# Do Sharks dislike yellow?



## jonas (Feb 4, 2008)

I have been watching the shark encounters and notice a lack of shark encounters from people in yellow kayaks. is this right or am I just making this up?

I read an artical of a guy in California in a red kayak who got the front of his yak chomped on by a GWS. In noticed the guy who got flicked out of his yak in NSW by a GSW was in a fawny colour yak. i read a story of a guy in WA who got botherd by a tiger shark in a green yak and since changed to a yellow kayak and has not had a problem since.

Does anyone have any data to kill my theory??? :? :?


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## Barrabundy (Sep 29, 2008)

I have one statistic that backs up your theory.....me!

At the time of posting my yellow yak is yet to be eaten.


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## wearebeingwatched (Jan 31, 2008)

I've got nothing to add to your theory but I am very happy i have got 2 x bright yellow kayaks.
:lol:


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## bazzoo (Oct 17, 2006)

Jonas , i dont believe there have been enough attacks to be able to take adecision on that , there is a lot of talk about sharks , but very few attacks , i once read that your chances world wide of being attacked by a shark were 1 in 7 million, well if they were the odds of winning the lottery , you would never buy a ticket . iI really think we are pretty safe , i have been in the surf all my life and seen sharks on numerous occasions but have never been troubled by them .


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## HAWKEYE3 (Jan 8, 2009)

I recall there was some work done on this back in the early 60's or thereabouts. There were some conclusions on what colour not to wear when swimming in the sea. Your post prompted me and I recall that yellow may be one of the safer colours. I think the SLSA was involved.

But apart from this I don't have any data.

By the way the colour of my new yak is bright yellow.

Regards

Hawkeye3


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## rob316 (Oct 2, 2007)

Mythbusters theory and tests show that yellow actually excites the shark and prompts more interest than other colours...the show was interesting....and somewhat conclusive....but hey , if they are in a mood , any colour is prone , as is anyone ;-)


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## Guest (Feb 18, 2009)

I´ve got opposite Information.
In some test of the US Navy they found the sharks stayed away when the guy´s wore zebra srtiped suits, but loved the yellow. So mutch they called it Yum Yum Yellow.
(They recomended dark clothes, and a black shark/survival bag.)
Can also remember an old Malcom Duglas show where he said the sharks love the yellow, threw a Yellow and a dark live west in the water, and the reefsharks just mauled the yellow one!!!
No personal expirience though...


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## jonas (Feb 4, 2008)

I think the theory is blown - didn't last long, i lifted this off the net:

Sharks see contrast particularly well, so any high contrast color apparel or gear used by a human in the water is especially visible to sharks. The bright yellow color traditionally used in water safety flotation devices and rafts is readily seen by human rescuers looking for missing persons in the sea and likely is seen easily by sharks as well. As a result, shark researchers laughingly refer to this color as "yum yum yellow!" Should one replace all these devices with more drab colored items? Of course there is a trade-off involved, but most would agree that the benefit of increasing one's chances of being rescued far outweigh the minimal risk of attracting a shark. By contrast (pardon the pun), divers and swimmers probably can reduce the chance of an interaction with a shark by avoiding bright swimwear or dive gear. I personally prefer to use dark blue or black fins, mask, tank, and wetsuit while diving and make a point of wearing my dive watch under the cuff of my wetsuit, thereby eliminating any chance of light reflection off the face of the watch attracting a shark or barracuda. Similarly, one always should avoid wearing jewelry because the glint of light reflecting off metal approximates the glint of light off the scales of fishes, the normal food items of most sharks.

