Expect more shark encounters
Some researchers say that as shark populations rebound, more people visit coastal areas and waters grow warmer as a result of climate change, the chances of encounters will continue to increase over the next several decades.
Unprovoked human-shark encounters worldwide were at an all-time high in 2015 at 98, an 11 percent increase over the previous record of 88 set in 2000, according to the International Shark Attack File based at the University of Florida.
There were eight in North Carolina alone last year – a series of attacks that fueled fear and drove coastal visitors out of the water. Eight people were bitten over three weeks last summer – a season noted for a strong class of the bait fish menhaden, said George Burgess, curator of the International Shark Attack File.
That local factor in North Carolina plus warmer water temperatures fueled by a strong El Niño were likely factors in the record number of interactions, he said.
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There were no reported shark attacks in Delaware in 2015 but in 2014, a 16-year-old boy was bitten at Cape Henlopen State Park. The encounter prompted state environmental officials to temporarily ban swimming there.
“Sharks plus humans equals attacks,” Burgess said. "As our population continues to rapidly grow and shark populations slowly recover, we’re going to see more interactions."
The highest number of shark-human encounters in 2015 was in the United States, where there were 59. Florida had 30, followed by North and South Carolina with eight each. There were seven in Hawaii, one of which was fatal. There were also incidents in California, Texas, Mississippi and New York.
Many variables affect the numbers, he said, like water temperature and the availability of food.
Burgess said that in South Africa, for instance, there are typically five to eight shark-human encounters every year. But in a year when the sardine population there collapsed, there were zero interactions, he said.
When the water is warm, more people enter the water earlier than usual and they stay in later, he said.
This year is the 100th anniversary of the killer shark attacks on the New Jersey shore. Last year, National Geographic described that summer of 1916 and its multiple shark encounters as the beginning of our fear of sharks. Four people died over the course of two weeks that summer.
Shark attack in Delaware? My fears realized
In general, shark attacks are very rare, said John Carlson, a fisheries biologist with NOAA's Southeast Fisheries Science Center, and people are more likely to be injured in a car crash on the way to the beach than by a shark attack once they get there.
"There's a very low likelihood" of a shark attack, he said.
That said, you need to use the same level of care you would with any outdoor activity, Carlson said.
"Swimming in the ocean is just like camping in Yellowstone" and the steps you take there to avoid interactions with bears, he said.
Erich Ritter, a shark behaviorist with New Jersey-based Global Shark Attack File, said that "sharks are, in general, very shy animals."
It takes several triggers to lure them in, he said.
"And even then, a bite [most of them are of exploratory nature] is even more rare," he said. "One should always remember that several factors have to come together for a bite to occur."
Dozens of shark species are found along the Atlantic Coast from Maine to Florida, and many of them have more to fear of us than we have of them. Several species are considered "overfished" by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, a regional fisheries management board that includes Delaware officials.
In all, about 100 million sharks are killed worldwide every year, said Luke Warwick, director of global shark conservation with the Pew Charitable Trusts. Many shark species are slow to reach sexual maturity, have long gestation periods and have low litters of pups when they give birth.
They aren't like other fish species that have high reproduction rates, Warwick said.
"They grow like people," he said. But "we're managing them like every other fish species."
While the United States has detailed fisheries management plans for many shark species, other countries do not. Some of the 100 million that are harvested are caught on long lines, targeted for their valuable fins and caught as "bycatch" in other fisheries, Warwick said.
Protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora are the porbeagle, a relative of the white shark; the oceanic whitetip; three species of hammerhead sharks; and both species of manta ray.
The international convention has been used to protect rhinos and elephants and is now being used to protect some shark species. This year, when the organization meets in South Africa, it will consider protections for the silky shark, thresher sharks and nine species of rays. Thresher sharks are found off the Delaware-Maryland coast, and their population has plummeted worldwide, Warwick said.
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There are four shark species that people are most likely to see in Delaware.
