Why Are Shark Attacks on the Rise?

By Mindy Weisberger, Senior Writer | June 7, 2016 02:06pm ET

Shark attacks have dominated Australian headlines during the past week, with two fatalities occurring just a few days apart in waters near Perth.

Those attacks may not be just a coincidence or bad luck: Shark attacks have been on the rise, with more attacks reported worldwide last year than in any other year on record, according to an annual survey.

The International Shark Attack File (ISAF), a database of shark attacks maintained by the Florida Museum of Natural History (FMNH), includes a yearly summary of so-called "unprovoked attacks" — aggressive interactions initiated by sharks against people in the sharks' habitat, without any prior contact — and tallied 98 such attacks in 2015. The previous record was 88 attacks, which occurred in 2000.

Forty-nine percent of the incidents involved surfers, according to the ISAF.

However, the report noted that the increased number of attacks likely does not indicate that sharks are attacking people more frequently. Rather, human populations are growing, so there are more people swimming, surfing and diving in the ocean.

But concerns about sharks are currently running high in Australia. On June 5, a woman diving near a marina near Perth died after being mauled by a shark, becoming the second person in one week to suffer a fatal shark attack while in Australian waters.

The 60-year-old woman was attacked by a shark (possibly a great white shark) measuring an estimated 16 feet (5 meters), according to the trio of fisherman who tried to help her and who claimed that the shark was "longer than their boat," the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) reported.

ABC added that the woman was believed to have died before she could be moved to shore.

And on May 31, Ben Gerring, 29, was severely injured when he was bitten by a shark while surfing, also near Perth. Gerring was transported to Royal Perth Hospital and died of his injuries on June 3, ABC reported.

- See more at: 

Record number of shark attacks on humans in 2015

Sharks attacked people 98 times in 2015, a spike in unprovoked attacks that set a new record as human and shark populations rise, researchers found in an annual global tally released on Monday.

Six people were killed by sharks, including a snorkeler in Hawaii. Two deaths were recorded off the Indian Ocean island of Reunion, and shark attack victims also died in Australia, Egypt and New Caledonia, according to data submitted by scientists worldwide.

While last year saw twice as many fatal attacks as 2014, the number of deadly encounters was roughly on par with the past decade's average, said George Burgess, director of the International Shark Attack File. Maintained at the University of Florida, the database was established in 1958.

The 98 unprovoked attacks surpassed by 10 the previous high recorded in 2000, he said. The rise reflects growing populations of both people and sharks, he said.

Shark attacks are occurring further north in the United States as warmer ocean temperatures extend the marine mammal's range, Burgess noted. In a rare incident, a New Yorker was attacked while boogie boarding off Long Island, he said.

Continued ...

To avoid dangerous shark encounters, information trumps culling

Risk of great white shark attack in California waters down 91 percent since 1950, researchers report

Date: July 10, 2015

Source: Ecological Society of America

Summary: The risk of white shark attack for individual ocean users in California has fallen strikingly, by over 91 percent, since 1950, California scientists have found. Information that empowers ocean users to avoid the large predators is far more effective for public safety than culling sharks.

Continued ...

How to protect yourself from a shark: Part 1 and Part 2

July 7, 2015

Dundundundun. Fear of sharks, or more accurately the fear of a shark attack, has terrified people throughout the ages.

A millennia or so ago, there wasn’t much available to protect a swimmer from a shark. A couple of options were essentially just talismans: it was believed either pearls or an actual shark’s tooth, worn as an amulet, would protect a diver. Fortunately now we have an array of methods at our disposal, be they physical, chemical, biochemical, camouflage, or electronic.

1. Barriers

For protection of beach-goers, there are a couple of options. The first is the use of drumlines out in deeper water. A float, usually an empty drum (hence “drumline”) is deployed with a baited hook, while the drum is anchored to the sea floor. Drumlines have been used in Australia and Brazil, where shark attacks have been reduced 97%. Drumlines have an advantage in that they target primarily larger sharks that are more dangerous to humans, like bulls, tigers, and great white sharks.

