Shark attacks on the increase?
Last updated: Wednesday, January 13, 2010 PrintThere has been a fatal shark attack at Fish Hoek – the second in six years. Are shark attacks on the increase?
Shark attacks are way down on the scale of health risks facing the average person (even surfers and divers). That’s cold comfort to victims of shark attacks and their families, but the point that shark conservationists and scientists frequently make is not that sharks aren’t dangerous – rather that they have been unfairly ‘demonised’.
The so-called ‘increase’ in attacks is really a public perception fuelled by media hype, says Leonard Compagno of the South African Museum’s Shark Research Centre. Your chances of being attacked by a shark, Compagno points out, are very low. This doesn’t mean people shouldn’t be cautious, but there are other far greater dangers to worry about in the ocean – drowning, for instance.
According to Geremy Cliff, head of research at the Natal Sharks Board, although the numbers of attacks in KwaZulu-Natal have actually decreased, in the Eastern and Western Cape they have increased slightly over the years. The national average now stands at about four or five a year. Some years do exceed this, says Cliff: “In 1998, there were 18 attacks. But not all are fatal.”
Humans on the increase
But when increased numbers of shark attacks occur, it may be because of changes in human rather than shark behaviour. There are more people taking up salt-water sports like surfing and spear-fishing, and people may be taking more risks in the water.
“When you think of the thousands of people swimming off our beaches, the shark attack figures are really very low,” says Cliff. “The increase in attacks may simply be because there are more people in the water. Also, there are more surfers these days than in the past, and they’re able to stay in the cooler waters for longer because they have better wetsuits. Most of the attacks we’re seeing happen to people like surfers who spend a lot of time in the sea, and go further out.”
Chumming, where shark tour operators use a mixture containing fish blood to attract sharks, has also often been proposed as a cause of attacks, although this is hotly contested. “It’s hard to prove that chumming causes more attacks,” says Cliff. “The practice has been going on in this country since 1991, and since then the increase in attacks has been slight.”
Could pollution increase shark attacks?
Southern African coastal waters don’t fall into one of the hundreds of recognised ‘dead zones’ – oxygen-poor areas of the ocean that result from nitrate pollution – which may force sharks to look for food in areas closer to popular beaches.
Most of the dead zones are situated in coastal areas near developed countries, from where the bulk of nitrates is entering the environment. That doesn’t mean, though, that nitrates from South Africa’s fertilisers aren’t having an impact on ocean life, but at this stage it can’t be said to be affecting numbers of shark attacks.
- Olivia Rose-Innes, EnviroHealth editor, Health24, updated January 2010
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Your Comments
Horrifying
Apparently lots of people saw this. How absolutely horrible.
Dont blame the sharks
My sympathies go out to the family of the deceased but Don,t blame the sharks we are invading there territory and killing off the natural food Chane and ecosystem. People should be more aware of what goes on around them and what effect they have on there environment. try to put things right don' t try to eradicate sharks from the ocean just because they do what they were designed to do and they happen to do it well!
Sensationalism
You' re more likely to be killed in a traffic accident driving to the beach than being killed by a shark. Our prayers are with the loved ones of today' s victim.
Sad
It is always sad when someon loses their life, but thousands of people die at the hands of man on a daily basis, so lets not blow it out of propotion. 100 MILLION sharks are killed every year - Just for their fins.
Increase in Shark attacks
you will notice i spelt Shark with caps. They are to be respected, their environment is to be respected, their power is to be respected as well as their place at the top of the food chain in the ocean. When we swim in the ocean, we as surfers are aware of the fact that we become part of the food chain and do our best to be one with the environment in every sense of the word. We do not hold the Shark responsible for doing what it is instinctively designed to do. My condolences to the family.
Tragic...
but its their territory and we need to respect that.
Shark attacks.
I agree with the shark lovers BUT since the introduction of cage diving/chumming the White atracks on people have increased. I don' t buy the mistaken identitity story anymore because people in cages give off a vibration which the Whites assosoate with food.I was a diver in the navy in 1971 and we only ever saw one (Blue pointer) as they were called at the lighthouse at Arc rock, I would be terrified to do those lighthouse swims today!
how to react?
