Chumming The Water Attracts Wrong Kind Of Sharks

Reef sharks are an extremely rare sight in Belize. Typically, docile and harmless nurse sharks inhabit these waters. When a group of divers chummed the water with fish remnants, they were hoping to attract jacks and nurse sharks. This is almost always the result. What they got this time was totally unexpected. A pack of hungry and curious ten foot long Caribbean Reef Sharks showed up and closed in on the bait tube and surrounded the divers. Their appetite brought them in very close to the group.

Reef sharks are usually not aggressive and pose no serious danger to humans, if treated with respect. It is inadvisable to test this out by invoking a feeding response, however. When this group of divers realized that their bait tube had attracted the wrong audience, they clipped the tube on the boat's buoy line and removed themselves from the area slowly and calmly. To remain in the middle of the fish scraps would be a very risky and foolhardy exercise.

Fortunately, some of the divers were able to get footage of the huge and fearsome looking beasts as they made their way to the surface. Sharks have been given an inaccurate reputation as ferocious killers, but most shark encounters end well if the sharks are not provoked. Intentionally feeding reef sharks can pose a threat to divers and can teach sharks that humans represent a food source.

This group was given a spectacular, although brief interaction with one of nature's most intimidating creatures.

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