Return to Transcripts main page
American Morning
Taking Precautions Against Shark Attacks
Aired July 17, 2001 - 10:05 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Speaking of victims, we've been talking about this quite a bit of late, the fear on Florida's beaches right now over sharks.
Over the weekend, two more shark attacks were reported there. The more serious incident there occurred less than eight miles away from the surf where an 8-year-old boy was savagely attacked a week and a half ago.
Our national correspondent Gary Tuchman is on the Pensacola Beach this morning. He joins us with a few tips and some precautions -- Gary?
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Leon, we come to you from the longest fishing pier in the entire Gulf of Mexico. This is 1,431 feet, more than a quarter mile, and it sits on Pensacola Beach. It's a very popular place to fish. This is the same beach where, over the last 11 days, we've had two shark attacks, an 8-year-old boy, a 48- year-old man. That little boy, Jessie Arbogast, is in critical but stable condition. He's recovering. The 48-year-old man had surgery yesterday. He is out of the hospital. He has also recovered.
But the reason we come to you from a pier is to give you one tip when you go out in the water. Avoid swimming near piers. You don't want sharks to think you are a big piece of bait.
With us right now is a gentleman by the name of Mickey Gray (ph). And Mickey's a fisherman. He comes to this pier every day you told me, right?
MICKEY GRAY, FISHERMAN: Almost every day.
TUCHMAN: Almost every day. Tell me what you've seen from this pier. I asked you if you've ever seen a shark before up here.
GRAY: Yes, I've seen one lemon caught out here, a nurse shark, maybe, and that's about it really. I haven't seen too many sharks really coming around the pier.
TUCHMAN: But you do, you have seen them swimming around? Do you see their shadows or do you actually see the shark?
GRAY: Yes, not that often. Yes.
TUCHMAN: Now, you were telling me before, a couple of days ago there was a fisherman here and what did he catch?
GRAY: He caught a 10 1/2 foot hammerhead.
TUCHMAN: A hammerhead shark?
GRAY: Yes, sir.
TUCHMAN: From this pier?
GRAY: From this pier.
TUCHMAN: Are you allowed to catch sharks from this pier?
GRAY: No, he was doing it illegally and he's been banned now. He's not allowed to come back out here.
TUCHMAN: So when you see swimmers swimming real close to the pier, do you yell down to them or anything to stay away?
GRAY: Yes, well they're supposed to be 300 feet away from the pier.
TUCHMAN: How's the fishing, by the way?
GRAY: It's great. It's excellent.
TUCHMAN: What are you catching?
GRAY: King mackerel, cobia, bonito.
TUCHMAN: All right, don't catch any sharks.
GRAY: No, sir.
TUCHMAN: Thanks for talking to us. We appreciate it.
GRAY: You're welcome.
TUCHMAN: Something to keep in mind, there have been two attacks here over the last 11 days, but it's still a very rare thing to happen. The odds of you getting killed by a shark are much worse than the odds of you getting killed by lightning, by an alligator or even by an elephant -- Leon, back to you.
HARRIS: OK, there's some perspective for you. Thank you much, Gary Tuchman in Pensacola Beach, thank you.
Well, join us tonight, folks, when CNN presents a special report, "WHEN SHARKS ATTACK." That's at 10:00 P.M. Eastern, 7:00 Pacific right here.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
