It was a sixth sense, a sense of warning that was deep seated in the back of my
mind. The cold gray morning seemed like any other as I paddled out. I had not even
caught a wave when I felt a surge from below, a lifting up. Somehow, I thought
a boat had hit me, but I looked across at Pete only to see the wide-eyed terror
in his eyes. Next, I felt a pull down and a pop, like clicking your finger but
only louder. It shook my whole body. I looked down to see a leg, my leg attached
to me by only a thin piece of flesh bathed in a blanket of blood. That instant,
in the same frozen moment that I knew I had been attacked, the gray mass lurched
out of the depths like some nightmare re-emerged and dragged me under the water,
shaking me like a doll. I could hear the breaking of my bone and the acid heat
of my lungs bursting with the pressure on my chest. My eyes wide saw only blood,
my blood and...
It is a story we have all read a hundred times, maybe not exactly the same story
but similar. Jaws, the Deep, there are numerous movies that have capitalized on
our own in-built fears. Fears of being the hunted instead of the hunter. Being
pursued by a natural killer, with no reason to stalk you but for the fun of it,
and you have no defense. Not only are you out-muscled and out-maneuvered, but you're
also in an environment where you have only limited resources.
"World wide as many as 100 people may be attacked by sharks and of those
attacks, only a small minority, around 15%, prove fatal."
If you never want to be attacked by a shark, never go in the water, not even
river water. (Bull sharks have been known to be 1000 miles up the amazon!)
Everyone knows that shark attacks are rare; in New Zealand they are very rare.
There have been a few off the smaller islands in the South, but you would have
to really unlucky. This summer, Onetangi Beach on Waiheke reported a series of
shark sightings in the local paper, and a local surfer had supposedly been bitten
in the water. By the look of the gash it was more likely to
be an impact cut, either a board fin or a something on the bottom rather than a bite.
However even the suggestion was enough to keep people out of the water.
Who is a risk? Spear-fisherman are for obvious reasons. If you swim around carrying
a burley trial through waters where sharks may linger you have a higher degree of
getting eaten. Also, being in the water for longer periods of time in deeper
water or being in a shark feeding zone will increase your chances. A shark's feeding
zone tends to be in mid to high water. It’s common knowledge that more people get attacked
in shallow water, so should surfers be safe? More people get burgled in Auckland
than Ruakaka. Why? Because more people are in that area.
Shark attack statistics are a numbers game. According to the book, Shark Attacks
by Mac Mc Diarmid, 9 out of 10 shark attacks happen within 1.6 metres of the
surface. Most victims are male. Obviously that is where are majority of the people
are, but what most people don’t realize is that it rarely happens. In an especially bad
year, world-wide as many as 100 people may be attacked by sharks, and of those
attacks only a small minority, around 15%, prove fatal. Far more people are
killed by bees, poisonous snakes and elephants or slipping in the shower
and lightning strikes. It’s far more dangerous to drive to the beach than to
venture into the water once you get there.
Humans have really nothing to fear from sharks. The opposite, however, isn’t
true. Each year, between 30 million and 100 million sharks are caught for their
body parts, their meat, their fins (a great delicacy in Asia) or their hides,
which are a source of an exotic high-quality leather. Their jaws get hung on
the wall. Even their internal body parts are made into everything from
lubricants to cosmetics. Add to that the number the sharks who are accidentally
caught by commercial fishermen. When you calculate it all up, each human who
dies in the jaws of a shark is avenged roughly 6 million to one.
Because of this relentless slaughter, the population of some shark species has
plummeted to an estimated 80% over the past decade. At the current rate, marine
biologists consider some species will reach ecological extinction within 10 years.