© George H. Burgess, International Shark Attack File
Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida


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## Scott (Aug 29, 2005)

Hi mate, when I used to shark fish off the NSW coast we would spend typically 10-12 hours pumping a heavy stream of mince into the water. We would never have a rigged bait in the water as we were fishing capture not tag and release. To get maximum capture points on as many sharks as we could, we would drift along with indicator baits ( baits rigged on 2-4kg tackle without hooks) to let us know when there was a shark in the slick without spooking it on those more cautious sharks which would hang back in the slick rather then swim right up to the mince bag. Anyway, getting to the point, to slow our drift on windy and or days of rough seas we would run 2 sea anchors and on quieter days we would run one sea anchor, slowing the boat down enough to get a nice fat slick. We had a cobalt blue sea anchor and a bright yellow sea anchor. On the days we ran both, the first colour of the shark we often saw was as it came up to investigate the yellow sea anchor.

I don't recall a shark ever checking out the blue sea anchor where as while a shark never attached a sea anchor, they certainly regularly came up to investigate the yellow one. I can only conclude from this that the yellow colouration may not lead to an attack, it certainly attracted a lot more attention from the sharks than a blue one. Having said this, a sea anchor sits a bit lower in the water coloum than a yak giving it more visibility from underneath the water than a yak which sits at most a 3 to 4 inchs under the surface of the water.

Scott


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## craig51063 (May 30, 2008)

No i dont believe it, what about kayaks of different colours ,pink , blue , white ,grey.

Arnt sharks colour blind anyway ????
i mean does the grey nurse realise its grey or the great white shark know thats its white ???

craig ??


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## kayakity-yak (May 31, 2007)

I reckon if you want to pick a yak colour - go grey and paint a couple of huge black eyes on the underside of the hull. My theory being if your yak looks like it is a bigger meaner shark then maybe they will leave you alone. Having said that though, it could work the other way and portray you as a potential mate  But the black spots idea is tried and true in nature so maybe it could work??


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## yankatthebay (Dec 14, 2007)

bazzoo said:


> i once read that your chances world wide of being attacked by a shark were 1 in 7 million, well if they were the odds of winning the lottery , you would never buy a ticket


Actually, the odds of winning lottery are worse than that (1 in 8million according to NSW Lotto). Odds of winning Powerball is about 1 in 55 million.

I think the odds of getting attacked by a shark are much worse than that. I heard a few years ago that there were around 250 shark attacks per year world-wide. So with 6 billion people in the world your chance of being attacked is about 1 in 24 million...hmm, twice the chance of getting attacked by a shark than winning Powerball...just realised that!


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## paffoh (Aug 24, 2006)

Its a common known fact, Yum Yum Yellow is... Yummy?

http://www.google.com.au/search?hl=en&q ... llow&meta=

CYMKOC might get the yummy mummy's, but...


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## kayakity-yak (May 31, 2007)

craig51063 said:


> No i dont believe it, what about kayaks of different colours ,pink , blue , white ,grey.
> 
> Arnt sharks colour blind anyway ????
> i mean does the grey nurse realise its grey or the great white shark know thats its white ???
> ...


Gday Craig, I think even if they're colour blind then the contrast factor would still come into play. Then that would mean a white yak or whatever would be even more of a target than yellow.

Another idea I just thought of would be sort of an army cammo type of pattern that could potentially disorient or confuse the shark. it would also look nothing at like something they would ordinarily eat.

I think tho the best idea is to keep it drab. I mean if you're walking down the street and in amongst a sea of grey suits, someone is wearing a flamboyant yellow number - who will you notice first?


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## Guest (Feb 18, 2009)

> I really don't think it matters though, if the're hungry and your there, well I guess thats it.


Those of us who fish in estuaries (bull sharks) and off-shore (whites, makos, bulls, etc) are plain ignorant to think we haven't been paddling around hungry sharks. We just don't know it. I can tell you for certain that on several occasions yak fishing around maggie island that there were sharks absolutely everywhere, and I do mean everywhere. That mackeral were being chased around all day long by tigers and hammerheads (you could see the macks jumping out frequently, often followed by a fin, and sometimes that tell-tale shark tail slash when they were chomped) so it was fair enough to assume the sharks were hungry. I spent hours out there and never even looked like being part of their menu.

