Thursday, October 16, 2008

Who let the sharks in?

Here is a story told by Betsybug

The maritime watchdog (the Maritime Authority or MA) has put out a warning about the dangers of sharks - "look, long sharp teeth, large mouth, strong bite. Stay away at all costs. You could be killed by these predators".

After putting out this warning, it stands idly by when a seaside resort (let's call it the Delmar Beach Sports Seaside or DBSS) lets in sharks into its swimming lagoon. They have made a huge investment by advertising this new attraction at its resort. Many holiday-makers visit the resort as a result of this promotion. Nobody notices that the sharks were promoted as an exotic dog-fish species. In a foot-note in the promotion brochure, there is mention of the dog-fish species which called by its proper scientic name, "Carcharodon carcharias". Its layman's name is the Great White Shark. However, no-one quite understood all the marine biology jargon. Everyone thought this was a safe holiday at home, far from fears of terrorism and air-crashes.

The DBSS resort tells the holiday-makers, "Don't worry, this is a unique resort attraction. You are perfectly safe as long as you stay within the lagoon. It's not like you are swimming in the open sea. Go right ahead and swim and you will have a good time". The holiday-makers, being rather trusting of this reputable resort, proceed to wade out into the lagoon. Soon, entire families were having a wonderful time, splashing merrily in the cool waters of the lagoon. Everyone thought this was a perfect holiday.

The inevitable happens - someone has a little accident and suffers a small cut. Unfortunately, the sharks detected the minute amount of blood and their predatory instincts kicked in. They begin to attack and gobble up the poor swimmers. The carnage is quite heart-breaking. Young and old are killed or are maimed and injured. The swimming lagoon is awash with blood and gore, and very few managed to crawl out of the lagoon untouched.

The resort's lifeguards are not much help - after all, this was not something they trained for. They knew about CPR and water rescues, but shark attacks were completely new to them. Ambulances were called, but for many of the victims, help came too late. In the aftermath of the disaster, the DBSS management was hard to reach for comments. They asked that all enquiries be sent to its PR department, and that all queries will be handled in due time.

Meanwhile, MA said that the families of victims or surviving victims should put in their claims for compensation to DBSS. It said that DBSS is the correct party to judge whether the claims are valid or not. It also reminds everyone that it has issued a warning about sharks. An MA official said that there is inherent risk in every activity even on holidays. And the more fun you have, the greater is the risk you run.

A prominent marine biologist, Mr TK Lynch set up a support centre to counsel and answer the questions by the bewildered families who have lost their loved ones. He helps organise support group meetings, and writes to the MA to seek answers and redress. At the time of writing, nothing has yet happened. Meanwhile, throughout the country, at many wakes and funerals, the grieving continues and many heart-rending questions are sent skywards. But no answers descend.

11 comments:

  1. a very good grandfather's tales. remember to tell this to your grand-daughter ok.

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  2. Oh, it's nice.

    Let me also make a wild guess that the MA has appointed three so-called independent shark hunters to help in the resolution.

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  3. Good analogy to marine authority, sharks, suffering families and not forgetting the resort. Hong Kong government is doing positive steps towards restoring the investors confidence. hope that similar actions can be carried out here too.

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  4. MAS has said that more than a year ago, it had warned about the advisability of selling structured deposit products to the retail market. This seems to imply that by simply highlighting that an alert had been sent out earlier, MAS is now absolved of all responsibilities in the matter. On the contrary, I think that this in fact demonstrates that MAS was well aware of the dangers posed by such products, and that having sent out the warning, it has essentially fallen asleep on the job, or worse, watch unmoved when the crisis developed.

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  5. MA dozing away in Sentosa Cove

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  6. Hahaha. Sentosa has many swimming lagoons. Thankfully Sentosa is not like DBSS!

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  7. Very well written story. This is very true to our Island Republic...we are 1st world in many ways, resorts DBSS etc etc. When come to problem....we let it die a natural death...hope that Mr TK Lynch and his team has the stamina to convert the sharks to sharkfin soup...and make it TK Lynch delicasy.
    Keep it up everyone I will pray for your success in eliminating the sharks...
    We should bring the source to justice...ie the Sharks Parents (Mgt) and not the runners (RMs). If we let the Sharks Parents free easily, they will multiply and bring new breed of sharks and this will not stop.

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  8. Well written and all too true.

    With such high inherent risk, these products should never be allowed to be sold to the retail public. Apparently MA is sleeping on the job if it is true that they had warned the people one year ago.

    By the way, how many people read and digest the newspapers from front to back or remember everything that was written. I bet NONE!!!

    Mr TK Lynch thanks and keep up the great effort.

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