Feature: The Truth About Shark Attacks in U.S. Waters

Every now and then, I like to post a feature episode, which is an episode from the past that I like and I want to bring back. For this month, I've chosen to bring back episode 108.2, sharks and shark attacks in US waters. Why? Because it's summertime, we're at the beach, and plus, Shark Week is just around the corner. I hope you enjoy this episode. After the shark attack, what did you see? Could you tell right away that he was not in good shape? Well, I mean, typically from a shark attack, you know someone's not going to be in great shape. So right when it happened, I knew that it wasn't going to turn out well. I knew right then. Describe it. It was kind of, if you've seen horror movies, multiply it by like 10 or 15 or even more in that. In that intro, you heard a recording of Matt Garcia, who was speaking about the great white shark, who attacked his best friend while serving off the California coast in October 2010. The audio was taken from an interview done by CBS News. Every time I travel to the beach, it doesn't matter where I am. A thought always runs through my head. Could it be that there are sharks out in that dark water? Are they swimming nearby? What's the likelihood of them attacking? Sharks are mysterious, creepy, and yet fascinating creatures. And today's lesson will learn all about these predators on the U.S. coasts and how you can lower your chances of getting attacked. Let's start with a story. On October 22, 2010, Luke Ransom, a third-year chemical engineering student at UC Santa Barbara, woke up at the crack of dawn to go surfing. Days had passed since he and his good friend and college roommate Matt Garcia had been tracking wave sets moving down the coast from Alaska. The waves were said to be about 8 to 10 feet tall. And he wasn't about to miss out. Lucas had been surfing since he was 8 years old. Being in the water was second nature to him. Before college, he was involved in competitive swimming and worked as a lifeguard at his community pool. At one point, he was honored by his city for saving the life of a young boy. Even though Lucas didn't grow up right on the coast, his family regularly spent time by the ocean. So on that October day, he was excited. He woke up early, packed up their boards, and drove to surf beach, which is located in Santa Barbara County, approximately 100 miles north of Los Angeles. The plan for the day was simple. They'd spend the morning surfing and then head back for class. They put on their wetsuits and swam about 100 yards offshore. Lucas was on what we call a boogie board, which is a short, lightweight surfboard that can be written lying down on one's chest. For about 45 minutes, they enjoyed some of the best waves of their lives. The conditions couldn't be better. It was warm out, sunny, blue skies, and there were perfect waves. They were stoked, as we say, in California. Very excited. That's when everything took a turn for the worse. While waiting for an upcoming set, they commented on how perfect the day was. And out of the dark blue water, something bit in to Lucas' leg. Matt said it was like a scene from a horror movie. His friend screamed, "Help me, dude!" and then disappeared from the water's surface. Matt decided to turn and go for help. But right then, another wave came, and it was red. Entirely red. At the top of it, he could see the boogie board. And then he saw his friend, who was limp and unconscious. Matt carried him to shore. And once there, he gave him chest compressions. But it was too late. Lucas had been attacked by a great white shark, and it was fatal. This is a disturbing story to start off with, but it hits close to home. And what I mean by that is that it makes me upset. It's a very uncomfortable story for me to hear because of my personal connection to it. Lucas and I went to the same university, and he took classes with some of my friends. I remember walking into class the morning after his death, and hearing the story told by one of my professors. Later, we watched the news coverage. Lucas's brother recounted that he had joked about being attacked by a great white, the night before his death. According to the International Shark Attack File at the Florida Museum, the US leads the world in the number of unprovoked shark attacks. By unprovoked, I mean a human, who was minding his or her own business, was attacked by a shark. They weren't trying to feed the shark, touch the shark. The shark wasn't caught in their net or anything like that. In 2020, that was a total of 33 attacks, and they're only 57 worldwide. 