More Shark Attacks? – We Have Only Ourselves to Blame

Paul Watson
27 avr.
4 min de lecture

by Captain Paul Watson

Shark attacks are on the rise and the reason for this is entirely the fault of humanity.

Shark attacks are relatively rare. From a population of 7.5 billion people there are between 5 and 10 fatalities every year.

More people are killed by bees, mosquitos, elephants, hippos, crocodiles, horses, ostriches, snakes and dogs but these species don’t get the bad press that sharks receive.

And this bad press comes from television shows like those featured on “Shark Week,” by horror movies like “Jaws” and by the general ignorance of people when it comes to oceanic eco-systems.

It is in fact more dangerous to play golf than it is to surf or scuba dive because statistically more golfers die each year from lightening strikes than people die from shark attacks.

But it also a fact that shark attacks have increased over the last few years, although the fatalities still remain relatively low and this is surprising considering just how many millions of human beings surf, swim and dive in the sea.

The reason for this relatively minor increase is entirely the fault of human beings.

Over-fishing has removed 90% of the fish from the sea since 1950

To start with, we are diminishing bio-diversity in the ocean. Over-fishing has removed 90% of the fish from the sea since 1950. Every single commercial fishery is in a state of decline. This is not just bad news for humans who eat fish, but it is very bad news for sharks, orcas, whales, seals and dolphins, who have no choice but to eat fish. In other words starvation is a very big motivation for opportunistic attacks.

Secondly most shark attacks appear to be cases of mistaken identity. Surfers on their boards look like seals from the underwater point of view of a shark. Rarely is a person actually eaten by a shark. It tends to be an exploratory bite followed by rejection although admittedly that exploratory bite can be fatal to the victim.

A Hawaiian swimmer strolls alongside a great white shark.

Another type of human victim is the spear fisherman. The logic of why they become victims is simple. Spear a fish, spill blood in the water and you attract sharks. The miracle here is that considering the millions of spear fishermen in the world, such attacks are also relatively few.

Off Western Australia where there is a state of near hysteria over shark attacks from some politicians and the media, there is another factor that heavily contributes to the problem.

The live transport of animals by ship from Australian ports to Asia and especially to the Middle East because of Halal demands for live animals. Hundreds of thousands of cattle and sheep are packed onto ships like sardines and transported and this presents two sources of shark attraction. First the bodies of animals that die are thrown overboard and secondly thousands of tons of animal feces and urine are dumped into the sea which represent a very large dinner bell to the sensitive olfactory senses of sharks.

Another attraction are the set shark drumlines meant to discourage sharks from approaching beaches. Sharks and other creatures are snared, entrapped and they die and this in turn attracts more sharks to close proximity to the beaches.

Climate change, ocean acidification and pollution are other factors affecting the migration patterns of sharks.

Killing sharks is not the solution unless people believe that there should be a final solution like extermination. However extermination will contribute to irreparable damage to oceanic eco-systems that will affect humanity in far more destructive ways than an occasional fatality.

Sharks are the apex predators of the sea. They have shaped evolution in the ocean for tens of millions of years. The camouflage, the behavior, the speed, the wariness of fish are all traits literally adapted in fish by the existence and predatory behavior of the shark.

The ocean is no place for the ignorant, the arrogant and the craven

Destroy the shark and we destroy a harmonious ecological partnership between aquatic species.

For those who believe that sharks are a danger to humanity, the solution for them should be simple. Stay the hell out of the water. The ocean is no place for the ignorant, the arrogant and the craven.

And we need to look at it from the point of view of the shark. The ocean is their home. We are stealing their food. We are trespassing on their territory and we savagely slaughter 75 million sharks each year, much of which goes to make a soup that has absolutely no nutritional value.