Saturday, July 26, 2008

A Seashore Issue

Common knowledge in oceanside locales warns against swimming with open sores or bleeding in ocean waters, because sharks will be attracted. A furious mental melee continues about whether such people should be allowed onshore nearby the water. Apparently to some observers, the mere proximity of bleeding people to ocean waters increases the chance that other people swimming in the ocean water will encounter a curious or hungry shark -- different from the prohibition of bleeding people who actually wade into the water and directly attract shark attention.

That such people expect to heal scrapes and cuts in the sunny shoreline environs and salt water is said to unwittingly attract an influx of sharks anyway whether actually wading or not, such that other swimmers and surfers are endangered. Perhaps also, the bleeder is remembered among aquatic wildlife and all associated (such as close relatives) who are engaged in water sports or fishing become the focus of creature attention whereever they set foot in the water.

A sort of hue and cry appears to be directed toward the beach-bleeders themselves, together with moans and groans about the feasibility of forceable escort of potentially deadly dalliance from shoreline environs. No signs appear to be routinely posted yet at all public beaches to warn bleeders to stay away from oceanside environs altogether; just exactly who will/should be granted credit to initiate such posting remains to be seen, since posted signs at beaches are often regarded as landscape clutter whether legitimate safety reminders or not.

At Ocean Beach in San Francisco, CA, one such safety-reminder sign simply faded away after decades of beach-goer activity and was not replaced in a timely way although the printing became illegible. The dis-popularity of English-language admonishments following the McKinley assassination and two World Wars has possibly contributed to apathy about that shoreline warning sign, while a number of artillery shells remained unmarked in some city shoreline sands.

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