The second barrier is termed “shark netting.” In use in Hong Kong, South Africa, and Australia, these function as the name implies: a long, floating net is deployed around a beach, and anchored against drift. Designed to stop larger sharks, these nets can still let sharks in, as they often float several meters below the surface to avoid entangling motorboats. That said, in New South Wales Australia, there has only been one fatal attack on netted beaches since the program began in 1937; before the program there was an average of one per year. Nets have been criticized for also catching dolphins and whales, but the use of acoustic “pingers” helps deter these mammals, and the nets are removed during whale migration season.

Read more at

How to protect yourself from a shark: Part 2

July 8, 2015

Mark Lee Rollins for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online

A millennia or so ago, there wasn’t much available to protect a swimmer from a shark. A couple of options were essentially just talismans: it was believed either pearls or an actual shark’s tooth, worn as an amulet, would protect a diver. Fortunately now we have an array of methods at our disposal, be they physical, chemical, biochemical, camouflage, or electronic.

In Part 1, we mention a few ways to help prevent a shark attack including barriers and chemicals. Here are a few more ways to stay safe out there:

3. Biological Deterrents

There are several biochemical repellents that have shown promise during initial testing. Dr. Eugenie Clark, an ichthyologist who came to be known as “Shark Lady,” became the first person to discover a natural shark repellent: a milky secretion from the pores of the Moses sole. Dr. Clark described the effect it had as it stopped predatory fish, including sharks. This substance was called pardaxin, a peptide that paralyzes the mouth and gills of anything exposed to it. Unfortunately, paradaxin only remains effective less than 24 hours at room temperature; if frozen, its effectiveness plummets.

Some marine sponges produce compounds that could deter sharks. Extracts of the Caribbean red sponge (containing halitoxin) were dosed to two captive sharks. One shark began “active body thrashing” in 7 seconds, while the second shark “appeared dead” after 20 minutes. However, both sharks recovered. Halitoxin extracts were tested on blue sharks in the wild, stimulated to feed with baits. The lack of deterrence was presumed to be due to the relatively high effective concentration needed in the open ocean.

Read more at

7 Shark Attacks in 3 Weeks: Are North Carolina Beaches Safe?

by Elizabeth Palermo, Staff Writer | July 02, 2015 03:41pm ET

Fourth of July weekend is a popular time to hit the beach, but this year, vacationers may not be the only ones swarming the waters off North Carolina. In the past three weeks, there have been seven shark attacks along the state's coast, which may leave some beachgoers wondering if it's time to get out of the water.

Well, wonder no more. There's only one surefire way to avoid a shark bite this holiday weekend, and that's to stay on land, according to shark experts.

"A shark attack is an equation of shark plus human equals attack, and we can't really deal with the shark part that well, so we have to deal with the human part," said George Burgess, director of the International Shark Attack File at the University of Florida's Florida Museum of Natural History.

Continued ...

Shark Bites Two: Possible Explanations for Attacks

A trip to the beach turned terrifying for two young people on Sunday when each was attacked by a shark while wading in waist-deep water off the coast of Oak Island, North Carolina. Experts in marine science say the closeness of the two attacks was quite unusual.

Both the 12-year-old girl and 16-year-old-boy survived their separate attacks, which occurred 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) apart and within 90 minutes of one another. These incidents follow on the heels of another shark attack that took place last Thursday (June 11) at Ocean Isle Beach, North Carolina, a barrier island about 15 miles (24 km) west of Oak Island, according to a report by the Associated Press.

There haven't been so many severe attacks, so close together, in decades, said Dan Abel, a professor of marine science at Coastal Carolina University in Conway, South Carolina.

Continued ...

Deadly shark attacks plummet to just three worldwide in 2014

Sharks had killed 10 in unprovoked attacks in 2013

Overall number of attacks holds steady at 73, many in US waters

Thursday 12 February 2015 21.31 GMT

Shark attacks killed three people worldwide in 2014, a dramatic drop from 10 fatalities a year earlier, researchers found in an annual global tally released this week.

Two of the deaths occurred in New South Wales in eastern Australia, and the other in South Africa’s Eastern Cape, according to the data which was submitted by scientists around the world and catalogued at the University of Florida.

The US recorded two-thirds of the 72 total attacks in 2014 that were unprovoked by people, the data showed. It said about half took place off Florida’s eastern coast, where smaller sharks mistake swimmers for prey in hit-and-run attacks, then quickly leave.

The number of overall attacks held relatively steady, dropping slightly from 75 incidents in 2013. What surprised researchers was the plunge in fatalities.