16 of those happened in Florida, 5 in Hawaii, and 4 in California. The director of the Florida Program for Shark Research, Dr. Gavin Naylor, claims that most shark attacks off of the US coast are in areas where Requiem Sharks feed on schools of fish. So which shark is the most dangerous? The three most dangerous sharks in terms of severe injuries they cause on humans are bull sharks, tigers, and whites. The Florida Museum describes a shark attack like a hit and run. The shark will appear quickly without warning, either hit its prey first or take a bite and leave. As a predator, you have to make a quick move. And in most cases, even if they do bite, they might realize that's not even what they wanted in the first place. The likelihood of being attacked by a shark is 1 in 3,700,000. You're more likely to get struck by lightning, be in a train crash, or get killed by a firework. However, many of us can't help, but think about a shark attacking us while out in the ocean. To better understand what sharks are in US waters and how to avoid encounters with them, we're going to focus on each of the coasts. Let's start with the Pacific. Off the coast of California, there's an area of ocean that we call the Red Triangle. And it's where 11% of the world's great white attacks occur. The Red Triangle stretches from the north of San Francisco down to southern Monterey or Big Sur, and then out to the Faralon Islands. These sharks enjoy temperate or subtropical temperatures, and these waters are a natural habitat for an abundance of marine life. It's the breeding ground for elephant seals, sea lions, and sea otters. These animals are prey for great whites. The sharks will congregate in areas where there's food. Sometimes they'll be out in the deep ocean, but it's also not uncommon to see them along the coastline. According to the LA Times, for the longest time, surfers, kayakers, and other ocean visitors weren't aware of how close great whites were to shore. It was hard to fathom that such predators could be swimming below their boats or under their surfboards. That is until drone technology was invented. Footage shows that quite a few great white sharks hang out near the San Diego shore, and even up to Monterey, feasting on jellyfish. The ones near the shore are often juvenile, meaning that they are less than 10 feet in length, but that's still big. That's approximately 3 meters long. Even with the number of sharks near shore, the number of attacks is not significant. They often come close to humans out of curiosity, but then we'll swim away. Fewer than two attacks actually happen per year, and between one and three deaths happen each decade, which is uncommon considering the number of people who do aquatic sports. You may be thinking, "Oh heck no, I am not putting a toe in that water," but before you blow off the Pacific Ocean. the California coastline, I mean. It's important to pay attention to the times that they attack. The most common months, great whites attack, are in August and September. Scientists, also by tagging them, have learned that around December, these sharks will head out away from the coast to the far side of the red triangle. With that said, they will be away from the coastline in winter. There are many other types of sharks off the California coast. You may find a number of broad-nose seven-gill sharks, a mega-mouth shark, leopard sharks, and the smooth hammerhead shark. These names can give you an idea of what they look like. The broad-nose seven-gill shark has the wide-nose and seven-gills. Gills are the vertical flaps that you see on fish and amphibians that allow them to get oxygen underwater. The mega-mouth is a deep-water shark that has a mega-mouth. Its mouth is enormous and disproportionate to the size of its body, and it just swims around, scooping up jellyfish and plankton. Then there's the leopard shark, which looks like a leopard. So it's got big black spots and they hang out near the shore as well. They snatch at clams and crabs, shrimp, fish eggs, and such. In La Jolla near San Diego, you can rent kayaks and actually see them swimming underneath you as you paddle. The thing is they're harmless. Last but not least, there's the hammerhead, which has a flattened head, making it appear like a hammer. A hammer is that tool you use to hit nails into the wall. None of these sharks pose a risk to humans, generally speaking, not even the whale shark, the biggest of them all. It's the great white that most people are afraid of. And while the risks are still small, most of the attacks happen in fall or in autumn. Before we get to the Atlantic coast, there is one more interesting thing to share about timing. Speaking of fall attacks in October 2008, October 2010, October 2012, and October 2014, at pretty much the exact same spot off of surf beach, attacks occurred. The same month, every two years. People started to wonder, could it be that the same shark is coming back again and again and sort of terrorizing the region, like in the 1975 thriller, JAWS? Some discredit that idea. While shark experts claim it could be possible. All you need to do to know is to examine the white shark migration patterns. They can swim up to 59 miles per day, head out to the deep ocean towards the Farrellon Islands, and after two years, it's not actually uncommon for them to return