this is what the shark research institute say...
The presence of porpoises and dolphins may indicate sharks are hunting in the area.
Reason: These species often feed with sharks. Dolphins and sharks are both fish eaters.
Leave the water when pods of dolphin cluster or head inshore
Reason: This behavior is often associated with the proximity of sharks.
I duunnoooooo I heard the opposite: that dolphins ram sharks with their bony snout and can really hurt a shark with a good shot in the flank.... so about the only animal in the ocean that a shark will flee from is a dolphin. I'm sure that was a doco on TV years ago
who is right?
Interesting when you first posted that, you have a bunch of thumbs down. Now you have thumbs up for the same POV.
There are some weird people here......
Weeeeeeeell,
I have been surfing at one of our local spots a few years back and we had a pod of dolphins round up a school of salmon up against a groyn.
We all thought it was cool watching the dolphins riping around and under us ctaching the salmon, until we turned around to see a dirty great big noah go cruising past about 15m away. The break got cleaned out rather quickly.
After we got changed we sat on top of the rock wall watching both the sharks and dolphins hook into the fish, it was a good show.
Perhaps, while there's plenty of food, dolphins and sharks get on with their own business without worrying each other.
But if food is scarce, and there are young vulnerable dolphins around, and a biggish shark turns up, then the dolphins are either going to run or fight, and it may not be predetermined which way they go.
dralyagmas, can you enlighten us?
The Ichthyology Department of the Florida Musuem of Natural History's International Shark Attack File states that the prsence of dolphins does not exclude the possibly of the presence of sharks as they eat the same things.
However from my own perspective I have seen 1000's of dolphins and never seen a shark, and that is while surfing, windsurfing and sailing (not really looking) and diving and snorkling (looking).
It would depend on what the dolphins are doing. In the photo that Windy posted the dolphins are playing in the waves and not fishing so the likelihood of a shark bieng close would be the same (IMHO) as if the dolphins were not there. If, like elmo said, the dolphins are rounding up fish then there could be sharks. But the risk is the same as if the fish were there without the dolphins.
My opinion is that the presence of dolphins has no bearing whatsoever on the probability of sharks being present.
Personally I would not go surfing when there are schools of salmon in the water, whether there are dolphins there or not.
2 + 2 + 1 = 1 too many
Surfing at Birubi today (known NSW breeding ground for Great Whites)... super glassy 3 foot
Just 2 of us in the water when 2 dolphins cruised on by... followed by a 6 foot shark about 3 metres behind the dolphins.
Definitely a shark, tall dorsal fin (unlike a curved dolphins) and a trailing tail fin and a big toothy smile !
He was definitely tracking/following the dolphins and didn't even give us a cursory glance as he glided past about 5 metres away !
Kev
I dunno about dolphins and sharks...
but having helped out with a bit of salmon netting ( professional fishing ) around the Albany area I've found it is always a good idea to keep looking behind you when hauling a net full of salmon on to the beach ... salmon and sharks are quite often seen in the same area. The fact that the salmon are being netted may well be the main factor in causing the sharks to take an interest but I guess that may be the same if the salmon are getting herded by dolphins too...
two weeks ago the fishers were pulling in salmon like there was no tomorrow - hardly needed to bait up the line - throw in and pull in another monster. It didn't even phase the 50 odd surfers in the lineup. They kept surfing as if the fish weren't there at all, but no sighting of grey suits either.
