Swimming with seals = Bad Idea

Tsyroc · Post by **Tsyroc** » 2003-08-20 10:43am

This one is almost a Darwin award winner except that I actually feel sorry for her. It's possible that she hadn't intended to swim with the seals and I would think that someone who swam in the ocean regularly she would have been aware of the danger of doing so.

Gina Keating, Reuters wrote:AVILA BEACH, Calif. (Aug. 20) - A 50-year-old college instructor who was swimming with seals was suddenly attacked and killed by what authorities suspect was a shark.

Deborah Franzman, of Nipomo, died Tuesday morning despite the frantic efforts of lifeguards to save her. ``The water was full of blood,'' said Antonio Neotti, 15, a witness.

The woman's wounds, along with eyewitness accounts, were all consistent with a shark attack, said California Department of Fish and Game spokeswoman Chamois L. Andersen.

If confirmed as a shark attack, it would be the first such fatal assault in California waters since 1994, according to California Department of Fish and Game records. An autopsy was scheduled for Wednesday.

Franzman, who was a sociology instructor at Allan Hancock College in Santa Maria, swam in the area several times a week. She was about 75 yards offshore Tuesday morning in a full wetsuit and swim fins when she was attacked.

``Her friend on the beach noticed she was swimming with some seals,'' Andersen said. ``All of a sudden, the seals dispersed rapidly and a large breach of water, this large upwelling of water, occurred in the vicinity of where the woman was swimming. Very indicative of a shark attack.''

``The picture painted so far fits perfectly of what would be a white shark incident,'' said Robert Lea, a marine biologist who tracks shark attacks for the Fish and Game department.

Lea said the shark may have mistaken Franzman for one of the seals she was swimming beside. ``If you are a swimmer on the surface, you have a silhouette that looks like a marine mammal,'' he said.

The beach, located south of Morro Bay about 200 miles northwest of Los Angeles, was immediately closed to swimmers after the attack.

There have been nine confirmed shark attack fatalities in California since record-keeping began in the 1950s, and 106 incidents - fatal and nonfatal - along the entire West Coast during the same period, according to Fish and Game statistics.

08/20/03 05:19 EDT

Montcalm · Post by **Montcalm** » 2003-08-20 10:47am

HFC did`nt she learned that seals are part of the sharks food supply,this is a guaranteed darwin award

Tsyroc · Post by **Tsyroc** » 2003-08-20 10:50am

Montcalm wrote:HFC did`nt she learned that seals are part of the sharks food supply,this is a guaranteed darwin award

I think it depends on whether she was intentionally swimming with seals or knew that seals were often in the area. Either would drastically increase her chances of being attacked by a shark, especially when you throw in the silouhette her gear gave her.

Stravo · Post by **Stravo** » 2003-08-20 11:11am

Swimming pools....sswwwimmmiinnggg pppooollllsss. No sharks, no problem. Ocean's over rated in my opinion.

Tsyroc · Post by **Tsyroc** » 2003-08-20 12:46pm

Stravo wrote:Swimming pools....sswwwimmmiinnggg pppooollllsss. No sharks, no problem. Ocean's over rated in my opinion.

I agree. It's great to sail on and I suppose scuba diving or snorkeling have their merits but if it's just swimming I prefer a pool. No salt water, no fish smell, and no jellyfish bits to ruin the day.

Stormbringer · Post by **Stormbringer** » 2003-08-20 05:31pm

Swimming with seals in a black wetsuit is a good way to get eaten. She should have realized that doing that made her a primo target; it probably thought she was a little weak seal.

I agree with Stravo, pools are nice. If you can afford them.

TrailerParkJawa · Post by **TrailerParkJawa** » 2003-08-20 06:05pm

Stravo wrote:Swimming pools....sswwwimmmiinnggg pppooollllsss. No sharks, no problem. Ocean's over rated in my opinion.

The water here is too damn cold, and I dont like salt water anyway. But some people just love the ocean. However, I think everyone is over estimating how much of a risk this really is. There have been what? A hundred or so attacks since the 50's? Thats for millions of visits to the beach in that time.

