Swimming in sharks’ territory requires caution

You’re in their house.

That’s the message from shark and marine biology experts on the recent shark attacks off the coast of the Carolinas: the ocean is a wilderness, and sharks are a natural part of the environment. Human visitors need to make allowances.

“It’s not like going in your outdoor pool,” said George Burgess, director of the Florida Program for Shark Research at the Florida Museum of Natural History.

Since June 11, sharks have attacked six swimmers at N.C. beaches, which Burgess said would be a high number for an entire year. Four victims were 16 years old or younger, and two lost parts of their left arms in separate attacks.

Swimmers can take precautions: don’t swim between dusk and dawn, don’t wear shiny jewelry and don’t swim near schools of small fish. Experts say swimming in a group is safer, but several of the recent shark attacks have taken place at midday among groups of swimmers.

“You’re never, ever, ever going to eliminate the chance of something happening in the ocean,” said Joel Fodrie, a professor at UNC-Chapel Hill’s Institute of Marine Sciences.

But Fodrie said he still feels safe and lets his young sons swim in the ocean. Six attacks is the high end of normal, he said, but swimming in the ocean is still probably safer than driving to the beach.

There’s no one reason for the attacks, experts say.

Unseasonably warm water is attracting more sharks, and the local shark population has rebounded recently because of limits on commercial fishing, N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries Director Louis Daniel said.

Daniel said most people engaged in amateur fishing aren’t hoping to catch anything in particular. But with bait in the water attracting fish of all sizes, any amateur fishing is, necessarily, shark fishing.

Swimmers in the ocean should stay away from piers and people who are fishing, but that’s always been a good idea because of the risk of stepping on a hook or getting hit with a lead weight, Daniel said.

Swimmers should be even more careful on the Fourth of July, which is a fishing holiday in N.C. Anyone can fish without a permit, so it might be the biggest fishing day of the year, Daniel said.

Stay away from schools of smaller fish, too, because sharks might come after them and catch a person by mistake, Daniel said. He recommended keeping an eye out for birds diving into the water to catch fish.

“The birds are eating the fish that are pushed up (near the surface) by the predator fish,” he said.

Burgess said efforts to solve the problem should focus on safety in communities, not hunting sharks for “revenge.” Catching a shark who’s been responsible for attacks is unlikely, so attempts to do so are “an archaic solution,” he said.

Ideally, every beach would have a lifeguard, Burgess said.

Lee Nettles, executive director of the Outer Banks Visitors’ Bureau, said he isn’t aware of any recent changes in safety procedures due to sharks.

“We have quite a few sections of the beach that have lifeguards, so certainly those folks are keeping an eye out,” he said.

Nettles and his colleagues have been responding to visitors’ questions about shark safety, but he said they haven’t launched any formal communications to make sure people know how to avoid sharks.

Even if the number of sharks in the water has stayed the same, more people swimming would increase the number of shark-human interactions, Fodrie said.

Fodrie said recent sunny, hot weather has probably meant more people are heading to the beach.

Nettles said the Outer Banks haven’t seen a decrease in visitors – vacation homes in particular are booked far in advance – but “there are probably fewer people in the water for sure.”

People are choosing to visit lighthouses, go hang-gliding and otherwise occupy themselves on land, he said.

Nettles said he wouldn’t avoid swimming right now, but he’s taking proper precautions.

When he went surfing on Sunday, he went in the middle of the day and with other people. That’s Shark Safety 101.

This story was originally published June 29, 2015 at 7:57 PM with the headline "Swimming in sharks’ territory requires caution."