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More than one shark responsible for Sharm el-Sheikh attacks

07 December 2010 20:58 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Egyptian officials are convinced more than one shark is responsible for a series of gruesome attacks on holidaymakers in Sharm el-Sheikh that has so far left one person dead and four severely injured, APA reports quoting guardian.co.uk website.

"It is clear now that we’re dealing with multiple sharks, and undoubtedly at least one of them is still out there in the water," a senior government official involved with the shark hunt told the Guardian.
The statement contradicts earlier reassurances from the Egyptian authorities that a single shark behaving abnormally lay behind the past week’s flurry of attacks on swimmers at the popular Red Sea resort.
The revelation comes as a group of international experts landed in Sinai to begin investigating why the normally placid waters of Sharm el-Sheikh have suddenly become host to a chilling drama that has made headlines around the world and left the town’s normally packed beaches virtually deserted at the height of the holiday season.
On Sunday a 70-year-old German tourist died after a shark tore off her arm, less than 24 hours after local officials declared the sea to be safe again following the capture and killing of two sharks, one or other of which was believed to be responsible for earlier attacks on snorkellers. Criticism of the authorities’ handling of the case is building, with local dive experts warning that the policy of targeting and eliminating "suspicious" sharks in the area was doomed to fail.
"I have always said that there was no way this could be the work of a single animal," said Amr Aboulfatah, former chairman of the South Sinai Association for Diving and Marine Activities and the owner of a major local dive centre. "You’ve got more chance of winning the jackpot in Las Vegas than you do of identifying and then capturing a single shark and thus solving the problem."
Egypt’s Chamber of Diving and Watersports echoed that sentiment, saying that it "does not in any way condone the random killing of sharks".
Although no definitive explanation for the attacks has yet been established, there is growing speculation that a combination of long-term overfishing in the area, combined with the disposal of sheep carcasses over the side of a boat bound for the Jordanian port of Aqaba last month, may have been enough to lure deep-ocean sharks into the shallower waters around Sharm el-Sheikh.
The attacks have raised questions over whether the ecological protection in place for the Red Sea, one of the most diverse marine habitats on earth, is sufficient. Dumping of waste into the ocean by the rapidly expanding hotel industry, plus illegal fishing and oil spillage from offshore rigs have all contributed to the loss of coral reefs in recent years. According to Hurghada Environmental Protection and Conservation Association (HEPCA), an NGO dedicated to Red Sea conservation, "environmental deterioration is no longer a threat but a reality".
"With all my respect to the victims of these horrific incidents, I believe with all my heart that the best thing to come out of all of this will be a wake-up call that things cannot go on as they are," said Aboulfatah.