Post by **Colonel Olrik** » 2003-08-20 06:45pm

TrailerParkJawa wrote: The water here is too damn cold, and I dont like salt water anyway. But some people just love the ocean. However, I think everyone is over estimating how much of a risk this really is. There have been what? A hundred or so attacks since the 50's? Thats for millions of visits to the beach in that time.

Not to mention that here, in Portugal, there were exactly zero attacks during that same period. We have an obscenely long seacoast, with no dangerous fauna to bother us, and a calm, gentle blue sea together with a very temperate weather. I love the beach, and I love the sea.

Post by **weemadando** » 2003-08-20 07:49pm

Down here in Tassie its a very real fact that if you are swimming with seals you are at a far greater risk of seeing a shark. Generally a Great White in excess of 4m.

However, I've dived with seals on 2 occasions and snorkeled with them before several times but am yet to see a single shark while doing it.

However a few years ago a person was taken by a Great White while on their daily swim out to a seal colony which I'd snorkled at before.

Superman · Post by **Superman** » 2003-08-25 03:01pm

Turns out this woman was a graduate of my university, good old Chico State. We Chicoers won't be swimming with seals anytime soon...

Joe · Post by **Joe** » 2003-08-25 03:43pm

I agree with Stravo, pools are nice. If you can afford them.

"Afford" is too kind of a word. A more accurate statement would be "If you're willing to throws thousands of dollars a year into a hole in the ground instead of just paying some dues for a community pool."

Post by **Alyrium Denryle** » 2003-08-25 08:52pm

I personally enjoy swimming in the ocean... But dont stray out to far, and when I do go out to the reffs(when I go to mexico) I am constantly aware...

I dont swim where whites live, and I watch out for sharks in general...

Post by **weemadando** » 2003-08-25 08:55pm

Alyrium Denryle wrote:I personally enjoy swimming in the ocean... But dont stray out to far, and when I do go out to the reffs(when I go to mexico) I am constantly aware...

I dont swim where whites live, and I watch out for sharks in general...

Perhaps this would be a good time to point out that EVERY SINGLE TIME that ANY of you have swum in the ocean sharks have smelt, tasted, heard and felt your presence. And they haven't given a shit.

Sharks don't worry me. Its the incidental shit like rays, jellyfish and idiots in speedboats that worries me.

Post by **Alyrium Denryle** » 2003-08-25 09:02pm

weemadando wrote:
Alyrium Denryle wrote:I personally enjoy swimming in the ocean... But dont stray out to far, and when I do go out to the reffs(when I go to mexico) I am constantly aware...

I dont swim where whites live, and I watch out for sharks in general...
Perhaps this would be a good time to point out that EVERY SINGLE TIME that ANY of you have swum in the ocean sharks have smelt, tasted, heard and felt your presence. And they haven't given a shit.

Sharks don't worry me. Its the incidental shit like rays, jellyfish and idiots in speedboats that worries me.

I am well awareof that.

I know damnwell that sharks do not view me as prey.

I generally however, do not swim anywhere near sea lion breeding colonies.

The reason I would be wary of sharks in a reef is because reef sharks are aggressive feeders, and if I violate their personal space I would be aware of it, and the warnings that they give(arched back, pointed pectoral ins, and erratic swimming) and get the hell out of dodge

I

Post by **weemadando** » 2003-08-25 09:12pm

Bah, reef sharks are FUN!

Harmless, kinda like a big doberman. Just make sure you don't piss them off.

One scared the shit out of me in New Caledonia when it speared up from the bottom straight towards me, then went straight past my left side and into a school of fish that was circling above me...

The other thing that scared the shit out of me while diving was flatly the BIGGEST FUCKING STINGRAY I HAVE EVER SEEN... I mean, I've pulled ones up in nets that have 7 inch stingers and were large enought to smother the entire 12' dinghy we're in, but this thing was on the bottom next to a wreck in Noumen, I swear it was 5m across the body if it was a centimetre...

LordShaithis · Post by **LordShaithis** » 2003-08-26 08:39pm

Attention humans: Sharks live in the OCEAN. Stay on land. Zero sharks there.