WHAT ARE THE ODDS OF BEING ATTACKED AND KILLED by a shark? To answer this question, I visited the keeper of the International Shark Attack File (ISAF), the world’s definitive database of shark attacks. For the past twenty years, George Burgess, a professor of ichthyology and marine biology at the University of Florida at Gainesville, has organized the database, a compendium of worldwide shark attack investigations that go back more than four centuries. “We endeavor to investigate every shark attack that has ever occurred worldwide,” he told me. “Our earliest attacks go back to the late 1500s.” In the first recorded attack, a Portuguese sailor fell off his ship in transit between Portugal and India in 1580. Witnesses on board watched as a shark attacked and killed the sailor.
I interviewed Burgess in his office on campus, where he works out of a brick building. Inside are cavernous rooms lined with rolling storage racks, each one filled with jars stuffed with juvenile nurse sharks, dogfish, and other small sea creatures preserved in formaldehyde. The place is like the Bates Motel for small fish. As I sat with Burgess, his long gray beard and friendly demeanor made me think of George R. R. Martin with a PhD and, based on his prodigious output over his forty-year career, a healthier respect for deadlines. Burgess patiently took me through the file’s four-hundred-year history, detailing the specifics of his database with the same seriousness, attention to detail, and scientific rigor he’s exhibited since his days as a graduate student at the University of North Carolina.
Under the direction of Burgess, researchers at ISAF record a tremendous amount of information about each attack. They look at the environment, the prevailing conditions, and, of course, the shark. To compile an accurate record, they ask more than two hundred different questions and enter the answers into an electronic database. Like detectives collecting evidence at a crime scene, Burgess and his team analyze data, draw conclusions, and sometimes overturn false accusations. “We have more than six thousand investigations,” he explained. “Those investigations look at shark attacks from the perspective of what the humans were doing, what they were wearing, and so forth. Of course, not every investigation turns out to be a shark attack.”
For 2018, the worldwide total of unprovoked attacks was sixty-six, below the five-year average of eighty-two incidents between 2013 and 2018. The total number of worldwide fatalities dropped from five in 2017 to four in 2018. Death resulting from a shark attack is highly unusual; a fatality occurs in approximately 5 percent of all attacks, so if a person is bitten, the odds are incredibly high they will survive.
These statistics vary year to year, which can sometimes produce statistical anomalies. In 2015, for instance, the ISAF reported a record-breaking ninety-eight shark attacks around the world, a 20 percent increase over the previous five-year average. Such an increase raised alarms that sharks were becoming a greater threat to humans. In Australia, demands for shark-culling programs increased, and TV newscasters were calling for sharks to be killed wherever surfing contests were to take place. However, 2015 proved to be an outlier. In the three years since, the number of attacks has declined.
I have to admit, I was a little surprised when Burgess told me that the United States is the country with the highest number of attacks. According to him, the US is ground zero; in any given year, it accounts for about half of the world’s shark attacks. The US had thirty-two attacks in 2018, accounting for 50 percent of worldwide attacks.1
“The major reason more attacks are in the United States,” Burgess explained, “is we’ve got a very large coastline, two coasts, and we own some islands. And of course lots of people. And we are also a nation of some wealth and means, and so we can afford to spend time at the beach. And of course many areas of the country are heavy tourist areas.”
The state of Florida represents approximately 50 percent of the US total, with no other state coming close. After Florida, the other states with the highest number of attacks are South Carolina (three attacks), Hawaii (three), and California (one). Attacks in Florida are high enough to represent approximately 25 percent of worldwide attacks. Florida’s long coastline and warm waters, coupled with the state’s large population and thriving tourism industry, contribute to its having the most shark attacks of any region in the world. “Everybody in Florida lives only an hour to an hour and a half from the beach, so that means all these Floridians are very heavily oriented towards aquatic recreation,” Burgess explained. In addition, the tourist population adds to the number of people visiting the beach. “So, year in and year out, Florida . . . always has a lot of these interactions. And, of course, as Florida goes, so does the United States.”
In assessing the grand total of shark-attack-related deaths in the United States, Burgess explained, it’s important to look at the averages, because a single year may not be representative. In the first decade of the twenty-first century, for instance, sharks killed an average of 0.4 people per year. “We’re also blessed in the United States with very good medical and emergency care and lifesaving abilities on the beaches,” he said. “As a result, our death rate is quite low. Of the fifty to fifty-five attacks we have a year, on average, just under one death per year in the entire United States. We do a very good job of making sure that if somebody does get bit, they stay alive.” Recent data bear out Burgess’s comments; there were no deaths in the United States in 2017, with one death in 2018.