Continued ...

This Tactic Could Wipe Out Shark Attacks

By Stephanie Pappas, Live Science Contributor

August 8, 2014 7:48 AM

A program that catches and releases potentially aggressive sharks off the coast of Recife, Brazil, has reduced shark attacks on humans by 97 percent, new research finds.

Deploying similar tactics in other areas where sharks and swimmers mingle might also reduce shark attacks while protecting the graceful beasts, scientists say. In the past months, there have been large protests against programs that cull sharks, particularly in Australia.

"With a 50,000-person protest in Western Australia against lethal methods [of shark control], this is exciting news," said David Shiffman, a doctoral student at the University of Miami who studies shark ecology but was not involved in the Recife project.

Shark attack scares

Shark attacks are exceedingly rare, with only about 50 to 70 attacks on people per year worldwide, according to the Florida Museum of Natural History. Of those, only a few are fatal. Between 2006 and 2010, an average of 4.2 people per year died from shark attacks globally, according to the nonprofit conservation organization Oceana.

Continued ...

Sharks Confuse People for Birds: Report

8th August 2014 

Certain sharks appear to confuse some recreational water users with birds, suggests a new case report that investigated a shark attack in the South Pacific.

The report, published in the Journal of Forensic and Legal Medicine, indicates that kitesurfers may be particularly at risk of becoming shark food.

At least, that's what appears to have happened to a 15-year-old male kitesurfer who died May 21, 2011 after encountering a tiger shark in waters off the city of Koumac on the northwest coast of New Caledonia.

"We hypothesize that the shark may have confused the motion of the kitesurfer, who was pulled by his kite without the board, with a bird overtaking the water," lead author Eric Clua, a marine biologist and veterinary surgeon based in French Polynesia, told Discovery News.

Read on ...

Shark attacks on Atlantic spotted dolphins near the Bahamas

Date:

August 4, 2014

Source:

Wiley

Summary:

A new analysis on failed shark attacks on the approximately 120 Atlantic spotted dolphins that are residents of the waters near Bimini, The Bahamas, has found that a total of 14 dolphins (15 percent of 92 cataloged animals) showed some sign of shark attack, and a further 15 (16 percent) exhibited scars that could not conclusively be classified as shark induced or not.

Continued ...

How to Protect Yourself When Sharks Attack

A long-distance swimmer said in the two seconds before a great white sank its teeth into his body, he "saw the eyes of the shark" as it bore down on him in the waters off one of Southern California's most popular beaches.

Steve Robles said he went into shock when he "felt the teeth clamping on to my thigh and ribs," but managed to get free of the 7-foot shark's jaws during the attack Saturday morning.

Robles suffered several puncture wounds. The shark was fighting to free itself from a fisherman's line near Manhattan Beach in Los Angeles, said fire rescue officials.

"It was a burning pain that was going down the side of my chest," Robles told ABC station KABC.

Robles was out for a two-mile swim with a group of friends when the shark suddenly appeared.

Continued

Austrian tourist killed by shark on 'world's deadliest beach'

The 72-year-old man was swimming with other tourists at Port St John's Second Beach in the Eastern Cape when he was snatched by a shark

By Aislinn Laing, Johannesburg

3:53PM GMT 23 Mar 2014

A 72-year-old Austrian tourist has become the latest victim of a fatal shark attack at the world's deadliest beach, in South Africa.

The unnamed man was swimming as part of a group of tourists at Second Beach in Port St John's when the shark struck at around 3pm on Saturday.

He was the eight person to be killed at the beach in five years. The average fatality rate for shark attacks in South Africa is one in five but in Port St Johns, all but one shark attack has resulted in death since the spate started in January 2007.

Worldwide, no single other state or country has notched up the same number of deadly shark attacks as Second Beach in the past decade.

Most of the attacks were blamed out by Zambezi or bull sharks, also known as the "pitbulls of the ocean" for their habit of biting and shaking to cause catastrophic injuries.

The last person to fall victim was Fundile Nodumla, 39, from nearby Mthatha, in March last year. He fought off the shark and was pulled out of the water by passersby with injuries to both arms, his chest and stomach.

