1992 Cageless shark-diving expedition
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The 1992 Cageless shark-diving expedition that was led by Ron and Valerie Taylor contributed to changing public opinions about the supposed ferocity of great white sharks.
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[edit] History
In January 1992, during the filming of a documentary film "Blue Wilderness", during surface testing of the prototype "Shark Pod" (now Shark Shield) among several large Great White sharks feeding around the boat, four divers: Ron and Valerie Taylor (notable Australian pioneers of underwater exploration and film-makers), George Askew (South African pioneer underwater explorer and photographer), and Piet van der Walt spent an hour diving amongst these perceived dangerous sharks at Dyer Island, South Africa without a safety cage. The Taylors and Askew, recognised as experienced shark divers, were testing their hypothesis, based on many years of experiences with sharks, that these animals had a much fiercer reputation than they deserved.The Taylors feel that the Australian sharks have a slightly different disposition.
Askew had proposed, in an article entitled "Myth or Maneater?", published in the UK magazine Underwater World in 1978, - based on his own experiences with Great Whites in the water and that of his peers - that Great Whites did not deserve the horrific image and reputation that Jaws author Peter Benchley, and Steven Spielberg in the subsequent film based on his book, had imprinted in peoples minds. He postulated that if the Great White knew you were aware of its presence you had a pretty good chance of not being attacked, as they rely on stealth and surprise when attacking. He wrote two more articles on the same thread in 1983 and 1989.
[edit] Impact
This important and historic dive which was akin to scaling an Underwater Everest proved Askew`s theory convincingly and changed the popular undeserved bad reputation of the Great White. The divers found the sharks were actually very timid and difficult to approach. Since then many divers have swum and dived with them without cages with some even hitching rides on them. To date no-one [That is known of] has been harassed or been close to being attacked whilst doing this.
