Another Shark Attack in Reunion Island

Helmut Nickel, Shark Year Magazine,
05. August 2012

A man was attacked by a shark this late Sunday afternoon (after 5 pm) at a surf spot off Saint-Leu on the west coast of Reunion Island.

The surfer suffered major injuries to his right calf and right hand. He was taken to the ‘Centre Hospitalier Universitaire’ in Saint-Pierre for surgery.

According to the information site linfo, this is the first recorded shark attack on a surfer/bodyboarder  in the waters of the commune of Saint-Leu. It’s this year’s third shark bite incident in Reunion.

Linfo is also reporting that the victim’s name is ‘Fabien’ (aged 40) but this hasn’t been confirmed by officials yet.

The Deputy Mayor of the same commune is Thierry Robert who came up with a controversial order to cull the bull shark population in the coastal waters of Saint-Leu.

Two days later, the order was revoked by Mr. Robert (see here). But there are still plans to introduce a prefectural by-law to allow shark fishing in the Marine Reserve.

UPDATE – Youtube  Video below: New Shark Attack in Reunion – 5. August 2012

Source: linfo, zinfos947.

 

 

8 Comments

  1. Angel

    I hope Fabien gets better and healty soon. A greatly unlucky encounter.
    I was going through the French web sites today to see how they react to this. With my little French and thier way of writing in a think and write whatever comes to your mind added, I figured the following.
    The surfer injured, Fabien, was surfing after 16:00 hours which was illegal. They banned surfing after 16:00 hours
    He was surfing in a spot the is not allowed normally to surf.
    In thier discussion boards, they have similar thinkers like us who thinks Ocean is their terratory and shark killing is unneccasary. The surfer also claim they need a shark free ocean. (which can not be).
    There is a great deal of argument within the French writers about the subject.

    • FOLIO

      I’m from reunion island & surfed St Leu for 17 years, but not now. Get informed before saying things like this. St Leu is surfed since the late 60’s & is overcrowded since the 80’s. There is less than 50 cm of depth where the attack happened. You blame Fabien but it is not illegal to surf at st leu after 04:00 pm. This spot has been surfed often after 7 pm since the 80’s as it is one of the most sucking dry the reef wave on this planet. read about a traduced article about the real causes of the shark attacksin reunion since 2 years made by angel at the page where the article about shark hunt requested by the mayor of St leu in reunion is published. I also wrote about the facts in reunion about marine managements. Fabien is not responsible of its attack, he’s a victim. The bullshark tried to eat him 5 times or more over shallow reef & the fight was more than 5 minutes. All the attacks since 2 years here, sharks tried to eat surfers… Never happened before in 1 century of shark attack record in reunion. 9 attacks on less than 30 km of coast line within 100 meters from the shore on less than 1 meter of water over the reef. 42 alerts of bullsharks with hunting behavior at less than 50 meters from the beach where people bath & don’t surf in less than 6 months… Get informed, it’s really important. Friendly, I respect the work of shark year. Thanks for reading & informing people

      • FOLIO

        By the way, fabien is passioned about sharks, dive with them thousands of times & is against the shark hunt…

        • FOLIO

          also, I don’t know if there is more attacks & alerts recorded on such small surfaces by bullsharks on so shallow waters over coral reef. I don’t know if it’s the highest numbers in the world in such a small superficy. French government distort information because of tourism industry & charges the surfers as they are a minority in reunion. 3 kayakist got also attacked & the fight with sharks were during 15 minutes… Pretty abnormal. All spots where attacks happened are very crowded since the 80’s & no shark reports were never soptted there. Only few small reef sharks who disappeared abnormally very rapidly in less than 5 years. Pretty alarming. Not due to surfers imprudence. Do you think attack could happened in such conditions, with clear water & less than 50 cm depth. Media sayed it was more than 2 meters depth…. Disinformation. I have many scars from this reef. I know of what I’m talking about…

          • FOLIO

            Not any surfer in reunion island claimed to want a shark free ocean !!! Where did you get all these false information ??? I surfed St Leu during 17 years in crystal clear water conditions. I mean, the coral reef of St Leu is under the reef check program & it is one of the most healthy reef in the world, even if it’s a small one. when the break works (almost 9 month per year) if you take too much time to make your bottom turn, the fins of the board touches the reef & the incident leads you to the nearest hospital as it is so shallow ! There have always been sharks in reunion but the numbers of bullsharks increased so much in 22 months that the rate of attacks in this period of time is almost 2 times more (1,5) than the 15 years attack crisis in brazil. This spot of St Leu is surfed since 1960 & overcrowded since the 80’s (100 to 130 surfers in the water the week end). Before these last 2 years, many reef sharks had been sighted often around our reefs. This number of reef sharks decreased suddenly. The cohabitation since 30 years with sharks on this spot never causes a single problem !! Now, at this place, bullsharks get into the river… The problem of the surfer’s presence is a false problem & they are victims ! They do not provocate such a thing !!!! WHERE DID YOU GET ALL THESE FALSE INFORMATIONS, WE NEED TO KNOW AS I WORK IN AN ASSOCIATION TO PREVENT THE RISKS IN THE OCEAN FOR ALL SEA PRACTICIANS IN REUNION. SINCE MORE THAN ONE YEAR, THERE IS FALSE INFORMATION SPREAD ONT THE NET BY ANONYMOUS PEOPLE THAT WE BELIEVE TRY TO COVER THAT FRENCH GOVERNMENT KILL TONS OF SHARKS IN HIGH SEAS IN INDIAN OCEAN NEAR REUNION TO MAKE THE CHINESE BUY THEM !!!! THIS HORRIBLE THING MUST BE FORBIDDEN & PEOPLE NEED TO KNOW AS IT MIGHT HAVE AN INPACT RELATED TO SHARK ATTACK CRYSIS HERE !!!! THANKS TO ANSWER, THIS WILL HELP US !! ONCE AGAIN, WE FIGHTING AGAINST A GOVERNMENTAL MACHINE TO STOP THE SHARK MASSACRE IN HIGH SEAS, & MOST OF US ARE SURFERS…

  2. glenn

    please check http://www.esdshawaii.com. Shark repellant device that could 1 day save you life !

  3. Angel

    Thank you for the info Glenn.
    I did many dives with different kind of sharks repellant devices before. They are at least comforting. There is a test here on this web site about one of the best brands out there against the GWS, where you may actually need one device to dive with.
    I went through the web site in detail, watched the videos as well.
    Well the trick is the sharks GWS, Bull and Tiger which are responsible more than %90 of the attacks are not to be found anywhere in the videos or infos. This device may work with them as well but until those 3 are tested againts it, the device will not have any significance. I sugget, if you know them or work with them to conduct such a test through a scientific independent organization. If it works it will be a miracle and solve a lot of issues here we try deal with. I hope it works..

  4. ed

    Never liked you surf posers anyway. So I´m with the sharks. Sharks -Posers 1:0. More to come

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