Continued

Girl, 10, bitten by shark off Australian coast

March 18, 2014 at 6:42 am

Sydney — A 10-year-old girl was attacked by a shark off Australia’s east coast and suffered a serious injury to her hand, officials said Tuesday.

Paramedics were called to a beach at Lennox Head, 120 miles south of Brisbane, after receiving a report the girl had been bitten on the wrist, a spokeswoman for the New South Wales state ambulance service said.

Paramedics treated the girl at the scene and took her to a local hospital. She was in stable condition Tuesday evening.

Although sharks are common off Australia’s coast, the country averages fewer than two fatal attacks per year. Two men were killed in shark attacks off the east and west coasts in the space of a week in November last year; They were the only fatalities for 2013.

From The Detroit News:

Fisherman Dies In Australia Shark Attack

By Jonathan Samuels, Australia Correspondent

A spear fisherman has been killed in a shark attack in South Australia.

The 28-year-old from Adelaide, who has not been named, was practising for a competition when he disappeared off Goldsmith's beach on the picturesque Yorke Peninsular.

His friends, who were with him in the water 200 metres offshore, witnessed the attack and raised the alarm.

Police warned swimmers who flocked to the beaches to leave the water.

Extensive searches of the area by police, locals and the man's friends have so far failed to find his body.

Continued

Two Shark Attacks in Shallow Florida Water

Two men on a Florida beach have suffered shark attacks in water as shallow as three feet.

The men were treated for wounds to their lower legs Saturday at New Smyrna Beach in Volusia County, Fla. Both received on scene treatment and drove themselves to a nearby hospital for a follow-up.

Marco Cardiel, 25, went to the beach for a day of fun with friends and was in the water for five minutes before he decided to submerge himself under the surf to cool off.

"I was sitting on the ocean floor for about 15 seconds and felt some pressure and then the shark latched on to my leg," Cardiel told ABC News. Cardiel said the small shark, about three to four feet in length, thrashed back and forth across the surface. He was finally able to yank his leg from the shark and was left with a small souvenir - a shark tooth fragment in his lower right leg.

Cardiel is recovering at home.

The New Smyrna Beach Patrol had a busy Saturday as another victim was also attacked around the same time as Cardiel. The second victim was a male surfer who fell off his surfboard and stepped on the shark in shallow waters. It is not known whether it was the same shark that preyed on both victims.

A purple flag had been raised over the weekend to indicate a hazard from dangerous marine life. In this case, the purple flag served as a warning that there was a higher than average amount of baitfish in the water. An abundance of baitfish is often an indication sharks may be nearby ready to feed.

Read more

Shark Attack: Man Killed Off Reunion Island

The shark charged twice at the victim, biting him on the arms and thigh, as his new wife lay on the beach nearby. 

9:16pm UK, Wednesday 08 May 2013 

A man has been attacked and killed by a shark on his honeymoon while surfing near a beach on the French island of Reunion. 

The 36-year-old French national was in the sea just off the popular beach of Brisants de Saint-Gilles on the west of the island when a shark charged at him twice, prompting a nearby swimmer to raise the alarm when he saw blood on the water, the local prefecture said. 

Lifeguards jumped in the water to fetch the victim, who had lost a lot of blood and was in cardiac and respiratory arrest. They brought him back to the beach but were unable to revive him. 

The shark had bitten the surfer on the arm and on the thigh. His wife was on the beach when the attack happened and is being treated for shock, the authorities said. 

According to reports in the French media, the couple are from Morteau in eastern France. 

The deadly shark attack was the first this year on the French island, where three people have been killed by sharks in the past two years. 

Two attacks, one fatal and one causing serious injury, happened just days apart last summer. 

That prompted surfers on the island to call for a marine nature reserve on that area of the island to be closed, which they blame for an increase in shark attacks since 2011. 

Read more: http://news.sky.com/story/1088367/shark-attack-man-killed-off-reunion-island

Grandad who wrestled shark away from toddlers on beach sacked after bosses saw TV footage of incident

A BRITISH holidaymaker who wrestled a shark away from a group of toddlers at a Queensland beach has been sacked after returning home because he was meant to be on sick leave.

Paul Marshallsea, 62, was praised by the lifeguards after he rushed from a beach-side barbecue to keep the children safe.

The encounter was caught on camera by a nearby Channel 9 television crew.

The footage showed Mr Marshallsea grabbing the shark by the tail and dragging it away from the beach.

