The recent story of shark attack in Maldives should teach Instagramers a lesson. While posing for a video, a bikini model got bitten by a nurse shark.
All for Instagram and other social medias. All for fame.
The girl was lucky. But the accident arises many questions…
The attack happened at a famous nurse shark point located in Vaavu Atoll, central Maldives, called… “Shark Point”.
The video was posted on Instagram a few month ago and has now gone viral.
Moment snorkeler bitten by 220lb shark off Maldives coast
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Shark Point, where – as expected, Instagramers would flock to be photographed or filmed with go-pros or by drone for a chance to be popular on the wild wild web.
A simple search on the platform with the hashtag #sharkpointmaldives will give you plenty of this :
The main question is not if, but when.
Who do we have to blame ? the Instagram girl who doesn’t respect nature or the shark who’s bothered on his territory ?
Will it be again sharks to be blamed and hated for irresponsible human behavior, profit and vanity ?
What were you expecting people ?
What can you expect when you run or simply walk amongst a group of wild dogs or cheetahs ?
That they will happily and quietly pose with you for social medias ?
Dealing with wildlife is risky. Period.
To the question : Is there any shark attack in the Maldives ?
In Maldives you might get this famous reply :
– “there is a much higher chance that a tourist get hit by a falling coconut in Maldives than a shark attack.“.
Which is TRUE.
The Maldives ARE NOT a shark attack destination.
Well, with this new trend, it is not true anymore.
Thanks to fame seekers who have the ability to mess up with the reputation of a destination.
About Shark Point
Nurse sharks have a hotspot in Vaavu Atoll where they unfortunately now seek food from tourist attractions.
While they are typically non-aggressive, they are sharks…and can be dangerous if provoked or disturbed. They are wild animals.
“There were a dozen of nurse sharks weighting almost 200kgs.” – says the local diver who was filming the bikini girl swimming among the sharks.
See more videos here .
Congrats to you fame seekers ( sorry I cannot use the word Diver, because divers simply DONT DO IT LIKE THAT ), you’re everywhere, on FOX News, TMZ, Daily Mail, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook…Well done !
And even better, with this, the Maldives will now be associated with shark attacks.
There is a difference between swimming with nurse sharks like this :
YES !
A Maldivian wonderfully swimming with Nurse Sharks in Maldives. – Credit Visit Maldives
Diving / observing other sharks like this :
Too Wild- Maldives (Ep 1: Sharks) #WWFVoices
and THAT :
NO !
Swimmer floats peacefully above school of sharks
Why is this activity still authorized ?
It is still time to stop it before the worse happens.
The question is not if but when ?
The Maldives should take other sharks destinations as example, like Compass Cay a very similar nurse shark hotspot in the Bahamas.
The beautiful island destination is a vivid and sad example :
At Compass Cay, in 2022, a woman was killed by a nurse shark followed by another deadly attack of a 8-year old small boy by three sharks of the same species during a snorkeling excursion at the spot.
Other similar nurse shark attacks in other countries have occurred to Instagramers.
Food for thought :
Recent research indicates that shark attacks in some parts of the world appear to be on the rise.
“Shark bites are strongly correlated to the number of people and number of sharks in the water at the same time…The more sharks and people there are in one place, the greater the chance of them bumping into each other.” says Gavin Naylor, director of the Florida Program for Shark Research. Source – BBC.
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