shark attack near Ft. Bragg

[FreediveWI]

Abalone diver from Auburn tells of 'big fish' swimming near friend, blood in water
Monday, August 16, 2004

By KATY HILLENMEYER
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT



A 50-year-old abalone diver from Auburn, possibly the victim of a shark attack, remained missing late Sunday after disappearing in the ocean near Kibesillah Rock, a Mendocino County Sheriff's Office spokesman said.

"It's not confirmed it's a shark, but I don't know what else would do this kind of thing," sheriff's Sgt. Dennis Bushnell said after the 4 p.m. incident, which occurred south of Westport and north of Fort Bragg.

The missing man, Randall G. Fry, had just surfaced for air with a diving partner and the two Auburn men were preparing to dive again when Fry's companion saw "a big fish surface up between them," Bushnell said. "There was some blood in the water after the incident."

A third unidentified Auburn man waited nearby aboard their 28-foot fishing boat, which had ventured about 100 yards off shore north of Ten Mile River Beach, sheriff's and Coast Guard spokesmen said. Fry disappeared in relatively shallow water, about 15 feet deep, Bushnell estimated.

The uninjured diver swam back to the fishing boat and radioed the Coast Guard immediately, police said.

A widespread air and sea search began for Fry, involving three helicopters, two Coast Guard vessels and other responders. But the search was called off at nightfall, with searchers expected to resume at 8 a.m. this morning.

Personnel from the Westport Fire Department, California Department of Forestry and CalStar assisted sheriff's deputies, volunteers and Coast Guard crews in the search-and-rescue effort.

Bushnell, a 20-year veteran of the sheriff's department, said he could not recall a fatal shark attack off the Mendocino Coast.

"Our big issue is he's missing now," Bushnell said.

[FreediveWI]

The Coast Guard recovered a body Monday not far from where an Auburn man disappeared after an apparent shark attack.

Randall Fry, 50, disappeared Sunday afternoon while diving for abalone with a friend. Fry's friend told authorities that Fry disappeared after what he called a "big fish" appeared between them.

The friend made it back to the boat the two men were diving from, but Fry has not been seen since.

Affiliated with several fishing clubs, Fry was an influential member of the Recreational Fishing Alliance. "Randy was really instrumental in organizing recreational anglers," said Sonke Mastrup, a deputy director for the Wildlife and Inland Fisheries Division of the California Department of Fish and Game.

A Coast Guard spokesman says a body was recovered late Monday morning near Kibesillah Rock near Westport in Mendocino County. The spokesman says the body was being transported to a Coast Guard station on Noyo River, and authorities would conduct an autopsy. The body has not yet been positively identified. No other information was released by the Coast Guard as to the condition of the body.

Since the early 1950s, there have been 106 shark attacks on humans off the West Coast, including 10 that resulted in fatalities, said Steve Martarano of the Department of Fish and Game.

The last fatal attack was a year ago. In August 2003, a great white shark 15 to 18 feet long attacked a 50-year-old college instructor Deborah Franzman of Nipomo, who bled to death after taking a morning swim at Avila Beach.