A hammerhead did come up to the side of my yak once, but it was following a lure. That's about as close as I got to being harassed and it got much more of a fright than I did. So no... I don't think that kayaker + hungry shark = shark attack. All of the evidence suggests that at best, sharks that harass kayakers are merely inquisitive, even if they're aggressive. I'm not saying their inquisition isn't inspired by hunger - it probably always is. What I'm saying is that typically, they tend to look before they leap. Yep a few kayaks get 'mouthed' but its extremely rare for a kayaker to actually be attacked. Most kayaks that are mouthed by sharks are discarded pretty quickly. Plastic & fibreglass is not a normal part of their diet.

I think the greatest risk is actually falling out of the yak while a shark is hanging around. If that happens, then yes, you're probably on the menu. And we all know that has happened (not so long ago in fact). But that to is really very rare.


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## mossyrevo (Jan 25, 2009)

Check this link: http://www.fishingkites.co.nz/sharks/greatwhitesharkattack.html

Makes me glad my revo is mossy!


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## solatree (May 30, 2008)

I thought fish, those in the open ocean at least - were the colours they were to avoid detection - not too many yellow fish (except carp) - but boy, do those yellow lures (and red ones) work well !


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## GregL (Jul 27, 2008)

The first surf board my missus bought me was a big yellow 7' 10" :shock: .... when I found out about the yum-yum-yellow a few years ago, I offered to buy her a car with no brakes. :twisted:


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## Big D (Apr 28, 2007)

Sharks must be repelled by grey kayaks because I've never been taken on my grey Quest.


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## forbs (May 20, 2008)

> I think the odds of getting attacked by a shark are much worse than that. I heard a few years ago that there were around 250 shark attacks per year world-wide. So with 6 billion people in the world your chance of being attacked is about 1 in 24 million...hmm, twice the chance of getting attacked by a shark than winning Powerball...just realised that!


Whilst i'm no scare monger, i think the odds are somewhat scewed. For one we are kayakers so not really part of the general odds equation i.e out of the 6 billion people how many people put themselves at risk ? We do. Fish bite best at dusk and dawn, so do sharks and a few of us fish and surf at dusk and dawn. So the odds we need to know is how many kayakers/surfers are likely to have a run in with a shark.

Australia on average has one shark fatality per year so considering how many surfers and kayakers hit the water and how many scuba divers/spear fisho's etc are in the water, our odds are still pretty slim of being attacked. Maybe you can use the powerball analogy but us kayakers have a system 15 going. Of course i mainly fish closed south coast estuaries so i don't even put my ticket in.


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## bombora (Mar 8, 2006)

There's been ads in surf mags for a set of stickers to put on bottom of boards which are in a sort of crazy stripes pattern, which allegedly puts off sharks.


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## craig51063 (May 30, 2008)

kayakity-yak said:


> I reckon if you want to pick a yak colour - go grey and paint a couple of huge black eyes on the underside of the hull. My theory being if your yak looks like it is a bigger meaner shark then maybe they will leave you alone. Having said that though, it could work the other way and portray you as a potential mate  But the black spots idea is tried and true in nature so maybe it could work??


rrrrrrr when me and my father inlaw made my rudder over xmas he wanted to paint eyes on my yak [ hes greek ] considering the gws was around longie i thought that there is no way im putting eyes on my yak . :lol:

lets see 4mtrs long - grey - flashy rear end and beutiful greek eyes ,smells like a fish :shock:

craig


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## kayakity-yak (May 31, 2007)

craig51063 said:


> kayakity-yak said:
> 
> 
> > I reckon if you want to pick a yak colour - go grey and paint a couple of huge black eyes on the underside of the hull. My theory being if your yak looks like it is a bigger meaner shark then maybe they will leave you alone. Having said that though, it could work the other way and portray you as a potential mate  But the black spots idea is tried and true in nature so maybe it could work??
> ...


