The Facts on Shark Attacks

As another ocean loving man is fatally attacked by a shark off a WA beach, the topic is again up for debate. Are shark attacks increasing? If they are, why? What should be done about it? Do we cull them or accept that entering the ocean is a risk?
Everyone thinks they're a shark expert at the moment but what are the real facts? I decided to find out.

Sharks live in all the coastal waters and estuarine habitats around the 35,000 km of Australia's coast.
As the population of the country increases, many more people are entering coastal waters for recreational and commercial reasons throughout the year.

Although Australia has had a bad reputation concerning the threat of shark attacks to swimmers, the statistics do not support these fears. The Australian Shark Attack File (ASAF) has been managed at Taronga Zoo for over 30 years and aims to gather all known information on shark attacks in Australian waters, provide source material for research and education relating to the causes of attacks on humans and publish analysis of the acquired data.

Human Population increase since 1900:
1900 = 3.7 million
1950 = 8.3 million
1990= 17 million
2011 = 22.7 million

In the last 50 years, there have been only 53 fatalities in Australian waters from shark attacks. Some years there are no fatalities recorded, other years there have been up to 4 a year, but the average remains around one per year. Shark attack must be viewed in perspective, there are thousands of swimmer-days that take place on our beaches, harbours and rivers each year with an estimated 100,000,000 beach visitation a year and the number is growing with both increasing population and tourism. It is inevitable someone somewhere will encounter a shark or other maine animals and these encounters sometime result in injury and on rare occasions death.

• Worldwide there are about 482 species of sharks, 182 of these are found in Australian waters.
• Sharks comprise of only 1% of all living fishes.
• A shark can hear a fish in the water from more than 2 kms away
• In Australia most species can be legally caught except a handful of endangered and threatened species including the Grey Nurse, Speartooth, many types of sawfish, Whale Shark, White Shark and Northern River Shark.
• Most sharks are predators. Many sharks species become active after dusk and hunt during the night. The majority of sharks feed on other fishes. Large sharks, such as the white shark (Carcharodon carcharias) and tiger shark (Galeocerdo cuvier), prey on large marine mammals such as seals, sea-lions, dolphins as well as large fishes, turtles and even sea birds.
• Several species of shark are known to be dangerous to humans: the white shark, tiger shark, bull shark (Carcharhinus leucas) and other whaler sharks (Carcharhinus sp.). No shark is thought to target humans as prey, rather the majority of shark attacks can be attributed to the shark confusing us with its normal prey.
• Sharks killed twice as many swimmers and surfers last year than in 2010, with the increase due largely to a growth in tourism and changing shark patterns due to global warming.
•  There are several theories as to why sharks attack humans including theories such as hunger, inquisitiveness (i.e., testing an object with their teeth to see if it is edible) or possibly disrupted breeding behaviour. There is also the 'rogue' sharks (an injured shark unable to feed and attacks humans), however, there is no scientific evidence to support this theory. Some attacks may be mistaken identity, others may be related to the invasion of the shark's personal space by the human. It is not known what the motivating factor is but more scientific research may uncover a common factor in the future.
• There are an average of 87 deaths per year from people drowning at the beach. There is an average of 1.1 people killed by shark attack per year over the last 20 years.

Unprovoked Cases

Since 1791:

State	# Cases	Fatal	Injured	Uninjured	Last Fatality
NSW	238	67	119	52	2008 Ballina, Lighthouse Beach
QLD	249	82	150	17	2011 Fantome Island
WA	85	18	54	13	2012 Wedge Island
SA	48	18	23	7	2011 Coffin Bay
VIC	43	10	24	9	1987 Mornington Peninsula
TAS	14	3	7	4	1993 Tenth Is, Georgetown
NT	11	2	6	3	1938 Bathurst Island
Total	688	200	383	105	(Revised 1/8/2012)

• There are some easy and commonsense precautions to take that can help reduce the risk of a shark attack. This risk minimisation advice is reproduced from the Australian Shark Attack File.
  1. Swim at beaches that are patrolled by Surf Life Savers.
  2. Do not swim, dive or surf where dangerous sharks are known to congregate.
  3. Always swim, dive or surf with other people.
  4. Do not swim in dirty or turbid water.
  5. Avoid swimming well offshore, near deep channels, at river mouths or along drop-offs to deeper water.
  6. If schooling fish start to behave erratically or congregate in large numbers, leave the water.
  7. Do not swim with pets and domestic animals.
  8. Look carefully before jumping into the water from a boat or wharf.
  9. Do not swim at dusk or at night.
  10. Do not swim near people fishing or spear fishing.
  11. If a shark is sighted in the area leave the water as quickly and calmly as possible.
  12. If you see a shark - Stay calm! Some previously stated methods of repelling sharks (blowing bubbles, waving arms about, etc) could attract a shark resulting in an altering of the shark's initial response and may unintentionally provoke an attack response. Leave the area as quickly and as quietly as possible. However, if an attack is imminent try to keep the shark in sight and if it gets too close then any action you take may disrupt the attack pattern, such as hitting the shark's nose, gouging at its eyes, kicking it, etc.

If you are interested to know more about shark repellents and their effectiveness click here.

Emotional statements and media reports sensationalise sharks and shark attacks create paranoia and do little to inform the public of the truth about shark behaviour. We must turn fear into respect for these much maligned animals.

This information was taken from the Taronga Zoo Shark Attack File and the Australian Government website.