The Dangerous Life Of A Shark Cage Diver
The world is jam packed with adrenaline junkies and some of them are watching this video!
So what’s your sport, rock climbing or river rafting?
When so many people are willing to look danger in the eye, it isn’t odd that complete businesses
are being opened to cater to this need!
This means that there are all the more options to choose from, so take your own sweet time
to browse through them and pick the one that sets your heart racing!
Anyway, have you heard about shark cave diving?
It is exactly what you are thinking- diving within a cage in shark infested waters.
While most people will pee their pants at the mere mention of this “sport”, for
others this is a way of life!
Come on, not everyone has a heart strong enough to watch sharks trying to sneak into a cage
with you because this is anything but romantic!
But if you are still intrigued by this sport and want to know about the life of a shark
cage diver, stay tuned.
Let’s begin with the shark cage- the only thing that will protect you from the fatal
bites of the “friendly” sharks!
So the shark-proof cage is a metal cage built to withstand being rammed and bitten by sharks,
and is intended to protect the user from potential injury.
These cages provide a visual and tactile deterrent to sharks and allows the divers to closely
monitor and even interact with sharks for scientific, commercial or recreational purposes.
Sounds cool!
All the people who have been shark diving or are planning to do so need to thank Jacques
Cousteau, the man who first developed shark cages for the production of the 1956 movie,
The Silent World.
Ever since then, these cages have been used by fishermen, documentarians and tourists
for their underwater dives.
While diving in the open waters with whales and tiger sharks doesn’t sound scary, the
tables turn when we bring white sharks in the picture!
The craze for diving along the great whites has increased multifold in the last decade
and it isn’t so insane because hello, the cage is going to keep you alive!
Cage diving with great white sharks has become a blooming industry in itself that stretches
from Australia and New Zealand to Mexico.
Divers go 30 feet underwater to get up-close with world’s one of the greatest predators
but what if sharks don’t show up?
Of course this can happen, the sharks can roam wherever they please and nobody dare
stop them!
But that will be so disheartening for the divers who will ultimately demand their money
back.
Since nobody wants to lose business, up came the concept of shark baiting!
Tourists remain inside a shark-proof cage while tour guides bait the waters to attract
sharks for the tourists to observe.
They bait the sharks by chumming with fish or other materials attractive to sharks.
No losing business and hence loads of profit!
The guides throw dead fish in the water and their smell reach the great whites from miles
away so they swim their way near your cage for a snack.
Watching the massive predator in an eating frenzy just a few feet away can get your adrenaline
gushing!
But this process has be criticized widely because there have been claims that this could
lead to potentially aggressive behavior by the shark population.
What would happen if the chumming goes wrong?
Back in 2016, a video came up which changed the way we looked at shark cave diving.
You already know that it is dangerous but you don’t expect a shark to get cozy with
you in the cage, do you?
In the video, you see a younger, excited shark grabs hold of the bait on the end of a bait
line and not letting go, swims directly, with force into one of the boat’s cages.
The power of the shark hitting the cage and subsequently becoming trapped is enough to
force the animal into the cage whereupon it cannot escape.
But after a few seconds of wriggling, one of the crew members opened the top latch and
thus the shark could escape.
It was a very smart move because sharks cannot swim backwards!
Nobody was injured but it left us questioning the safety of this sport!
But why did this happen?
The shark-diving accident that occurred off Mexico's Guadalupe Island was a mistake on
the part of the crew.
The handler should have dropped off the line as soon as the shark took hold of the bait
so that it could swim away freely.
But since this wasn’t done, the shark walked into” the cage like a dog not letting go
of a rope.
It was scary but at least nobody was hurt but the poor shark!
Another episode was seen in May 2017 when a beautiful blonde model took the plunge into
a shark cage in hope of a brilliant photo-shoot.
Molly Cavalli bravely jumped into the cage in just her swimsuit because hello, glamor
comes before safety!
She sure looked gorgeous, ready for the shoot of her life.
But within seconds Molly began howling in pain and fear.
Guess what had happened?
A shark had broken through the wide bars of the cage and took a bite out of her ankle.
Luckily she was pulled out quickly where her wound was tended to with 20 stitches.
It wasn’t very serious but Molly got the experience of her life!
These incidents are shocking and will leave your brain numb for days!
The thing is that such episodes motivate officials to pay more attention to the safety in the
sport of shark cage diving especially when it involves the great whites.
The annual business that this sport provides is of millions of dollars so spending a bit
more of the safety of the divers should be a priority and be taken more seriously.
Apart from the dangers to the divers, shark cage diving isn’t too good for the sharks
itself.
That’s because researchers argue that giving fish as bait to the sharks will make them
lazy.
This will affect their natural course of the day of hunting the seals.
While you may be thinking that you are doing a good deed for the cute seals, you are actually
giving the ecological balance a toss and you don’t need us to tell you that this can
never be a good idea.
Alright now, these assumptions are yet to be proven so maybe you could go for a cage
dive without an ounce of guilt!
Another concern about this sport is that sharks may start associating humans with food but
thankfully, this might never be the case.
That’s because sharks cannot differentiate between the cage, boat and the diver!
But in case someone falls overboard, sharks will instantly know that there’s dinner
waiting for them!
This happens because sharks happen to be talented hunters, all thanks to their sixth sense of
electroreception.
Don’t be confused, this talent enables them to feel the electricity emitted from a living
creature.
Scared?
The good news is that this works only till a few feet, beyond that the sharks use their
eyesight and sense of smell to find their prey.
Do you now understand why chumming works so well on them?
Now even though a lot of risks are attached to shark cage diving, it is still one of the
coolest jobs to ever land!
But before you dream of being a crew member in the cage, make sure to learn scuba diving!
Are you tempted to land a job as a shark cage diver?
Tell us in the comment section below.
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