New shark bites in Florida and Hawaii and a suspected situation in New Jersey have piqued interest in an age-outdated summer months query for beachgoers — is it protected to go in the drinking water?
Scientists and scientists who study sharks explained the overwhelming response to that concern is of course, it is risk-free. Possibly risky interactions between humans and sharks are uncommon, and really serious accidents and fatalities from the bites are vanishingly unusual, experts claimed.
Nevertheless, the dramatic mother nature of shark bites and the tales of survivors, these kinds of as Hawaii surfer Mike Morita’s tale of preventing off a shark in April, capture the imagination. It truly is a excellent notion to don’t forget just how exceptional shark bites certainly are, experts reported.
HOW Usually DO SHARK BITES Arise?
There have been usually all around 70 to 80 unprovoked shark bites every year, around the globe, over the earlier ten years. And not only are shark bites uncommon, they have been specifically unusual recently.
There were only 57 unprovoked bites previous yr, and 5 of these had been fatal, according to College of Florida’s International Shark Assault File. There experienced been 9 this sort of deaths the previous 12 months.
The shark attack file reported a yr ago that a single reason for the drop in bites may be be the international decline of shark populations.
It can be as well early in the warm time to get an idea of how energetic this year will be for interactions concerning humans and sharks, mentioned Greg Skomal, a shark professional with the Massachusetts Division of Maritime Fisheries.
“If we get a lot of bait fish and forage fish species shut to shore, we have a super warm summertime that draws people today to seashores, far more persons in the water, then we can establish the possibility,” Skomal reported.
WHAT ARE THE MOST Inclined Locations FOR SHARK ENCOUNTERS?
The United States and Australia are normally the websites of the most documented shark bites. Florida experienced much more bites than any place else on Earth final yr with 16 unprovoked bites, two of which resulted in amputations, the shark assault file claimed.
This thirty day period, two Florida fishermen ended up bitten by sharks in separate incidents fewer than 36 hours apart.
The level of shark bites has stayed constant in recent decades, but it might experience like a more popular event since of the prevalence of smartphones, mentioned Nick Whitney, a senior scientist at the New England Aquarium in Boston. Recently designed smartphone apps permit people to report shark sightings in serious time.
WHAT Form OF SHARKS ARE Bring about FOR Issue?
White sharks, bull sharks and tiger sharks are the sharks most cited by the Global Shark Attack File for unprovoked bites. Those people species are massive sharks that also trigger the most fatalities.
Nevertheless, it’s really worth bearing in mind that lots of interactions with sharks are with lesser species that are unlikely to induce critical accidents, explained James Sulikowski, director of the Coastal Oregon Marine Experiment Station at Oregon Point out University. These species may well bite a human, realize we are not their preferred prey and move on, he reported.
IS IT Risk-free TO SWIM?
Indeed. You happen to be at exponentially greater risk of having hurt in a auto incident on the way to the beach than you are to get severely wounded by a shark bite.
Tens of millions of persons flock to the beach in the summer time as the weather conditions heats up, and that raises the risk of interacting with a shark. But by taking easy precautions, these kinds of as not carrying shiny objects into the drinking water and not swimming at dawn and dusk, beachgoers can cut down any opportunity of a dangerous come upon with a shark, Sulikowski reported.
“We are intruders in their atmosphere. What we can do is be rational and secure about that and stay away from areas wherever sharks are heading to be feeding,” Sulikowski claimed. “When an conversation occurs, it is mistaken identity — we are in an location where a shark is on the lookout to consume.”