Nah the length of the yak is immaterial, it''s the size of the eyes that make it _appear_ to be bigger, that's the concept that many animals exploit for their protection. Like a butterfly with those big spots on the wings - it's only a tiny delicate little creature but it looks, at a glance, like it could be a big arse owl or something. Even though it may be obvious to a potential predator that it's missing the rest of it's body, there is still an element of doubt as many other predators use cammoflague. 9 times out of 10 they will probably prefer to leave it and go and find some other food without big glaring eyes staring at them. So it is important too that the rest of the yak blends in with the surrounds as well as possible so it is hard for them to work out the actual size of you.

Having said all this though and having a think about it, if there is a big white in the water that _knows_ it is the biggest meanest shark in the water, it may not be detered.


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## keza (Mar 6, 2007)

i got knocked pretty had by one earlier this year and mines yellow.
He may have just been being friendly who knows.


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## Duane (Oct 20, 2007)

jonas said:


> I think the theory is blown - didn't last long, i lifted this off the net:
> 
> I personally prefer to use dark blue or black fins, mask, tank, and wetsuit while diving
> 
> ...


He's a genius, he's now the same colour as the popular GWS food, known as a Seal.
Several years back a Diver was taken by a GWS off a seal colony................


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## danh124 (Sep 29, 2008)

mmmmmm no i dont think they are fussy


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## GeoffC (Sep 15, 2008)

yankatthebay said:


> bazzoo said:
> 
> 
> > i once read that your chances world wide of being attacked by a shark were 1 in 7 million, well if they were the odds of winning the lottery , you would never buy a ticket
> ...


All those 6 billion folks are not *exposed* to sharks, so that stat is useless. You have to pick folks actually exposed to sharks. That's going to be a VERY much smaller number.

Geoff.


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## Southerly (Apr 20, 2007)

A camo yak may reduce your risk of shark attack by 50%, pittly it also increases the chance of being run over by a boat by 1000% !


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## Junglefisher (Jun 2, 2008)

I have a nice blood red yak. Sharks and crocs aren't attracted to blood are they?


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## murd (Jan 27, 2008)

They seem to love eating '*YELLOW *tail Kingfish' don't they?


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## coldwetnhappy (May 27, 2008)

If you have a yellow kayak, there's only one way to protect yourself...


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## widsa (Nov 26, 2008)

Not every one of the 6 billion people swim. And of those that swim, not all will swim in sharky waters. Thats increases the odds a bit! So the key is to go yaking with someone who has a yellow yak! Occy what ya doing this weekend?


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## widsa (Nov 26, 2008)

Not every one of the 6 billion people swim. And of those that swim, not all will swim in sharky waters. Thats increases the odds a bit! So the key is to go yaking with someone who has a yellow yak! Occy what ya doing this weekend?


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## chris58 (Nov 25, 2007)

i used to do a bit of scuba diving, and there was a saying "Yum-yum yellow" you can work that out. :lol:

i look at sharks like any fish,

when lure fishing bight lures work well. bright pink for flathead, blue for off shore, silver is an alround colour also.

my yak in "shark gray" in colour, was thinking of painting some shark looking teeth on the underside to scare the crap out of them :lol: :lol: :lol:


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## AJD (Jul 10, 2007)

Go yellow. If it means sharks leave me alone great. If it means knobs in speed boats don't run over me. EVEN BETTER!


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## soggypilchard (Dec 1, 2008)

yankatthebay said:


> bazzoo said:
> 
> 
> > i once read that your chances world wide of being attacked by a shark were 1 in 7 million, well if they were the odds of winning the lottery , you would never buy a ticket
> ...


i have always thought those statistics were bullsh!t
being a surfer you hear them all the time
the statistics seam to count everyone in the world.
i think i have a higher chance of being attacked by nightsurfing or kayak fishing than some hairy dude from the corner shop at hurstville that cant swim.