In the United States, a person has a 1 in 265 million chance of being killed by a shark. Compare this fatality rate to the odds of getting killed by a lightning bolt (1 in 218,106) or in an automobile crash (1 in 103) or of dying from an opioid overdose (1 in 96), according to the most recent data.2 These statistics are based on the assumption that everyone in the United States has an equal chance of being bitten. Technically, this statistic is somewhat skewed, because the true probabilities should be based on the number of people who go into the sea each year, a statistic the ISAF does not yet have data for.
AT THE SAME TIME, OTHER ANIMALS KILL FAR MORE PEOPLE than sharks do. In fact, sharks are near the bottom of the list of deaths caused by animal attacks. An average of 130 people a year die in the United States following vehicular collisions with deer. Ants kill thirty people per year. Man’s so-called best friend, the family dog, is responsible for thirty-four human deaths a year. Even bees kill more people (478) every year than sharks do.3
“Most shark attacks are of small scale and, in fact, probably are better referred to as ‘bites,’” Burgess noted. “It’s not being politically correct; it’s just the reality that most of these [shark bites] are the equivalent of a dog bite in severity: piercing wounds or small lacerations that do require some sutures, but not loss of tissue or loss of function. I would say, probably 90 percent or more of all US attacks really are bites. Therefore, anyone bitten has an excellent chance of survival. And these bites are probably cases of mistaken identity in which the shark misinterprets the splashing, particularly of the foot and ankle area in the kicking motion, but sometimes the hands in the swimming motion, as being the movements of normal prey items—fishes.”
Australia has the second highest number of shark attacks. In 2018, sharks notched twenty attacks in the waters around Australia, one of which was fatal, a consistent trend from recent years. In spite of the presence of numerous species of sharks including great whites, South Africa has an average of only two attacks per year, and, in 2018, zero fatalities, according to the database. After these countries, attacks are scattered around the globe. Some countries will see a spike in attacks, followed by nothing. In 2016, the French territory of New Caledonia in the South Pacific experienced four attacks, including two fatalities. The territory briefly emerged as “an area of concern,” but in 2018, there was only one attack.
The top two species of sharks most dangerous to humans are, not surprisingly, great whites and tigers. Great whites rank first. Close behind is the tiger shark. The ISAF catalogs shark attacks by species. The combined number of attacks and fatalities totals 828 since 1580, and great whites and tigers were responsible for 425, or half, of those attacks, according to the ISAF.4 Many great white and tiger shark attacks can be attributed to mistaking surfers or swimmers for prey animals like seals and turtles.
The third most dangerous shark species is the bull shark. These sharks are powerfully built and easily recognized by their thick round bodies and tall dorsal fins. Bull sharks, which can be aggressive, are the only shark species that can swim in both salt and fresh water, which increases the likelihood of a human encounter and possible attack. Bull shark attacks have taken place in rivers and inlets around the world, from the Brisbane River in Australia to the Raritan Bay in northern New Jersey. Combined, these three species—great whites, tigers, and bull sharks—are responsible for more bites than any other shark species, primarily because they are easily identifiable. They still only account for less than a third of the total number of shark bites.
Other species, like the blacktip and spinner sharks, are commonly involved in attacks in Florida because the spinner prefers shallow water, where beachgoers are most likely to swim, and the blacktip combs the surf zone for food, often mistaking swimmers and surfers for prey. The attacks by these two species are of the hit-and-run variety, a quick grab and release that can cause minor injuries comparable to a dog bite. The majority of attacks—66 percent of all bites recorded in the ISAF—are from shark species unknown to, or unidentifiable by, victims.
According to Burgess, surfers are the most likely victims of shark attacks: approximately 60 percent of all incidents involve surfers. The United States has 3.3 million surfers, and with only approximately 30 unprovoked attacks on them, the sport is a more than safe pastime. One YouTube video shows a surfer falling off a board, almost landing on a shark, and nothing happens.5 So why are there any attacks at all? Viewed by a shark from below, a surfboard resembles a seal or turtle or other prey. At the same time, splashing, paddling, and falling off surfboards create disturbances on the water as surfers glide by. “Surfers also make a lot of noise with kicking and falling into the surf,” Burgess said, noting that because surfers spend more time in the water than most people, they are more likely to come into contact with sharks.
