August 10, 2009 8:17 AM
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Swimming With Sharks
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President Barack Obama mingles before the meeting on Afghanistan during the NATO Summit, Monday, May 21, 2012, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster) (Carolyn Kaster)
Shark attacks used to be virtually unheard of here. But there have been eight in the past two years. Two people died on the same beach this year alone.
Shark spotters have been hired to maintain a constant vigil. And many have joined Bovim's campaign for legislation to ban baiting and chumming, legislation which already exists in Florida and Hawaii. But tour operators claim that linking their practices to shark attacks is ridiculous.
"As you can see here, I've got two small tuna and a couple of sardines, any commercial fishing boat that is going out on any given day is putting fish into the water to attract other fish up to the boat to catch it. They're doing nothing different to us," says Chris Fallows.
But some people say that this is sort of like putting meat in front of a lion in a game park.
"Its an inevitability of going into the ocean, and when you've got millions of people using the sea there are going to be instances where people are going to be attacked, it's as simple as that," says Fallows.
Well, it wasn't as simple as that to the people who burned Fallows' boat in what was seen as a protest against shark tourism. Other people are directing their anger at the sharks themselves.
Vigilantes are vowing to take their boats out and shoot sharks, any sharks, whether or not they were the actual killers.
To dampen the hysteria, local conservationists put out a commercial which begins just like "Jaws." The commercial points out that the number of people killed by sharks worldwide is tiny. Last year, just nine people died. By comparison, the commercial says, 791 were killed by toasters.
But fear of sharks is so deep, psychologists will tell you, that statistics and commercials can't get below the surface.
"We're talking about something that humans don't experience every day. Being on the meal list of somebody else is a very, very unusual experience," says University of Cape Town psychologist and surfer Dr. Helgo Schomer.
Dr. Schomer treats people with shark-phobia, or tries to.
Why does the thought of getting bitten, eaten or killed by a shark evoke such terror and fear, compared to other ways of getting killed?
"Nothing comes close to it. You mentioned being eaten. You know, you can die in other ways, but dying is something we don't want to touch, it's a taboo issue. But now being eaten, that means I might be alive, I might actually feel what's going to happen to me," says Dr. Schomer.
"I have, in fact, heard sharks compared to terrorists, that they are somehow more demonic than other beings," Simon remarks.
Copyright 2009 CBS. All rights reserved. Shark spotters have been hired to maintain a constant vigil. And many have joined Bovim's campaign for legislation to ban baiting and chumming, legislation which already exists in Florida and Hawaii. But tour operators claim that linking their practices to shark attacks is ridiculous.
"As you can see here, I've got two small tuna and a couple of sardines, any commercial fishing boat that is going out on any given day is putting fish into the water to attract other fish up to the boat to catch it. They're doing nothing different to us," says Chris Fallows.
But some people say that this is sort of like putting meat in front of a lion in a game park.
"Its an inevitability of going into the ocean, and when you've got millions of people using the sea there are going to be instances where people are going to be attacked, it's as simple as that," says Fallows.
Well, it wasn't as simple as that to the people who burned Fallows' boat in what was seen as a protest against shark tourism. Other people are directing their anger at the sharks themselves.
Vigilantes are vowing to take their boats out and shoot sharks, any sharks, whether or not they were the actual killers.
To dampen the hysteria, local conservationists put out a commercial which begins just like "Jaws." The commercial points out that the number of people killed by sharks worldwide is tiny. Last year, just nine people died. By comparison, the commercial says, 791 were killed by toasters.
But fear of sharks is so deep, psychologists will tell you, that statistics and commercials can't get below the surface.
"We're talking about something that humans don't experience every day. Being on the meal list of somebody else is a very, very unusual experience," says University of Cape Town psychologist and surfer Dr. Helgo Schomer.
Dr. Schomer treats people with shark-phobia, or tries to.
Why does the thought of getting bitten, eaten or killed by a shark evoke such terror and fear, compared to other ways of getting killed?
"Nothing comes close to it. You mentioned being eaten. You know, you can die in other ways, but dying is something we don't want to touch, it's a taboo issue. But now being eaten, that means I might be alive, I might actually feel what's going to happen to me," says Dr. Schomer.
"I have, in fact, heard sharks compared to terrorists, that they are somehow more demonic than other beings," Simon remarks.
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