Where Have All the Shark Attacks Gone?
Aug. 24, 2006 — -- With the dog days of summer approaching, the winner in the battle of man vs. shark this year will most certainly be the 'humans' -- by a tidal wave.
"All in all, it's been a relatively quiet year [for shark attacks] from both the standpoint of the summer in the United States, but also a worldwide," said George Burgess, director of the Shark Research Center at the University of Florida, who keeps the world's most accurate list of shark attacks.
So far this year, 24 sharks have attacked people in the United States, and there have been no human fatalities, according to Burgess' International Shark Attack File, the only global database that tracks such things. You might not believe it from all the attention shark attacks receive, but last year, there were only 39 attacks in the United States, resulting in one human death. This year 38 attacks have been recorded and four people have died so far.
"We're likely to be on target for the same numbers we had last year," said Burgess. "It may be actually lower in the numbers of attacks -- which would continue a trend that we've seen as a total number decline over the last three or four years."
As beaches are more popular than ever, and the number of people engaging in water sports is on the rise, some say the likelihood of more humans encountering sharks should be growing. But so far, that hasn't translated into more shark attacks. Shark researchers and conservationists are increasingly concerned that mankind is having a much more damaging effect on sharks than the sharks are having on people.
"We're killing over 100 million sharks a year," said Burgess. "No one wants to get bit, and our thoughts go out to victims of shark attacks -- but when you consider that [there have been] only four deaths a year, it's not a very large number."
Sharks are under attack from humans from many fronts, ranging from water pollution to changes in the food chain, but the largest threat to sharks overall comes from fishing.
"Millions of blue sharks are caught by accident by fishing gear intended for tuna and swordfish," said Nick Wenger, a researcher at the Scripps Center for Aquatic Research at the University of California-San Diego. "Because those sharks have no economic value, those sharks are normally discarded dead back into the water."
Wenger and his team have been working on ways to prevent sharks from getting caught up in the nets meant for other fish by tracking their movements with sensors they attach directly to sharks in order to know how and where they swim.
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