Less affected recreational user groups include swimmers/waders (30 percent) and snorkelers (6 percent). Scuba divers were the safest, accounting for only 5 percent of the total attacks. One explanation for the low number of attacks might be the low number of scuba divers relative to the larger population. Still, attacks on scuba divers are rare; perhaps being underwater and part of the marine ecosystem is just safer.
While popular opinion holds that sharks are man-eaters hell-bent on devouring unsuspecting swimmers, the data paint a very different story. Provoked shark attacks totaled 34 out of the total 130 worldwide attacks. Surprisingly, people do antagonize sharks by poking them, yanking their tails, and even trying to hitch a ride. It’s not surprising, then, that on average, humans cause 25 percent of the total number of attacks. As we dig deeper into these attacks, we see that human behavior can unintentionally increase the odds of a shark bite. One activity that increases the likelihood of an attack is spearfishing, because blood, fish fluids, and electrical disturbances emitted by wounded fish attract sharks. Additionally, spearfishing often puts the fishermen in the water with prey and predator alike. One out of every five victims, according to the database, was attacked with a fish in his or her possession.
It is always difficult to know the shark’s motivations behind an attack. Many attacks are likely cases of mistaken identity. While surfers in dark wetsuits on surfboards look like prey items, bathers swimming in turbid waters under cloudy skies also cloak their identity to the sharks. When sharks pursue baitfish toward the shore, they can easily bite a human, thinking they are striking their prey. But shark aggressiveness toward humans is clearly in the minority for explaining attacks.
If sharks were to view humans as prey, we would expect to see certain shark behaviors, and human victims would show certain telltale marks. We would see sharks taking multiple bites, as wolves do. We would also expect to see sharks feed completely on the person who had been attacked. The shark would want to finish off the prey, eating it all, similar to the way a lion eats a wounded water buffalo. Hunger is a powerful driver of behavior, and animals that need food will keep pursuing their prey until they are devoured. According to the ISAF, however, only 5 percent of all attacks examined show multiple strikes (three or more) on the same person. In the vast majority of cases, the shark swam away after only one or two discrete bites. For example, in Perth, Australia, Brian Audas was surfing on his board. A shark popped up and bumped him. He used his arm to push the shark away, but the shark grabbed it and started biting on his arm and moving its head side to side like a dog. Audas said he could feel the flesh tearing away, but as he continued splashing water at the shark, it let go of his arm and swam off. Many cases similar to Audas’s are recorded in the ISAF.
If humans were a target for food, we would expect to see substantial evidence of feeding bites on humans. This is not the case. Many of the marks on humans were inflicted by only one set of teeth, mostly the uppers, which would indicate a slashing rather than a biting action. In a typical case from the ISAF, an Australian Aboriginal diver was bitten on his foot by a shark. He also sustained nasty gashes on the inner side of his right knee. Just as suddenly as it bit the diver, however, the shark swam away. The man’s injuries were noteworthy because they were slashes or cuts rather than open wounds. The shark made no attempt to feed on the victim. Examples of this type of attack abound throughout the ISAF. Other sea animals, including dolphins, make similar bite marks, scraping their teeth along the side of their dolphin brethren, either in anger or in play. Like dolphins, sharks often inflict these types of wounds, which suggests that a shark’s aggression—against a fellow shark or a human—doesn’t always take the form of a bite.
The ISAF database shows that sharks rarely feed on their victims. One man, Frank Logan, was attacked by a white shark in 1968 at Bodega Rock in California’s Sonoma County. “I felt something come down on my legs like a giant vise and then a crushing pain in my back and chest,” said Logan, who was hunting for abalone when the shark grabbed him by the side, shaking him violently. At that point, Logan went limp and played dead. A few seconds later, he was carried about 10 feet before the shark released him without further aggression. If hunger were the shark’s primary motivation for the attack, Logan would have made an easy meal. Even in the highly unusual and tragic case of a lost limb, the shark does not consume the entire victim.
