The South Sinai Hotels Chamber held a meeting attended by tour operators, tourist officials and South Sinai governorate officials in an attempt to explain the confusion over just how safe the Red Sea was. South Sinai Governor Major General Mohamed Abdel Fadeel Shousha said: ‘This situation will continue until all technical studies, topographic surveys of the area and surveys of the sea bottom are executed by the researchers of the Suez Canal Authority. These experts from several fields are examining ways to secure the area in order that snorkelling can resume. All commercial vessels that enter or pass by Sharm El Sheikh will have to be accompanied by Egyptian officials until they exit Egyptian waters so as to make sure they don’t throw dead animal or harmful substances into the Red Sea.’
General rules for safety when divers encountered sharks were issued by Dr. Elke Bojanowski:
Only enter the water if you are comfortable with the situation and confident that you can stay calm.
Do not enter the water if there is any sign of feeding activity around the boat.
Be aware that you are most vulnerable on the surface, so control your buoyancy at all times.
Avoid erratic movements.
If you want (or need) to leave the water, do so in a calm and orderly fashion.
Try to avoid surfacing straight above a shark swimming below you.
To avoid Oceanic Whitetips coming too close for your comfort, staying next to, or retreating to the reef might help.
Do not try to touch or in any way harass a shark.
Do not be alarmed by a shark calmly circling you. Just make sure to turn with it and keep it in sight.
Stay alert and look around you from time to time to see if another shark is approaching you from behind/underneath/above, otherwise one might sneak up to you.
Generally, sharks are more reluctant to closely approach groups of divers than single ones.
Remember, you are in the water with a wild predator whose behavior will never be 100% predictable!
On 22 December 2010, the saga of the serial shark attacks took a strange turn with the claim that the Oceanic Whitetip responsible for the attacks had been killed by a drunken Serb. This bizarre story involved a man called Dragan Stevie allegedly hurling himself off a diving board into the Red Sea, landing on the head of the shark and instantly killing it. The report even included an account from Stevie’s ‘friend’ Milovan Ubirapa, who witnessed the incident: ‘Dragan climbed on the jumping board, told me to hold his beer and simply ran to jump. There was no time for me to react or try to stop him; he just went for it. He jumped high and plunged down to the sea, but didn’t make as much of a splash as we thought he would.’
This hoax account became an internet sensation but was dismissed when its source was revealed as a satirical American newspaper called The Onion. The shark featured was a Basking shark – and one that had washed up not on the beach at Sharm El Sheikh at the height of the terror reign but off the coast of North Carolina, a year earlier.
The threat of further shark attacks diminished when they migrated away from Sharm El Sheikh at the beginning of 2011, but they return each autumn. And the female serial-killer shark is still alive. It is highly likely that when she returns to the crystal-clear waters, she will again turn them red. Said Ralph Collier: ‘As much as I am against euphemising any animal, I believe this shark has become habituated to humans and should be removed from the environment because its potential to do this again is very high.’ Dr. George Burgess agreed: ‘To catch that animal, you are going to have to find it first – that’s a lot of expenditure in human time. But in the end, what have you got? Sure, you have some retribution for what it did, but you have no assurance it won’t do it again, and no assurance its mates won’t do it again. These are open-ocean sharks that are living in an environment that is food-poor so when you do find food, you darn well better take advantage of it! Do they remember things? Sure, they remember where the good places to eat were and they’ll come back but they are not connect-the-dots sort of animals. They are basically swimming, sensory machines. Sometimes we make mistakes and sometimes they make mistakes. And sometimes we just happen to be in the wrong place at the right time – for them.’
Sharm El Sheikh resident ‘Crowley’ reflected on the events in the Red Sea from a professional diver’s viewpoint in The Equalizer online magazine:
It’s been an interesting few weeks. The restrictions on training or intro dives and snorkelling have meant a downturn in business for a lot of operators, and media hype and misinformation have not helped – some people have literally cancelled their diving experiences because they were afraid to get into the water. Others were understandably unwilling to pay extra in order to relocate to Dahab every day. For the staff it’s been uncertain. You can’t work if you can’t get in the water and most dive professionals in Sharm are paid in commission so for sure the shark attacks have impacted our income this month. Having said that, the impending collapse of the Eurozone and frozen airports have not been of assistance.
Talk of sharks has of course been the buzz of the town with everybody turning into armchair Sharm El Sheikh shark experts overnight. Our dive briefings included some extra pointers on how to deal with a shark in close proximity, and I think many guides – including myself – would admit to a few nerves at certain dive sites, particularly since the female thought to be responsible for some of the attacks (including the fatality) has been seen at Shark and Yolanda quite regularly.
The ‘likely causes’ for the attack were already the centre of discussion around the beer table long before any real scientists arrived. This is not meant as a slight to the experts – but it would seem there is a wealth of information here that nobody ever used. With a few notable exceptions such as Dr. Bojanowski, there is very little research into shark populations in the region and yet for thirty years this has been one of the most popular dive destinations on the planet. We write shark encounters on the ‘Daily Sightings’ board every few days in summer – and most of that doesn’t get any further.
I don’t think the dive industry will suffer long term but the last few weeks have made some people think (and a few unemployed!) and a tragic event might have a long-term positive outcome if more research and education into sharks in the Red Sea is properly implemented. We are all very hopeful that the situation will improve for the tourists, for the staff here – and indeed for the shark population. Until then, it’s still beautiful here!
For sure, the last chapter of this tragic series of events has not been written and there have been rumours of sharks being caught and killed. The question is, if this has been as retribution or as a preventive measure, or if there has been a reason at all.
According to Ahram Online the South Sinai Governor’s secretary, General Ahmad Saleh, said in an interview that there are watchtowers with professional lifeguards checking movements by sharks in the water. In addition, Zodiacs are patrolling the area looking for signs of danger. Furthermore the authorities are searching for the best places to install protective nets.
One question is what the lifeguards in the towers are looking for exactly? It’s hard enough to spot a shark while diving, so how can it help to look out from the beach? Another question is what good the nets will do and how they have to be designed to fit the underwater topography of the Red Sea. Historically, those kinds of nets have caught more sharks going out to sea than coming into the beaches, plus managed to kill turtles and other marine life.
All diving restrictions put in place following the shark incidents in Sharm El Sheikh were lifted 22 December 2010. The Equalizer extends our sympathy to the victims and their families.’
On 13 January, the Egyptian Government of the South Sinai banned all fishing in Sharm El Sheikh, as well as the resorts