One of the most frequently asked questions I am asked about diving is what to do if confronted by a shark. Every experienced diver knows the answer to this question: Stab your buddy, and swim to the surface. Just kidding, but emotional and negative responses to sharks are out of kilter with factual shark data, and it’s time for some perspective.
Over the course of three decades, I’ve made thousands of snorkel-swims from La Jolla Cove to La Jolla Shores and back. During one of those decades, I had a constant swim buddy leading the way. Sydney, my golden retriever-husky and I boasted a good 1,200 crossings with no shark incidents or near-misses. Considering that Syd’s nickname name was “the Golden Seal,” it seems we were ripe targets. Were we lucky? No, we were as vulnerable as Dr. David Martin, the recent fatal recipient of a great white shark’s (Carcharadon carcharias) misjudgment.
According to interviews, Martin logged a fraction of the miles Syd and I swam, which further attests to the minuscule probability of an attack.
Statistics reveal that, worldwide, there are about 25 shark fatalities annually. According to Scripps Institution of Oceanography shark physiologist Jeffrey Graham, Ph.D., “More than ten to 20 shark fatalities worldwide would be surprising.” Even at 25 deaths, consider that 40,000-plus people are killed annually from auto accidents in the United States alone. That averages to about 3,500 deaths per month or about 114 per day. Now, that’s perspective. What, then, might be the psychology behind fearing an exceedingly rare incident and not fearing a statistically significant possibility?
Graham said, “Death by shark is horrific, but when you get in your car in the morning, you think about all the things you have to do.”
So we ignore the much bigger risk of vehicular fatality because we choose not to dwell on it.
Graham said, “We take preventative measures to avoid premature death, such as putting on sunscreen or wearing a seatbelt. The fire department ensures public safety but it’s hard to build in safety measures in the ocean environment. You go to the beach, you swim close to shore and near the lifeguard station but you could still drown or be attacked by a shark.”
Shark researcher George Burgess, Ph.D., of the University of Florida in Gainesville, surmises that, as a group, humans consider a shark attack the most frightening natural danger, scarier than earthquakes or hurricanes. Since the fiercest terrestrial predators were long ago controlled or eliminated by using firearms and destroying habitat, sharks are about the only remaining top predator uncontrolled by humans. Apparently, this is a problem.
The media has helped skew the shark’s image by spurning serious journalism. Instead of providing factual information and promoting common sense awareness, they too often favor inflammatory stories to promote sales. Burgess notes that the dramatic increase in numbers of people who recreate in marine waters has also increased the chances of shark-human interactions over the decades, but these numbers continue to remain amazingly low. Don’t tell the media.
Sharks make great scapegoats because they can’t complain or hire a public relations firm to show the good they do regulating the health of the ocean ecosystem. Yet despite our efforts to pave, sanitize, civilize, manicure and otherwise beat our environment into submission, the world remains a notoriously unsafe place, with or without sharks.
To determine your risk of a fatal shark shark, visit Burgess’s Web site (www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish). Keep in mind that an attacking shark also takes a risk. In fact, humans present such an immense threat to sharks that, today, more than 50 percent of oceanic shark species are threatened with extinction.
Following Martin’s attack, family and friends raised concerns about my oceangoing behavior.
As with Martin’s children and grandchildren, my sea schedule stays status quo. The exhilaration, relaxation, beauty, peace, joy and learning I experience communing with our watery world overshadows any worry of an isolated shark attack. Reflecting back on my swims with Sydney, there is no doubt they were the highlight of our life and times together, and I know she would agree.
” Judith Lea Garfield, biologist and underwater photographer, has authored two natural history books about the underwater park off La Jolla Cove and La Jolla Shores. www.judith.garfield.org. Questions, comments or suggestions? Email [email protected].