One commonly held view is that a single drop of human blood will precipitate an attack. As we saw in chapter 2, however, modest amounts of blood are not enough to draw the attention of a shark. While it is true that sharks can detect small quantities of substances in the water, a few drops of blood will quickly dissipate in the ocean. In cases where a shark victim was bleeding in the water and more than one shark was in the vicinity, the blood did not draw other sharks. Because sharks are far more likely to home in on low-frequency sounds, such as the thrashing of a wounded fish, a human kicking wildly or paddling vigorously on a surfboard is far more likely to draw the attention of a shark than a few drops of blood are. Even victims who were bleeding profusely, like Frank Logan, were not subsequently attacked after the initial bite: only 4 percent of victims reported being attacked in such a frenzied fashion.
A detailed examination of the ISAF reveals that between 50 and 75 percent of all recorded shark attacks are motivated by something other than hunger or feeding. Sharks are intelligent apex predators, and they learn quickly where to find food sources. Given the millions of swimmers, divers, and beachgoers descending into the oceans worldwide, the sharks would have a field day if they wanted to rely on humans for food. If sharks were truly intent on eating humans, the world’s oceans would be nothing short of carnage. The ISAF database goes back to the year 1580, and in the almost half a millennium since its founding, there have been only approximately three thousand unprovoked shark attacks in the world. There is no clearer proof that shark attacks remain a rarity.
Since hunger and feeding are not determining factors in most shark attacks, what then are the sharks’ psychological motivations behind them? There are several motivations, and a common one is simply curiosity. Sharks are intelligent animals, and all intelligent animals are naturally curious. When a shark’s curiosity is aroused, one way it can gather information is through exploratory bites. Underwater cameras send out an electrical field, which gets the shark’s attention. Sharks will sometimes bite a camera to figure out what it is—hardly an act of aggression—as Greg Skomal described happening to his camera in chapter 1. Similarly, many sharks will bump a person to gather more information on the swimmer.
Territorial defense provides another motive. Like any apex predator, a shark will defend its territory, and any violation of that area can elicit a strong response. Rates of attack increased when a person made a sudden entrance into the water. A study of sixty-nine recorded attacks looked at how those people entered the water; 84 percent of those people that were attacked had jumped, dived, or fallen into the water, all of which can be interpreted by a nearby shark as a threat.6
During the writing of this book, Burgess retired, leaving the ISAF and the Florida Program for Shark Research in the hands of Gavin Naylor. He classifies some shark bites as a “go away” bite. In one case, John Brothers was scuba diving off Key Biscayne, in Miami, when he came upon the unusual sight of a blacktip shark resting on the sandy bottom near a large stingray. To get a better look, Brothers swam within 20 feet of the pair. His actions seem to have awakened the shark, which swam straight at Brothers with tremendous speed. Brothers braced himself, and the shark swam straight into his midsection and shook his camera. Just as quickly, the shark released the camera and, with the stingray, swam off to deeper water.
Many underwater divers report a change in a shark’s behavior or posture before it attacks. Blacktips and gray reef sharks swim erratically before an attack, according to accounts in the ISAF. Some victims noted that the shark’s swimming became uneven and sputtering, a drastic change in the shark’s usual steady and flowing movement through the water. The shark’s tail will quickly lash back and forth, and the shark will seem to be coiled like a spring. James Stewart, a professional underwater photographer, was taking pictures of sharks when his diving buddy noticed a silky shark’s head start to swing back and forth. A few seconds later, Stewart was attacked, sustaining a serious bite to his elbow but nothing more. Other observers reported that a shark hunches its back like a wolf, dropping its pectoral fins, before attacking. Two research scientists diving in the Marshall Islands noted this behavior. Rapidly approaching an aggregation of gray sharks, the two divers noticed that a few sharks broke off from the group, dropping their pectoral fins and hunching their backs. Fortunately, the divers were able to leave the area without incident.7 The shark’s behavior in these situations can be systemically interpreted as “threatening pre-attack postures” designed to warn people against further violating the shark’s space. These posture changes were reported as being particularly pronounced in a reef environment where the shark’s avenues of escape were cut off. Any hiker on a trail knows not to block an animal’s path of escape. Swimmers or divers who either didn’t see or pick up on these signals from cornered sharks were attacked.