Sure, sharks don' t eat people, it' s all an accident, no-one knows why it happens, but it certainly has nothing to do with the sharks.... sure, it' s their territory - in which case post signs all along False Bay that people may not get into the water - just as they may not get out of their cars at a predator park. I feel very different about this attack than I have about others - this man was waist-deep, this shark took three passes and left nothing. Not happy.
Shark attacks
It' s very simple. More people in the water, more shark attacks. Accept it or stay out of the water. ' Man-eating' sharks are hunted and killed while murderers and rapists abound. Clearly the world has gone mad!
@Beno
Are ' man-eating' sharks being regularly hunted in False Bay? Really? How many? And are shark attacks on bathers really that closely related to SA' s criminal system? I, for one, don' t want sharks to be hunted, but I do think that False Bay should be used for eco-tourism more than beach tourism as it' s becoming unpredictable. As for more bathers - I remember those beaches being packed when I was a child, I' m now 46. Please make a clearer argument, it' s not as simple as you think.
well written
and people need to realise that they are entering a territory which does have dangers and need to be more aware! It is not the sharks fault, it is a tragic incident yes which I do not wish on anyone, just do not swim in the ocean, quite simple! I live near fish hoek and go there regularly I do not swim in the ocean because of these attacks, they cannot be prevented!!
@ims
It's not the shark's fault, but it's hardly the victim's fault either. It could have happened to anyone; most of us living on the coast have taken similar risks, and most of us wouldn't consider swimming in shallow water risky at all. We feel that it's our right to play freely in the oceans, but we have to accept that it's one of the last areas where predators roam free (although there are a lot fewer of many predator species thanks to us).
ctd
Leonard Compagno has previously made the point that you wouldn't get out of your car and go for a stroll through the Kruger Park without expecting trouble from the predators. Why don't we think about the sea in the same way?
Shark attacks
Only when sharks start attacking people on land ,should they be acted against - silly point hey ? Fact is we are in thier space - and will be attacked if seen as food : SIMPLE ! besides more people are killed yearly by falling coconuts !
falling coconuts
But not so many on FishHoek beach, Mack.
something odd
Many commenters are arguing that sharks shouldn' t be killed or acted against - who has suggested that they should be? It seems like a weird point that keeps on being repeated - the real issue is how we can prevent attacks and still have a beach tourist season which employs a lot of people.
I think the eco-tourism iconcept, which means boat trips instead of swimming, is the right idea. And properly maintain the tidal pools (there are tidal pools at St James, Glencairn and Kalk Bay)
WOW, Shark Attacks On The Increase,
From 1 a year to maybe 5 a year. Best we get the Military Out and hunt them man-eating monsters of the Big Deep Blue. Give the creatures a break, PLEASE. As 1 blooger wrote, GW (Great Whites) are a very im[portant part of the oceans eco-system. If they go, our waters will never be the same, NEVER. Oh, by the way, tell the Eastern Market to lay off the Fin Soup, it don' t do SH!T for your sex drive/power/ hair growth/ body growth etc etc.
@Badger
Again with the hunting, and the appeals to save the shark - am I missing something, has someone arranged a posse?
Shark Attack?
We have much more to fear from our fellow humans. There should not even be a debate or discussion on shark attcaks. You have a greater chance of dying on our roads driving to the sea than being attacked by a shark.
Shark attacks
SHARK ATTACK FIGURES
You are over 1100 times more likely to die in a bicycle accident then in a shark attack.
Your odds of a drowning death - 1 in 3 m
Your odds of a shark attack Death - 1 in 265 m
Number of " unprovoked" shark attacks:
Year 2003: 55 shark attacks - 4 fatalities
Year 2002: 63 shark attacks - 3 fatalities
Year 2001: 68 shark attacks - 4 fatalities
Year 2000: 79 shark attacks - 11 fatalities
More than 90% of people who are attacked by sharks survive the attack.
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