A farmer has recalled his hor­ror at being attacked by a shark. Timoci Ratusaki who is in his mid-30’s, was attacked by a shark at the Bai-ni-vualiku reef (Great Sea

by nacanieli tuilevuka, labasa

A farmer has recalled his hor­ror at being attacked by a shark.

Timoci Ratusaki who is in his mid-30’s, was attacked by a shark at the Bai-ni-vualiku reef (Great Sea Reef, also known as Cakau Levu) in Macuata, last Sunday.

Mr Ratusaki who is admitted at the Labasa Hospital relayed the ex­perience to his mother, 54-years-old Makerata Vakacegu yesterday.

The shark bit Mr Ratusaki’s right calf.

Ms Vakacegu of Dreketi in the Macuata Province said she re­ceived a call from a close relative that Ratu Saki had been bitten by a four-foot nurse shark.

“My son went out diving with his friends for the first time and it was after 3pm the incident happened.

“It was an area where most of his friends would go diving many times, and he’d thought in the past about what he should do, in case a shark attacked him. In reality, it was nothing like what he’d imagined.”

“It wasn’t like fish skin. You know shark skin has a rough edge, my son be­lieves the four-foot nurse shark bit him as he at­tempted to kick it out of the way while heading back to the vessel.”

“This was the news relayed to me.

“My husband and I live in Dreketi while my son and his two children reside at Qumu­sau Primary School.

“On my way to t h e hospital, I prayed asking the Lord for his strength and protection over my son

“I am happy that my son is alive and this would have not been possi­ble without the Lord’s protection.”

Minister of Fisheries Semi Koroil­avesau said sharks only attacked humans if their habitat was being disturbed.

He said, generally shark bites were explanatory and the sharks would swim away af­ter one bite.

“Most attacks world-wide happen between 8am and 6pm and mostly on weekend during the warmer seasons of the year,” he said.

“This has not so much to do with shark behaviour though, but everything with human behaviour since these are the times when most peo­ple are spending time in the water.

“Sharks will generally hunt at dawn and dusk and at night, but like many preda­tors, will feed at any time they come across prey unless they have just eat­en and some female sharks like the female Grey Nurse Sharks do not eat at all during mat­ing season.

“There are several species that can inflict injury when t h e y are provoked or harassed, but only four species are considered to be truly dangerous: Tiger Shark, Bull Shark, Great White Shark and Oce­anic White-tip. This has to do with their world-wide distribution as these species can be found in many places, size and choice of natural prey.

“Like most sophisticated hunt­ers, they are curious when they encounter something unusual in their territories. Lacking any limbs with sen­sitive digits such as hands or feet, the only way they can explore an object or organism is to bite it; these bites are known as test bites.”

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