Numerous news articles have reported recently that shark attacks are increasing. I asked Burgess if this were the case. “We’re seeing an increase in shark attacks,” he said, “and have since we started looking at it in 1900. Each decade has had more shark attacks than the previous decade. And the current decade we’re working in will have more than the first decade of the twenty-first century.” Burgess quickly put to rest, however, the question of whether sharks are getting more aggressive. The increase, he said, “is because we’ve got more people on the face of the earth every year. As long as the human population continues to rise, and with it comes a concordant increase in aquatic recreation, we can reasonably predict that we will have more shark attacks every year into the future.”
More simply stated, more people in the water means more attacks, but the increase in shark-related incidents does not lead to a spike in shark-related fatalities. When media headlines proclaim an increase in the number of shark attacks, as occurred in the summer of 2018 when a twenty-six-year-old man was killed by a great white off Cape Cod, a deeper look at the numbers reveals that shark attacks resulting in fatalities are still rare.
LIKE THE FIVE ATTACKS THAT CAPTURED AMERICANS’ ATTENTION in the summer of 1916, another famous shark attack occurred in South Australia in August 1963. During a spearfishing competition, Rodney Fox was attacked by a shark. Swimming with his speargun in about 50 feet of water, Fox had fastened a fish float to his diving belt, which allowed him to deposit captured fish there as he swam through the turquoise waters. Suddenly, he sensed a stillness in the water around him. It seemed as if all the sea life had disappeared. Then it happened. A shark hit him on his left side, blasting him with enough force to knock off his face mask and dislodge his speargun from his hand. Fox tried to gouge out the shark’s eyes but inadvertently extended his arm into the shark’s throat. Realizing his error, he yanked his arm out. The shark’s serrated teeth sliced his arm to the bone. When the shark released him, Fox kicked for the surface, feeling the shark body’s inches below his flippers. Gulping for breath, Fox grabbed the shark, wrapping his arms and legs around it to prevent it from biting him again. The shark then made a dive, and Fox found himself headed to the bottom of the sea. He released his hold and struggled to the surface, where he was finally able to catch his breath. When he looked below the surface, however, in water red with his own blood, he saw the shark grabbing for his fish float, which was still attached to his belt. The shark dragged Fox and the float back below the surface. As Fox struggled to undo the belt, the shark’s teeth snapped the line, which freed Fox to break again for the surface. Fortunately, as he burst through, he saw a boat and immediately started yelling for help.
Fox’s injuries were severe. His rib cage, upper stomach, and lungs were exposed to view, as was the white of his radius and ulna. His rib cage was crushed, and one of his lungs was punctured. The boat put to shore, and Fox was placed into a car and whisked to the hospital. Fortuitously, the surgeon on duty had just returned from England, where he had taken a specialized course in chest surgery. The operation lasted four hours. At one point afterward, a priest was summoned to give final rights. Fox was in earshot and shouted, “But I’m a Protestant!” In any event, Fox survived the operation, but he required 462 stitches. In the post-op picture, a circle of black stitches is visible, embedded in his skin from his shoulder down to his hip. Judging by the width of the bite mark, the shark was estimated to be 18 feet long.
It was a miracle that Fox survived. Or as he put it, “I was not ready to go.” As severe as the attack was, at no time during the encounter was the shark trying to eat Fox, nor did the amount of blood in the water send the shark into a feeding frenzy. This story is consistent with the data from the ISAF. In a later interview, Fox readily admitted that if the shark had been trying to eat him, the outcome would have been very different. After his recovery, Fox went on to design and build the first underwater observation cage for diving with the great white shark. For over forty years, he has led major expeditions to film and study his attacker. He arranged and hosted the very first great white shark expedition and, since his attack, has run hundreds of expeditions. Fox currently works to raise public awareness of the plight of all shark species through his dive operation and research foundation, publications, public speaking, and films. In 2010, Fox was nominated for the Indianapolis Prize, the world’s largest individual monetary award for animal species conservation.
Another famous attack didn’t end as well, unfortunately. This attack took place at Lanikai Beach in Oahu.8 Just a quarter of a mile off the palm tree–lined beach, reachable with a good swim, are two rock outcroppings called the Mokulua Islands, postcard pictures of the tropical beauty of Hawaii. On December 13, 1958, the sky was clear, although the choppy water was rough. Six friends, ranging in age from nine to fifteen, paddled out to the Mokulua Islands on surfboards and air mattresses. One boy was in a rowboat. After two hours, the six boys began their return trip across the small strait connecting Mokulua with Lanikai Beach. Unbeknownst to them, however, a tiger shark had entered the strait, attracted by the commotion of the boys splashing in the water. Five of the boys moved ahead; the sixth, Billy Weaver, the fifteen-year-old son of a local restaurant owner, struggled on his air mattress. The other five arrived at Lanikai’s surf, riding in on a series of waves, which left Billy out in deeper water, alone.
