JUST when you thought it was safe to go back in the water.
Shark attacks have fallen for the fifth year in a row, according to figures released last week by the International Shark Attack File, with 58 unprovoked attacks recorded worldwide during 2005, including four deaths. That might sound reassuring, but in the longer term the threat from sharks remains as great as ever, say ISAF experts.
Decade on decade, shark attacks are increasing as more people hit the beaches and take up recreational water-sports. During the 1990s, the ISAF recorded 470 unprovoked attacks. In the first half of this decade there have been 310 attacks, with five years still to go. 2000 was particularly bloody, with 78 attacks recorded. 鈥淎 long as the trend continues we鈥檒l probably top the 1990s,鈥� says ISAF director George Burgess.
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However, there are signs that the tide could be turning. Overfishing is taking its toll on shark numbers, while mesh nets, such as those strung up at popular beaches in Australia and South Africa, are reducing attacks locally by catching and killing sharks 鈥� and other marine creatures with them. Last year 124 sharks were caught in nets in New South Wales alone, and there has only been one fatal shark attack at a meshed beach in Australia since nets were first used in 1937.
So is there any way of curbing the numbers of shark attacks without killing sharks? Yes, says Burgess. In Hong Kong, exclusion nets separate sharks from people with little risk to either species, but these are expensive.
An alternative approach might be to study shark movements and educate people about when they are most likely to be in the area. The best advice then: stay out of the water.
