Shark attack stats

Brian G Turner

Brian G Turner

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Was reading this article, and was surprised by the graphic giving total shark attacks around the world for 2021 - I'd thought it would have been a lot higher:

phys.org

Shark Week, the 'Jaws effect' and how more great whites in the water are changing human behavior

Cape Cod resident Doug Fraser realized he had made the right decision to give up boogie boarding in favor of a standup paddle board the day a great white shark swam under him and rolled over to take a closer look.
phys.org phys.org

shark-week-the-jaws-ef-1.jpg
 
Funnily enough I signed a petition the other day regarding shark nets being not much protection, but killing a lot of other marine life.

"Australia's Shark Nets Are Killing Marine Life

by: Care2 Team
recipient: Scott Morrison PM of Australia

*UPDATE* The situation is not getting any better. New data shows that from September of 2019 to April of 2020, 480 marine animals were caught in over 50 shark nets. Devastatingly, 300 of those animals were killed -- dolphins, turtles, sharks, and rays that never deserved to die such horrendous deaths. This problem is not going away on its own! We have to keep fighting!

Australia's shark nets — the dubious contraptions designed to keep sharks from reaching beachgoers — are supposed to keep swimmers safe. But more than anything they kill marine life.

The cruel devices ensnare and often kill thousands of protected species like dolphins, turtles, rays, and whales. Case in point, what happened off Australia's Gold Coast in 2018. Rescuers found a young adolescent Humpback completely entangled in a shark net. "
etc

Can't work out how to make the link work without it including my personal data, hence the quoting.
 
Wayne Mack said:
"73 Unprovoked Attacks Worldwide" That makes me curious to hear the rest of the story. How many people are provoking sharks to attack? I picture some tough with a cigar clamped in his mouth, wearing Bermuda shorts, wading into the water, yelling, "Hey, fish face! You want a piece of me? Do ya?"
Click to expand...
And this is why we need a shark hunting season, and a possible reality show.
 
The number seems really low, until you consider attacks on fish.
 
The comforting message that the number of attacks is so low is somewhat undermined by the graphic! (Also, how is that woman doing front crawl underwater?)
 
@Foxbat Good and sad article. Blinking human race - or at least some of it.
From the article: "It is estimated that as many as 73 million sharks are killed for shark-fin soup every year - an indiscriminate slaughter that is pushing many species to the brink of extinction." and all for a status symbol "delicacy"

Somehow need to turn being ultra-frugal, considerate and picking up rubbish into a status symbol. Sigh
 
Here is the 2014-20 stats for attacks and deaths from pet dogs, which averages 62 per year, but this is the US alone, so add a lot more for the rest of the world:

US-Statistics-on-Dog-Bites_2-811x1024.jpg


Maybe do something about these, with better training and owner knowledge. and leave the poor sharks alone.

Also I believe bee & ant deaths and farm yard animals kill more than dogs too, at least in the US.
 
Brian G Turner said:
Was reading this article, and was surprised by the graphic giving total shark attacks around the world for 2021 - I'd thought it would have been a lot higher:

phys.org

Shark Week, the 'Jaws effect' and how more great whites in the water are changing human behavior

Cape Cod resident Doug Fraser realized he had made the right decision to give up boogie boarding in favor of a standup paddle board the day a great white shark swam under him and rolled over to take a closer look.
phys.org phys.org

shark-week-the-jaws-ef-1.jpg
Click to expand...
You mentioning the "Jaws Effect" reminded me that when The Yogi Bear Show was released in the sixties, people thought bears were friendly so there were lots of "provoked bear attacks". Well, nobody is friends with sharks so all attacks are unprovoked I think :whistle: .
 
Foxbat said:
For the sake of balance, I’d just like to point out that the number of gruesome attacks by humans on sharks far outweighs the opposite.
www.discoverwildlife.com

What is shark finning and why is it a problem?

Conservationist Mark Carwardine discusses the issue of shark finning.
www.discoverwildlife.com www.discoverwildlife.com
Click to expand...
One moment from an old nature documentary which has stuck with me: the camera sights an ominous-looking shoal of huge hammerhead sharks in the middle distance. Voiceover comments that they won't be able to get much closer - not because the hammerheads are dangerous, but because they are absolutely terrified of humans. Years later I read an article about scientific tracking of hammerhead sharks. They were using free-divers to sneak up on them and plant tags, as they were less conspicuous without all the oxygen gear. They couldn't catch and release the sharks, as trapped hammerheads tend to thrash around until they die of shock.
 
Yeah. And watching I think it was a Rider Haggard film, the characters saw the population of large dinosaurs and said "it's alright, we're safe, they're herbivores". Dude. Really. I also remember reading a wildlife in Africa account of a hippo in an estuary killing a shark - she was standing on a sandbank in the water, grabbed the shark by its tail and threw it.

And mentioning farm animals.

 
Montero said:
Yeah. And watching I think it was a Rider Haggard film, the characters saw the population of large dinosaurs and said "it's alright, we're safe, they're herbivores". Dude. Really. I also remember reading a wildlife in Africa account of a hippo in an estuary killing a shark - she was standing on a sandbank in the water, grabbed the shark by its tail and threw it.

And mentioning farm animals.

Click to expand...
I would not fancy coming face to face with an angry stegosaur, ceratopsid, ankylosaur or pachycephalosaur. And the sauropods are likely to squish you by accident.
 
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