By BC Cook
For Variety
“AS we swam along the edge of the reef at Obyan we saw a shape in the distance. As it got closer we knew it was a shark but still could not tell what kind. It could have been a harmless reef shark, or possibly something more dangerous like a Bull. White sharks never came in this close to the reef and Tigers were very rare here. Still, we were nervous. A feeling comes over a person when they share the same water with a shark. We are wired for self-preservation and seeing a shark up close taps a primal fear. We kept our eye on the shark for another hundred yards as it seemed as curious about us as we were about him. Finally, something else caught his interest and he moved away. We were both sad and relieved to see him go.”
Sharks chill us to the bone. Half of us would give anything to see a shark up close and half of us hope we never do. Most of what we read or hear about sharks in popular culture is false.
It is true that shark attacks are extremely rare, and deaths by shark attack are even more rare. Bees, wasps, and snakes each kill more people than sharks. For every person killed by a shark thirty are killed by lightning. Many more people die in car crashes on the way to the beach than are killed in the water. More surfers die of a heart attack than of shark attack.
The countries that experience the most shark attacks are the United States, Australia and South Africa. Florida is the shark capital of the world, experiencing almost as many attacks as the rest of the world combined. In the islands of the Pacific, shark attacks occur at the rate of one per year with about half of them resulting in death.
We are constantly finding new species, but currently there are between 350 and 400 species of sharks. Of them, only three are real threats to humans because of their size and aggressiveness: White, Bull and Tiger. These three are responsible for the vast majority of shark attacks.
Attacks are grouped into three types: the hit-and-run, the bump-and-bite, and the sneak attack. The hit-and-run is the most common and the least dangerous. Sharks that hit and run usually mistake humans for their normal food. Sharks bite down, taste human flesh or bite into a bone and know something is wrong, then let go and swim away. They can do some damage but these attacks rarely result in death.
The bump-and-bite is more serious and involves a dedicated shark who checks the swimmer first by bumping into it, sometimes more than once. Even after learning the victim is human the shark attacks anyway. He may keep attacking for the purpose of eating so will continue to bite until little or no flesh remains. Death is common in this type of attack.
The sneak attack occurs when there is no warning before the shark hits with devastating violence. Since the shark is rarely seen in such a case, even if the victim lives they cannot identify the shark.
These descriptions scare us but let us not get carried away. Shark attacks are extremely rare. For every human killed by a shark, humans kill 25 million sharks. So, who is threatening whom?
Dr. BC Cook taught history for 30 years and is a director and Pacific historian at Sealark Exploration (sealarkexploration.org). He currently lives in Hawaii.
