SIMON'S TOWN, South Africa (4 June 2005) -- A diver is missing after he was attacked by a shark in a South Africa shark feeding area. Henri Murray, 22, was apparently attacked by a great white shark while spearfishing with Piet van Niekerk, 23, in False Bay near Miller's Point. Van Niekerk told CDNN he attempted to save Murray by shooting the shark with his speargun but it had no effect and when he last saw his friend, he was in the jaws of the great white. A Metro Rescue Red Cross helicopter and an NSRI boat responded to a missing diver emergency call but searchers have not yet found the victim. The recent spate of shark attacks off South Africa has provoked demands that officials shut down commercial cage diving operators who feed sharks to attract them to near-coastal waters for thrill seeking dive tourists. With the support of the scuba diving and dive travel industries, cage diving operators deny their shark feeding stunts have made South Africa's popular tourism destinations unsafe for both locals and tourists. Due to concerns about public safety and scientific studies that confirm fish feeding adversely effects marine wildlife, coastal resource management officials in the United States, the Maldives, the Cayman Islands, Egypt and many other popular diving destinations have banned all shark feeding and fish feeding activities. According to the DEMA dive industry marketing group and PADI, a US-based company that sells diver certification cards, sports apparel and interactive shark feeding thrill dives, shark feeding is a multi-million dollar industry that "rebrands" sharks as cute, playful and friendly just like dolphin and orca aquarium shows. Cage diving operators deny their shark feeding stunts have made South Africa's popular coastal waters unsafe for tourists and locals. | | Diving too close to shark feeding areas? Shark attack victim Henri Murray. The United Nations and leading international environmental groups such as the Humane Society and Wildaid condemn interactive shark feeding dives as harassment of marine wildlife and argue that divers and the public should be taught to respect sharks as predators, not cute circus animals exploited by scuba diving companies to perform for the amusement of thrill-seeking tourists. © CDNN - CYBER DIVER NEWS NETWORKCDNN Related Story: Shark feeding cage dive operators blamed for shark attacks in South AfricaCDNN Related Story: Shark cage diving: Feeding, filming, mutilating great white sharksClick on graphic, go to CDNN Shark Feeding Timeline: A Chronology of Key Events. |
