Diver killed by shark

[LKunze]

By Andrew Ba Tran | Sun-Sentinel.com
1:41 PM EST, February 25, 2008

A man bitten by a shark while diving over the weekend has died, the U.S. Coast Guard in Miami announced on Monday.

The 50-year-old man "passed away from his injuries sustained by a shark bite," said Coast Guard spokeswoman Petty Officer Jennifer Johnson.

Authorities have not identified the man or where he was bitten pending family notification.

The victim was diving about 50 miles east of Fort Lauderdale on Sunday at about 10 a.m. when a shark bit him, according to officials.

The service dispatched a rescue helicopter, and its crew hoisted the man off the boat and flew him to Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami.

A crewmember aboard the 70-foot Shear Water had contacted the Coast Guard. The blue commercial diving vessel is registered to Jim Abernathy's Scuba Adventures from Riviera Beach.

The company offers shark trips to the Bahamas for enthusiasts and photographers hoping to interact with hammerhead and tiger sharks, according to its Web site.

Operators for the company stir in fish and fish parts to "chum" the water and attract the sharks, reads the itinerary. "Please be aware that these are not 'cage' dives; they are open water experiences," states the Web site.

Abernathy had been told by the Bahamas Diving Association to exercise caution with more aggressive sharks such as mako, lemon, tiger and hammerhead sharks.

The association, a group of 36 charter businesses that operate in the Bahamas, sent a letter to Abernathy and other boat owners in the past year recommending a cease and desists to conducting "open-water non-cage Shark Diving experiences with known species of potentially dangerous Sharks," said Neal Watson, the association president.

Abernathy did not return phone calls.

"Most operators do a safe dive behind cages. But Abernathy, for whatever reason, simply refused to comply with the safe diving practices in violation of our standards in the Bahamas," said Watson, who operates a diving company out of Fort Lauderdale.

It is tempting to offer a cageless option to customers: both the photographs and personal experience would be enhanced. But the risks are too great, Watson said.

"Him working with tiger sharks and bull sharks uncaged is totally irresponsible and dangerous," he said. "It wasn't a matter of 'if,' it was a matter of 'when.'"