the east coast of the country. The NSW government announced this week it would be trialling shark nets off its Northern coastline after a recent spike in attacks on humans.
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