A feature article about US Coast Guard Petty Officer 3rd Class Andrew Heald’s encounter with a shark off of New Smyrna Beach recently appeared at D7 Public Affairs.

Heald was surfing on September 2, when he found himself in the middle of a school of baitfish. Soon after, he saw the dorsal fin of what he believes was a blacktip shark. Upon trying to catch a wave into shore Heald was rammed and bitten on his leg by the shark. He was able to catch a wave into shore and was taken to a nearby medical center where he received stitches for his injuries. Heald returned to the water as soon as his injuries were healed. For the full-story visit US Coast Guard’s D7 Public Affairs.

Thanks to author, Petty Officer 3rd Class Cindy Beckert, for sending along the link to her article!

Chuck Patterson’s great white shark video (seen above), which made the rounds in the media about two months ago, recently showed up on TeddyHilton.com, which appears to be a pet-related blog inspired by Perez Hilton. Unfortunately, the description of Patterson’s video on the site is a misrepresentation of Patterson own account of the scenario that he recorded using a pole-mounted GoPro camera.

The TeddyHilton.com post regarding Patterson’s video is titled “Surfer has NO idea great white is circling him.” The post, which includes the tags “scary” and “attack!” goes on to say that Patterson did not realize the sharks were around him until after getting back on shore and checking his video footage.

The actual story behind the video, straight from Chuck Patterson’s Blog is that he went out with the intention of filming the great white sharks on camera and knew full-well they were in the water.

The Hong Kong Shark Foundation organized a “flash mob” demonstration in Hong Kong’s Time Square to raise awareness about shark finning and shark fin soup consumption, according to CNN Go. The group of approximately 150 people “froze” and held the same pose for 3 minutes at 12:40pm today.

The group is also organizing a campaign, via Facebook, to encourage Donald Tsang, Hong Kong Chief Executive, to call for a ban on shark fin soup during his upcoming policy address.

“Strappy” a young great white shark seen in the video above from the Fox Shark Research Foundation has taken a turn for the better, according to a recent post on Rodney Fox Shark Great White Shark Expeditions’ Facebook Page the packaging tape that was binding “Strappy” has been cut and removed thanks to the efforts of Andrew Fox (Rodney’s son). Kudos to Andrew for helping out the injured “Strappy!”

Rodney Fox Great White Shark Expeditions caution that “Strappy” is not completely out of danger, yet. However, the removal of the packing tape that was causing him harm is certainly a step in the right direction. Hopefully, “Strappy” will make a quick recovery from his resulting injuries.

Oregon’s KCBY 11 recently ran the above feature on the coexistent of surfers and great white sharks. While there isn’t anything really groundbreaking or new in this feature, the story does objectively present information about human encounters with white sharks, without going over the top. Insight about shark attacks on surfers is provided by Jan Hodder of the Oregon Institute of Marine Biology, in which she briefly discusses the nature of white shark’s ambush attack method and theories of mistaken identity when surfers and surfboards are sometimes hit by white sharks.

The article also offers up first-hand accounts of surfer, Dale Inskeep, who has had multiple white shark encounters while surfing. Inskeep clearly recognizes the seriousness of instances of hit-and-run attacks on surfboards. In 1993, Inskeep’s surfboard was bit by a white shark that was estimated to be 17′ (5m) in length. Inskeep is now doing more stand-up paddle boarding these days, but KCBY quotes him as saying that he views white sharks as “amazing animals” and feels “blessed” to have been able to see them up-close on 4 occasions.

The Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary has recently posted a draft environmental assessment to analyze the impacts of issuing a permit to Dr. Michael Domeier of the Marine Conservation Science Institute, which would allow the tagging of 11 additional great white sharks (3 males, and 8 females) within the marine sanctuary, using the catch and release method that has been featured on National Georgraphic’s Expedition Great White.

Dr. Domeier was issued a 1-year permit in September of 2009. During the 2009 white shark season, he and his team used the catch and release method to tag 2 male white sharks at the Farallones. However, a bit of controversy stirred up when one the tagged sharks was hooked in the esophagus, and the circle hook had to be cut and left in the shark. According to the draft environmental assessment, “the public and members of the other research teams studying white sharks in the region were concerned that the shark had died and that the tagging was being conducted primarily for a National Geographic television program.”

It should be noted that the hooked shark made its normal migration pattern after the incident, according to data supplied from the tag, and that the tag was still reporting normal data 8 months after it was hooked. (see Southern Fried Science’s interview with Dr. Domeier)

Supporters of Dr. Domeier’s SPOT tagging methods argue that this research provides invaluable data, which cannot be gathered using other methods, and that the data could be beneficial to the species. Those who oppose these tagging methods argue that the potential gains simply do not outweigh the risks.

Regardless of which side of the fence you might be on, if you have genuine interest in this topic and are willing to read the environmental assessment draft, the GFMNS is open to your comments. Comments should be submitted to Carliane.Johnson@noaa.gov until October 12, 2010.

Tomorrow night, CBS will be airing an episode of “CSI” with a plot revolving around a “shark attack” in a pool at a Las Vegas casino. That’s right, a shark attack in a swimming pool. No, seriously. At least, the effects in the scene above are a little bit of a step up from some of the efforts that SyFy has been airing, as of late. However, the idea of a shark maneuvering through a shallow swimming pool filled to the brim with people partying and then attacking a bather isn’t much less ridiculous than dinosharks or sharktopuses.

While the depiction of the shark, seen in the clip above, certainly does nothing to dispel the misconception of sharks as “mindless killers,” it’s hard to judge how the episode, as a whole, will portray sharks. The information about the episode provided by CBS notes that the investigators must determine if the “killer is human or shark.” Maybe, the shark was framed.

WAVY.com is reporting that local shark experts “almost certain that it was a shark, maybe even two” that bit surfer Caleb Kauchak, last week.

According to the report, Dr. Jack Music, Professor Emeritus at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) is “certain it was a shark” and is “reasonably sure” that it was either a blacktip or spinner shark involved in the attack. Music has studied sharks for over forty years and has investigated previous attacks in the Virginia Beach area.

Speculation has run rampant in various media reports about what species bit the teen. The most recent WAVY.com report noted that there was speculation that the wounds could have been caused by bluefish, while an earlier WAVY.com report (seen above) mentioned a bull shark or sandbar shark as possible suspects.

So far, eight great white sharks have been successfully tagged in Cape Cod waters this season.

Cape Cod Times is reporting that Dr. Greg Skomal tagged the eighth great white shark (Carcharodon carcharias) of the summer, in the Cape Cod area, earlier this month. This season, five white sharks have been tagged with satellite tags and three shark have been tagged with acoustic tags. The tags are expected to provide information about where the white sharks travel, how long they stay in a particular area, and their movement patterns based on seasons and tides.

According WVEC 13 News the species that bit a teen surfer off the Sandbridge area of Virginia Beach has still not been identified. Paramedics believe it was a species of shark that bit Caleb Kauchak on the knee and ankle. However, it seems that confirmation of the attacking species based on bite marks has yet to be made.

Dr. Chip Cotton of the Virginia Institute of Marine Sciences was interviewed by 13 News and speculated that the attacking species could have been a spinner shark chasing bait fish. However, it seems that Dr. Cotton was merely being interviewed as a shark expert for the report, as he later states that “whoever is doing the investigation” will be able to distinguish species bites based on the upper and lower bite patterns.