COLD-BLOODED KILLERS

Unfortunately no universal protection from shark attacks on  people has been found yet. Perhaps, one of the ways to keep sharks away from swimmers is to install stainless steel netting along beaches. Mesh barriers are often torn as a result of storms and corrosion though, however, they do provide some relative safety. So, if you are going on a trip to an exotic place keep in mind that you will have to be careful when it comes to dealing with the severe and unpredictable element of  the sea. Safety at some resorts is high, at others — lower. However, those cold-blooded killers are everywhere. The number of man-eating sharks is rising annually.

The Caribbean Sea

The Antilles, especially in Cuba, have recently become a popular travel destination among European tourists. And it is in the Caribbean Sea — it stands third  out of seven places in the world — where  sharks’ attack on people are more than the average. First of all we are talking about the islands and beaches of the Caribbean Sea itself as well as of the Bahamas and Florida. The greatest in number are the notorious White Sharks, although hammerhead sharks, tiger sharks as well as blue sharks and grey sharks are not far behind. Some of them, for example hammerhead and tiger sharks measure up to six meters and may weigh over a thousand kilos. Keep in mind also that some of these species hunt only in the coastal area. Blue sharks for instance may attack at a depth of less than 1 meter. Besides, being relatively small — up to 3 meters — they hunt in shoals. Attacks on people especially on little children paddling in the water are frequent here.

The Red Sea

It is the sea that has a record of high number of shark species. Here can be seen white sharks, hammerhead sharks, tiger sharks, grey sharks, white fin sharks, black fin sharks, reef sharks and sand sharks. Interestingly enough dangerous species avoid the Egyptian coastline for no apparent reason preferring the Sudanese shoreline where they can be seen in large numbers in each bay like sardines in a can. Perhaps it is because the Egyptian shoreline is more populated by people and sharks try to stay away from such noisy neighbors. The most dangerous of these are white and hammerhead sharks — very rare guests in Egyptian coastal waters. The media reports  rare about shark attacks on people there, however, they have increased lately. So you better be careful when  in Egypt, although not so much as to forget about the beauty of the underwater world which is so fantastic there.

The Mediterranean Sea

This sea together with the adjacent water areas is considered the safest. It doesn’t mean that there are no sharks at all there. They are there but for some reasons people and sharks do not come together often. It can be explained by a very small number of pinnipeds which are the main hunting objects for sharks. Dangerous can be Southern Spain with white and blue sharks from the Atlantic Ocean being frequent visitors there. Tourists are better not to swim far away from the shoreline. Local predators hunt mainly for tuna fish and other large fish which are only far in the open sea. It is there that sharks can be seen. So, make sure you don’t dive from your yacht for too long and swim too far while in the open Mediterranean Sea.

The South China Sea

The shores of now popular Thailand and Malaysia as well as some other Indo-Chinese countries are home for a huge sub-species of the tiger shark, which has long been having a reputation for being the main man-eater in the sea, although statistics do not testify to the fact of the region being so dangerous for tourists. On the contrary reports about sharks attack’s on  people are a rare occasion now. Perhaps it can be explained by an intense fishing activity in these waters with people fishing even for sharks to be eaten in restaurants. It turns out the invasion of tourists has brought about extinction of those predators — they’ve been eaten out by people. The shark population in this sea has decreased dramatically in the last decades.

The US West Coast

California beaches are the place of constant patrolling by white sharks. California and Florida share championship in the number of shark attacks in the US. Such attacks with tragic outcomes for people are registered here annually. The most frequent are attacks on surfers. By the way, it is when a surfer floats on his board and  an attack happens. That is the result of the attacking of a shark mistakenly identifying the surfer for a pinniped. When a shark spots a surfer’s shadow, being pretty blind (unlike the sense of smell and well developed orientation organs) it resolutely attacks from underneath. When attacking it closes its eyes with special nictitating membranes for protection and so does not identify anything except movements and water vibrations.

The Australian Coastal Area

The coastline of the green continent and the area of the Great Barrier Reef are the traditional habitation of highly dangerous for people sharks. Sharks’ attacks on people are regularly registered both on the East and the West coasts of Australia. As far as the huge Pacific region is concerned which is becoming a popular travel destination for Ukrainian tourists it is far beyond other regions of the world as to the variety and number of sharks. Although the cases of sharks’ attacks on people are rather rare. Perhaps it is because the sea there is full of traditional food for sharks, or perhaps it is that the tourists are a rare phenomenon there.

The South-African coastline

Washed by the Indian Ocean the South-Eastern coast of Africa is believed to have one of the largest shark populations. The problem there is the same as in California — the Great White Shark which hunts for pinnipeds in coastal waters. So, surfers need to be very careful  there. Sharks’ attacks on people are rarer there than in Australia or California, however, some periodicity of this can be traced anyway. Beaches nearby Durban, East-London and Cape Town are teeming with tourists from Europe who mostly do not even realize and are not prepared to know that characters from the well-known novel by Peter Benchley are looking for food just a couple of hundred meters away from the shoreline.

In practice

The shark — this gigantic insatiable submarine is always on the move, even when it is sleeping. Sharks cannot pump water through their gills, so to ensure constant supply of oxyginated water they always have to stay in motion. Such gill structure couldn’t have appeared as a result of natural selection as not even the most closely related species have a respiration system which is anywhere close to that of sharks. Besides, one cannot call shark gills perfect presuming they had developed them for the purpose of the species survival, but rather it’s something completely opposite. Just this one peculiriarity of sharks prowling around in search not of food, but rather of a breath of air, deepens the problem of adjusting this unique species to the made up chain of species development and makes those who would like to dive in sharks’ domains scared to death. For a popular belief among divers says that «sharks never sleep». First of all, to avoid dangerous meetings with sharks, life-guards do not recommend swimming in the evening or at night — sharks are most active at these times of the day. Another compulsory rule would be not to get in water if you have open wounds, scratches or even bruises on your body. The smell of blood for sharks is like an invitation to a picnic. Lovers of spear fishing try to avoid hunting for fish when there is a shark nearby, even a small one. Stricken fish is no way to be dragged but pulled aboard or ashore as soon as possible. Divers who like feeding fish underwater are also recommended to be extremely careful as predatory sweet-teeth with a high fin tend to suddenly show up as if from nowhere, like stray dogs. But if you find yourself facing a shark and its size is pretty scared, try not to turn your back on it. Also don’t try to “run away” — nobody has ever won the race competing against a shark. Divers in such situations are better to stay closer to the bottom and not panic, but slowly move shoreward. If the shark behaves aggressively, one of the ways out would be to swim towards it. In case it is too dangerously close try to hit it in the nose or eye. Contrary to the common idea of sharks being bold they are very fearful and chances are there that it will turn away first.

Author: Robert Viter