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## keza (Mar 6, 2007)

soggypilchard said:


> yankatthebay said:
> 
> 
> > bazzoo said:
> ...


very true, he would drown first :lol:


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## mustrumr (Feb 27, 2009)

Interesting thread - my Outback is yellow (like it's owner!) So I thought I'd do a little research. And suddenly I'm not feeling quite as yellow.

I found this site http://sharkattackfile.info/shark-attac ... search.asp If you enter "kayaking" in the "Activity" search box it lists all shark attacks on kayakers worldwide since 1989. All seventeen of them. Three were fatal (actually there were only TWO fatal attacks, but in one of them two kayakers died). Two resulted in minor injuries. The other twelve caused no injuries to the kayaker (or at least no _physical_ injuries - I'm guessing post-traumatic stress syndrome would be pretty likely). In most of the 12 no-injury attacks the kayak was either bitten or rammed by the shark, which would scare the crap out of me :shock:

The site lists only four shark attacks on kayakers in Australia since 1989. Three resulted in no injury. One was knocked off his kayak and then rammed in the chest by the shark, resulting in a bruised chest.

What I guess this means is that you have to be really, really unlucky to be attacked by a shark, and even more unlucky to be injured or killed - regardless of the colour of your kayak. I mean, 17 attacks in 20 years, worldwide. I don't think that's a big enough sample to draw any conclusions from, even if we knew what colour kayaks they were using.

Sure the "yum-yum yellow" information is a bit worrying, but it seems to me that the chances of attack are so tiny in the first place that even if yellow makes you 10 times more likely to be attacked the risk is so small that it's not worth worrying about. How many millions of hours have people spent kayaking in shark-infested waters over the last 20 years? And only 17 attacks.

So I guess I'll go back to being worried about being run down by a power boat - which is why I bought a high-visibility yellow kayak in the first place.

Cheers,

mustrumr


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## chris58 (Nov 25, 2007)

yes you are dead right mustrumr,
it is only the fact that being eaten alive is a bad way to go  
but no one thinks twice about driving down to the water,work,Sunday drives etc and i would put it to you that being in a real nasty car crash is not a flash way to go either!
i think i heard that you have more chance of winning lotto! (hope they didnt mean 3 and a sup!!)


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## fillofisher (Mar 5, 2009)

I have fished on both the moss green and the yellow.

I have been bumped by a tiger shark whilst on the moss green however have never (knock on wood) been bumped on my big yellow plank. 
Detrius (Dave) noted the meeting on this forum and some said he has balls of steel. I can tell you Dave is blind as a bat and could not see what was nudging his moss green yak but I saw the bugger go past and turn and come back to the yak. 
That evening was 20 minutes of fun, 15-18 feet of fun with teeth and the tiger was beautiful.

I have travelled less distance on the moss green than on the yellow.
On one trip Dave and I sailed back from Uendoo creek south of Carnarvon (bout 18kms all up) across the bay on the yellow. Didn't see one shark.

I will keep going out no matter what (waiting on the new epirb to arrive yet) and will keep playing with the tigers on Daves (moss green) Yak and take mine out (that is the yellow one) when I don't want to be bothered.


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## keza (Mar 6, 2007)

something i would really like to know is this:
I have been bumped by sharks, i paddled at one fast and it disappeared quickly but if one was to keep bugging me i would try to jab it with the end of my paddle. I base this on the fact that if you prod them whilst diving they don't like it and they really don't want to get them selves damaged BUT i would hate to find out that a 4.5 GW was happy just having a look until the thing it was looking at got aggressive and jabbed it with a paddle so he ate it :shock:


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## mak (Dec 4, 2008)

i reckon if you dove under your yak and looked up they all would look the same colour. so all the different colours are the new black........no? :shock:


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## bazzoo (Oct 17, 2006)

Keza , if you had a Hobie , when he was having a little look at your kayak you could give those flipper flappers two quick pedals and give him such a slap :lol: :lol: :lol:


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