The sound of the ocean breeze was broken by a scream. One of the boys saw a shark at the surface of the water 30 feet away. They glanced at Billy, who was clinging to the air mattress, in great distress. Blood pooled in the water. Billy called out to the boy in the boat for help, but fearing that the boat would be swamped in the surf, the boy turned back to shore. A search for Billy began. Eventually, a helicopter crew from the marine base spotted his body underwater on a reef half a mile south of Lanikai Beach. It was not clear whether Billy had died from loss of blood, drowning, or shock; it was probably a combination of the three. The helicopter crew reported seeing a tiger shark cruising in the area. The shark was estimated to be over 15 feet long.
Billy’s situation could have had another outcome. Lifeguards on duty or other adults could have prevented the tragedy. Perhaps if lifeguards were there, they could have gotten Billy out of the water soon after he cried for help. It was an hour and a half before the fire rescue squad arrived on the scene.
This tragedy had a long-lasting effect. In response, the state initiated its Billy Weaver Shark Research and Control Program. Nearly six hundred sharks were caught off Oahu between the months of April and December in 1959; seventy-one were tiger sharks. In an effort to relieve public fears and reduce the risk of shark attacks, the government of Hawaii spent more than $300,000 on shark-control programs. Between 1959 and 1976, six control programs of various size resulted in the killing of 4,668 sharks. Residents also got into the act. Local tourism businesses offered bounties for sharks, and one radio station offered $100 for every shark over 15 feet and $25 for every smaller shark. The argument was simple: killing sharks would result in fewer sharks and thus fewer shark attacks. Subsequent evaluation of the culling programs, however, noted that “shark control programs do not appear to have had measurable effects on the rate of shark attacks in Hawaiian waters. Implementation of large-scale control programs in the future in Hawaii may not be appropriate.”9 The program failed because sharks migrate in and out of particular areas. When one shark is killed, another shark takes its place there.
The deaths of 4,668 tiger sharks did nothing to decrease the number of shark attacks in the state. Hawaii canceled its culling program more than forty years ago. And yet, even today, governments around the world, including the Australian and French governments, regularly call for culling, despite evidence that it does not result in fewer shark attacks. In fact, as Carl Meyer told me, culling “does not do any good and runs the risk of ecosystem-level cascade effects where a general lack of sharks results in boom or bust in populations of species further down the food chain.”
The evaluations of the state program from universities and federal government officials were consistent with ISAF’s conclusions. There is no link between killing sharks and beach safety. Kim Holland, a shark researcher at the University of Hawaii, told me, “The number of shark attacks has nothing to do with how many sharks are in the water and everything to do with how many people are in the water.”
Survivors of shark attacks do not always come away with resentment or anger toward sharks. In fact, the opposite typically occurs. The experience of encountering one of the greatest predators on the planet has touched them. These people now seek the preservation of sharks, not retaliation. Many victims have followed Rodney Fox in seeing sharks as magnificent animals that need protection.
What can you do to lower your odds of being attacked by a shark? Burgess offered a number of suggestions. “There’s a good reason why fishes are in schools, birds are in flocks, antelopes are in herds: there’s safety in numbers,” he explained. And so, when we go into the ocean, we should stay in a group so “we don’t become the solitary item that can be picked off by a predator.” The ISAF data show that most people who are attacked are swimming alone. Obviously, there are exceptions to the rule, but when a person swims alone, the risk of attack rises. It is best to swim in a group, and the safest position is in the center of the group. In Billy Weaver’s case, it was not so much a question of being left behind but rather of being left alone. The behavior of apex predators on land is instructive. Lions and cheetahs select their target after careful study. Once the chase has started, they may run past a slower-moving animal in pursuit of their target. It seems counterintuitive for the predator to bypass a slower animal and continue to chase a faster one, but the explanation is quite simple. Apex predators usually prey on animals that herd in schools. To attack, predators need to single out a specific animal. They cannot be indecisive about which animal they will attack; if they hesitate, they are likely to miss them all. Sharks similarly feed on schooling animals like fish and sea lions, which is why they need to lock on an individual target to capture it. In the unfortunate case of Billy Weaver, the tiger was probably following all six boys as they headed back to shore. As some of the boys entered the surf and Billy fell behind, he became the shark’s primary target.