The grandfather said: “Where this shark actually came ashore, it’s shallow for about five or six yards, and a lot of babies and toddlers splash about there. It could have been very nasty"

But after returning from two months Down Under, Paul and his wife Wendy have been sacked by the charity they both worked for because they were off work for stress, The Daily Mail reports.

Mr Marshallsea is now facing life on the dole in one of Britain's worst unemployment blackspots in Merthyr Tydfil in  South Wales.

"What am I going to do now? There’s not much call for shark-wrestlers in Merthyr Tydfil," he said.

The couple had headed to Australia for a 'get away from it all' sunshine break.

But charity trustees decided Mr Marshallsea was skiving after seeing footage of him wrestling with the shark.

Continued:  http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/grandad-who-wrestled-shark-away-from-toddlers-on-beach-sacked-after-bosses-saw-tv-footage-of-incident/story-e6frg6n6-1226596057035

U.S. shark attacks reach highest level in a decade

Florida logged the most attacks in 2012, with 26 attacks. Only one attack in the country was fatal.

Scholars say shark attacks in the U.S. reached their highest level in a decade last year.

The University of Florida's International Shark Attack File released on Monday says the U.S. experienced 53 attacks in 2012, the most since 2000.

Florida led the U.S. with 26 attacks. Hawaii had 10 attacks, followed by California and South Carolina with five each, North Carolina with two and one each in Georgia, Massachusetts, New York, Oregon and Puerto Rico. One attack in California was fatal.

The report says there were seven fatalities worldwide, which is lower than 2011 but higher than the yearly average of 4.4 from 2001 to 2010. There were 80 unprovoked attacks worldwide, slightly more than 2011.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/shark-attacks-reach-highest-level-decade-article-1.1261668#ixzz2Kh7lCSyj

Sharks' Bad Rap Makes Them Hard to Save

Shark attacks have all the elements of a great news story — they're terrifying, bloody and mesmerizing all at once. But high-pitched coverage of shark attacks in the media often doesn't reflect how rare such gruesome encounters are. What's more, a new study suggests that the disproportionate negative attention could hurt sharks' chances of survival.

A group of researchers examined coverage of sharks in newspapers in the United States and Australia from January 2000 through December 2009. Of 300 articles about sharks randomly selected from this sample, more than half of the coverage was about shark attacks on people. A mere 10 percent of the articles focused on shark conservation issues and just 7 percent centered on shark biology or ecology.

In 2011, there were 75 shark attacks reported worldwide, a dozen of which were fatal. Despite these relatively low numbers, the threat sharks pose to humans was emphasized in nearly 60 percent of the articles the researchers analyzed. Meanwhile, far fewer articles discussed shark finning, pollution, habitat loss and other threats to sharks, which are apex predators that help balance ecosystems in the world's oceans. An estimated 73 million sharks are killed annually for their fins alone.

Read on:  http://www.livescience.com/24618-sharks-bad-rap-may-hurt-conservation-efforts.html

Surfer Escapes Shark By Punching It In The Head

A surfer fought off a shark by punching it on the side of the head - seconds after it had bitten him.

The attack in Eureka, California left Scott Stephens with eight deep lacerations, according to the Times-Standard .

The 25-year-old was paddling on his board 150 yards further out than other surfers when the shark grabbed him and pulled him under water.

He estimates the creature was four feet long and believes it was a juvenile great white.

"The shark came from underneath me, grabbed onto my side, shook me a few times and pulled me under water," he told reporters from his hospital bed.

"I opened my eyes under water and punched the shark on the side of the head a couple of times until it released me. I saw a lot of blood."

He was able to get back onto his board and return to the shore.

Fellow surfers came to his aid when they heard him screaming for help and took him to St Joseph Hospital.

"I really didn't feel much at the time probably because I was in shock. I didn't feel too much pain until I woke up this morning," he said.

Doctors said the surfboard probably took some of the brunt of the bite, possibly keeping the shark's teeth from penetrating organs that would have made surgery riskier and more complicated.

Despite the traumatic experience, Mr Stephens said it will not keep him out of the water.

"I will be very scared, I'm sure," he said. "I'll definitely have some mental barriers to get through. I think it'll be worth it."

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/surfer-escapes-shark-punching-head-102817248.html