There are two species of dogfish, described as "gummy sharks" because they lack teeth, said Scott Newlin, a fisheries biologist with the state Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control.
The smooth dogfish is most commonly caught by recreational anglers along the Delaware coast, and the spiny dogfish is most often caught by commercial fishermen, Newlin said. Neither species is considered overfished in our waters, he said.
There are two key species of concern in Delaware. One, the sandbar shark, is often caught by surf anglers. It is overfished, and harvesting is not allowed, Newlin said. The management plan initially suggested the population would recover by 2070, but that estimate has been revised to 2047, he said.
Better, but still decades away.
"It just takes a long time" because these sharks take years to mature and have low reproduction, he said.
The second species of concern is the sand tiger shark. The population is so depleted that it's illegal in Delaware to harvest or target them, he said. If you do accidentally catch one, it's illegal to take them out of the water, Newlin said.
Sand tigers don't have a traditional skeleton and instead are a cartilage species. These sharks are often so large that once out of the water, the cartilage can't support the animal, and it ends up dying, Newlin said.
People may see the animal swim away after they pull it out of the water and take pictures with it, he said.
But "mortality doesn't occur instantly," he said.
Reach Molly Murray at (302) 463-3334 or mmurray@delawareonline.com. Follow her on Twitter @MollyMurraytnj.
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Safe swimming
John Carlson, a shark expert at the NOAA Southeast Fisheries Science Center, has these tips for swimmers who want to avoid sharks:
- Don't swim where people are fishing. The bait used to attract recreational fish can also attract sharks.
- Avoid swimming at dawn or dusk when there is less visibility through the water column. Sharks may mistake that flash of skin as prey and they may hit and run or bump and run to investigate the flash. Typically, these types of shark bites are to the upper or lower leg.
- Don't wear jewelry, especially ankle brackets. The flash may attract the attention of a shark.
- If you see large schools of fish, get out of the water.
- Avoid swimming and wading around sandbars where there is a drop-off. Sharks like to live along deep cuts.
- Don't swim too far off the beach.
Tools to increase swimmer safety
Along the Atlantic Coast, both researchers and local officials are using tools such as drones and smartphones apps, flags and signs to alert swimmers to possible shark dangers.
On Cape Cod, Massachusetts, new warning flags and signs are being used at some beaches, and a shark research nonprofit is developing a shark tracking app for the Atlantic Coast. At Duke and the University of North Carolina, researchers are testing out drones as a shark monitoring tools.
And after a 2014 shark attack in Delaware, officials flew the coast by helicopter before reopening the Cape Henlopen State Park beach to swimming.
“The days of burying our heads in the sand and saying, ‘What sharks? We don’t have sharks here’ are over,” said Gregory Skomal, a Massachusetts state biologist who has been studying Cape Cod’s surging white shark population. “It’s time to move past that and be forthright and honest with the public about the presence of these animals.”
Skomal’s team identified 141 great whites last year, up from about 80 the previous year. The white sharks are rebounding along with seal populations in New England.
Towns on Cape Cod are also posting dramatic billboards at beach entries. Many bear a large great white image and advise visitors against swimming near seals.
“It’s certainly not to sensationalize the situation. You just really need to jam it down their throats,” said Nathan Sears, natural resources manager for the Cape Cod town of Orleans. “Whatever you can give them — pamphlets, signs, flags.”
The smartphone app being launched by the Chatham-based Atlantic Great White Conservancy will let beachgoers from Canada to Florida monitor the movements of tagged great whites and report their own possible shark sightings.
Source: The Associated Press
Want to track sharks and shark-human interactions?
www.trackingsharks.com/track-sharks/
www.trackingsharks.com/2016-shark-attack-bites-tracking-map/
www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/isaf/home/
You can also follow a few popular sharks on Twitter: @RockStarLydia and @MaryLeeShark, both of these female white sharks routinely ping off our coast thanks to tracking devices.