Swimmers should also stay away from fishing piers, and people fishing on the beach. “If you see fish jumping in the water and if seabirds are diving, that usually means there’s a school of fishes under them,” he said. “If there’s fish around, there’s almost surely going to be sharks.” Splashing creates a lot of noise, which similarly attracts sharks to a specific area. “We’re not very graceful swimmers,” Burgess said. “Even the best Olympian, Michael Phelps, makes an awful racket when he goes down the pool. He’s kicking like mad, he’s splashing his arms. That erratic activity is highly attractive to sharks. They’re looking for prey items that are in distress. And, of course, in the surf zone where almost all of these attacks occur, the sharks are trying to make a living. They’re out there looking for food, and they have to fight the very physical forces that are attractive to us, the breaking surf, the undertow, and all that. Those are things that surfers go out to enjoy; meanwhile, the sharks are trying to make a living. And so, they grab at the first splash they see, and sometimes that first splash is a foot.”
Burgess recommends swimming within the break line of the waves. Sharks don’t like to swim where the waves are breaking because they might get pushed up on a sandbar or on the beach. Once swimmers go beyond the break line, they are exposed in the open water. Swimmers should be as inconspicuous as possible and should avoid wearing red or yellow bathing suits, because these colors attract attention. And since sharks are nocturnal creatures, swimmers should stay out of the water between dusk and dawn, according to Burgess, because sharks are most active in feeding during these times. In addition, it’s harder for sharks to distinguish humans from traditional prey at night.
And if these precautions fail and you are attacked by a shark, what do ISAF researchers recommend? If you are attacked by a shark, they advise a proactive response. Hitting a shark on the nose, ideally with an inanimate object, usually curtails an attack. You should try to get out of the water immediately. If this is not possible, repeated blows to the snout may offer a temporary reprieve, but the result is likely to become increasingly less effective. If a shark does bite, clawing at its eyes and gill openings, two sensitive areas, has proven to be effective, according to the ISAF database. Because sharks respect size and power, one should not act passively if under attack. While the thought of ever having to try to escape a shark attack arouses fear, the odds of being killed by a shark run from quite small to infinitesimal.
Many swimmers forget that humans are an interloper in the oceans. The sea is a wild territory and just as unforgiving as the Serengeti Plain of Africa. Anyone encountering a shark has to be on high alert. While hardly the out-of-control man-eaters they’re too often portrayed as, sharks—regardless of species—are not cute and cuddly animals either. They need to be respected.
I think back to my ocean swimming after watching Jaws. I should never have let unsubstantiated myths interfere with my enjoyment of the ocean. I wasted a lot of psychic energy worrying about a shark attack. It should no longer be a revolutionary idea that sharks are not out to get us. If sharks were on trial, their defense lawyers would have over four hundred years of evidence supporting their argument that sharks are not a direct danger to humans. Based on the ISAF, it would be hard to find a judge who would convict sharks of harming humans with intent. Yet long ago we placed a guilty verdict on sharks, and so we continue to believe that we have the right to torture and kill them with hooks, guns, and other barbarous means. Old prejudices are hard to eradicate, but we must look at the evidence and make decisions based on rational thinking.
While 99 percent of the time, the ocean is a place of great beauty and carefree entertainment, we must recognize that it is also a place where people can die. When one engages with the ocean, one enters a wilderness, which requires awareness at all times. More than 3,500 people drown every year in the United States, and more than 300 people die in boating accidents every year.10 These numbers dwarf the number of fatal shark attacks every year. By the same token, anyone who enters the wilderness of the African plains or the Rocky Mountains could encounter apex predators, like lions or bears, which on occasion attack humans. That should not stop people from taking safaris or hiking in the woods. Nor does it mean that we need to kill apex predators. All apex predators, including sharks, need to be respected.
When I was on my flight home to New York after interviewing Burgess, I kept thinking about a comment he made about shark attacks: “Remember that humans are not part of the menu for sharks or any other marine animals. We’re not part of that ecosystem. We’re a strange object when a shark sees us. And, in fact, most of the time when sharks see humans, they go away.”
Maybe at some point in the future, people will examine their fear of sharks and realize it is time to let that emotion go away too.