Avoiding Shark Attack
Sharks are unpredictable, and any time you are in waist-deep ocean waters you are in shark country. Sharks rarely attack people, but a few simple precautions can help you reduce the already slight risk.
When in shark waters but no shark is in sight, look out for fins. If you see one fin cutting through the water, that is likely a dolphin. Two fins—one behind the other—are more likely to be a shark, with its back and tail fins above the surface.
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Practice these tips to avoid attracting
seen or unseen sharks |
- Don't carry dead fish when swimming or diving.
- Don't swim at night, early in the morning, or early in the evening. These are the times when sharks are hunting.
- Stay out of murky water.
- Don't wear contrasting colors or flashing objects.
- Avoid wading or swimming in offshore sloughs or channels, such as might occur between sandbars, and in waters that drop off steeply to greater depths.
- Never molest a shark of any kind, regardless of size.
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If you spot a shark |
- Stay calm, as sudden movements may attract a shark.
- Swim calmly and rhythmically back to land or boat.
- Keep the shark in sight, particularly if you are swimming underwater. In most shark attacks, the victim didn't see the shark. Sharks seem to shy away from people who look directly at them.
- If all else fails, try to look prepared to fight back.
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Shark Facts
Sharks ancestry can be traced back 450 million years, some 200 million years before the first dinosaurs came to life.
The "newest" shark is the hammerhead, which first appeared about 25 million years ago. The great white shark dates back at least 60 million years.
About half the world's 350 shark species grow only to 3 feet long or less and more than 80 percent fall short of 6 feet. Only 4 percent exceed 12 feet, and three of those species feed on plankton.
The largest shark is the whale shark, a harmless giant that can exceed 40 feet (some unsubstantiated reports say 60 feet) and eats plankton and fish. The smallest is the pygmy ribbontail catshark, which grows to be less than a foot long.
In an average year, fewer than 100 people worldwide are attacked by sharks. Less than a third of these victims die. In 2000, there were 79 reported shark attacks worldwide, and 10 of these victims died.
The average North American is about 15,000 times more likely to be killed in an automobile accident than in a shark attack.
Bad customers: The most dangerous shark is arguably the great white, a large, aggressive predator. The second-most dangerous in U.S. waters is likely the bull shark, a large (up to 12 feet), aggressive animal that is the only shark species to regularly enter fresh water, traveling up the Mississippi River as far as the Ohio River. A third dangerous species is the tiger shark, which can grow to 20 feet. Tiger sharks sometimes eat people, whereas other species seem to attack humans primarily when mistaking them for typical prey, such as sea lions.
Fishermen catching sharks are the most frequent victims of shark bite. Divers who swim too close or try to ride sharks are the next most frequently attacked group.
Sport and commercial fishermen kill perhaps 100 million sharks yearly. Coastal development and pollution are reducing fish populations that sharks depend on for food and also are destroying shark breeding areas, likely accounting for the lives of many more sharks.
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