to the exact same spot. Mysterious, is it not? In the prospect of a killer shark returning to the same area? In any case, it puts scientists into action. DNA samples were taken from Lucas's boogie board, as well as a tooth from a kayak that was bitten in the 2014 attack. Until now, data has been inconclusive, but it started something incredible, a shark database with certain sharks information. According to the Shark Research Committee, a nonprofit research group, at least 34 shark species have been spotted up and down the Pacific coast, and around 50 on the Atlantic coast. One of the most dangerous sharks, the Bull Shark, enjoys swimming and clouded warm water. They can even survive in fresh water, so you might even find them in the Mississippi River. Tiger sharks have a warm or tropical habitat, so you'll find them in the Gulf of Mexico, or anywhere on the U.S. coastline where the water is warmer, including the mid-Atlantic region down to Florida. Hawaii is also a hot spot for tiger sharks. They're vicious creatures. Some sources say that their main diet consists of sea turtles, but many other random objects, like car tires and gas cans and things have been found in their stomachs. They're not even opposed to eating other tiger sharks. Yet while Bull and tiger sharks are some of the killers on the Atlantic coast, it's the black tip that often makes headlines. New Samurna, Florida, is known as the Shark Attack Capital of the world. Approximately one of 25 attacks occur there, and the black tip shark is often responsible. It's called the black tip because it has black markings at the ends of its fins. So fins are the very thin appendages that sharks have poking up on their back. Some fish have them too, fins help them glide through water. Black tips hang out in warm water near coastlines and don't swim often deep into the ocean for fear of predators, like bigger sharks. The largest shark migration in the US according to National Geographic are the black tips. Hundreds of thousands head down the east coast towards southern Florida for winter. A researcher of black tips has found from aerial footage that thousands hang out right by the water's edge, right where people swim. The water, which looks clear from above, is covered in little black dots, all sharks. Just like on the west coast, the east coast shark names also give insight into their characteristics. The Atlantic sharp nose has a pointed nose. Lemon sharks are yellow or light beige, which camouflages them along the sand. There are many other types of sharks as well from small dogfish sharks to great whites. So there's a lot of information there. How can you avoid a shark attack? Understanding the real risk of a shark attack would be to understand the ratio of ocean goers to the number of attacks. Even though Florida is by far where there are the most attacks, I have a feeling there are a lot more people in the ocean in Florida than in the other US states. But maybe that's just my perception. What we do know is which beaches tend to have a higher number of attacks, especially surf beach and Nussemerna. It's also important to understand the migration patterns. Even though it's very unlikely to be attacked by a shark, if you're very afraid, you can avoid swimming in the fall. And also don't swim at dusk or dawn. Dawn is the time of the day when the sun rises. Dusk is right before and after the sun goes down. Swimming during those times of the day increases an encounter with a shark. You also want to stay away from seal or sea lion colonies, or, for example, in California, the elephant seals. Remember, sharks congregate where food is. According to the Florida Museum, you don't want to draw attention to yourself. So avoid wearing shiny jewelry, because at times it can catch the light in a certain way to where it looks like you are a fish that a shark might want to attack. Bright colored clothing as well is not good. They also recommend that you swim with others. Some sources say they're less likely to attack when there's a group. For sure, if you're injured, it would also be nice to have someone there to help. Or, as my dad says, you don't have to out swim a shark. You just need to out swim the guy next to you. And what do you do if you are bitten by a shark? If you are bitten by a shark, God forbid, immediately get out of the water if you can and stop the bleeding. If you're in a fight with a shark, it's recommended that you hit the shark as hard as possible on the nose. That will tend to get them to retreat. You can also put up a fight, don't play dead. Grab their gills, their eyes, and other vulnerable areas to protect yourself, while, of course, avoiding the teeth. Once again, the chance of being attacked by a shark in the US is about one. in 3,700,000. It's very unlikely that it'll happen, but it's always good to follow tips to avoid. That's it for today's episode. I hope you enjoyed learning about sharks. And until next time, bye. (upbeat music)