What to Do if You Come in Contact With a Shark
After multiple shark attacks in the past few months, a shark expert shares with TIME what to do in the event you spot a shark in the water.
In the past two months, multiple people have been attacked by sharks in Florida, Hawaii and Texas. And while some of these occurrences may not be out of the ordinary, they still create an element of fear for those wanting to take to the beach during the hotter months of the year.
[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]In early June, two separate shark attacks left three people hurt along Florida’s Gulf Coast, leading authorities to warn citizens about shark danger in the water, and urging them to tread carefully when swimming in the ocean. A few weeks ago, there was another shark attack in Hawaii, which killed a lifeguard who was surfing off the island of Oahu. And, throughout the Fourth of July festivities, at least four people were bitten by sharks in Texas and Florida.
Shark attack instances, trends, and interactive maps for those curious are logged with the International Shark Attack File (ISAF) at the Florida Museum of Natural History—a comprehensive database of all known shark attacks initiated in 1958.
So what do you do if you encounter a shark? An expert shares with TIME what to do in the event you spot a shark and how to best prepare for avoiding injury.
Read More: Are Shark Attacks Increasing? Here Are What the Data Say
Bait fish offer warning for evacuation
According to Gavin Naylor, director of the Florida Program for Shark Research and of ISAF, people can very often be in close proximity to sharks, though swimmers are often unaware since sharks are swimming roughly 100 yards to 200 yards offshore. Sharks do typically try to avoid people and keep to themselves, according to Naylor.
But, when they come closer to shore—usually, looking for food in bait fish— there are multiple ways people can “encounter” a shark in the water, and each of these instances require different approaches. If people see bait fish jumping out of the water, that is a good indication that a shark is near, and they should evacuate, Naylor says, especially if the waters are not clear.
“If water is very murky, and [the sharks are] fishing, and they’re, looking for bait fish, and they’re going through a morass of people, then obviously more likely to make a mistake,” Naylor tells TIME.
If a shark charges, fight back
It’s important to pay attention to the shark’s behavior, and see if its movements are erratic, if it’s moving backwards and forwards, circling, or just has a swimmer at the center of its attention.
If the shark does manage to charge you, Naylor says hitting the shark in the snout very hard will usually spook the animal off.
“They have a lot of receptors on the snout, so if they’re really quite alarmed, it’ll turn and it’ll go away,” Naylor continues. “That happens nine times out of 10.”
If that does not work, and a shark tries to bite a swimmer—or even has a limb in its mouth—Naylor says the best course of action is to poke the shark hard in the eyes. Then, one should reverse out of the water, keeping eye contact with the shark and making sure to never leave their back towards the animal until they are back up onto the beach.
Different bodies of waters, different shark threats
In terms of prevention and preparation, Naylor says this often depends on the waters one is in, and thus the sharks that swim in those waters.
“People say ‘Don’t watch your shiny jewelry.’ Well, sure that that helps if you’re worried about Blacktip sharks, because they feed on schooling fishes,” Naylor said. “But if you’re in Australia, whether you’re wearing jewelry or not, will make a blind bit of difference to a white shark, because they feed on seals.”
According to Naylor, this year’s attacks in Florida specifically are not out of the ordinary, with thousands of sharks and millions of tourists in the summers. Still, in 2023, the ISAF confirmed only 69 unprovoked shark bites on humans and 22 provoked shark bites, a slight uptick from the most recent five-year average of 63 incidents annually, but a number they still categorize as “extremely low,” since fluctuation is expected.
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