Sharks - Myth and Fact

It was a beautiful day for surfing. I arrived just before the sun rose. The swells were three to five feet being nicely held up by a perfect off-shore breeze. The temperature was in the mid-twenties and there was just me and four others on the beach. Surfing heaven - except for the sign at the trailhead leading down to the beach that stated very clearly; Shark Sighted. Swim and Surf At Your Own Risk.

I had heard on the news the previous day that there had been a few shark sightings but the last attack at this beach had been fifteen years ago. The only time I had a scare was with a couple of porpoises frolicking in the surf but the sight of a dorsal fin sure caught my attention.

Maybe I shouldn't have gone surfing that particular day. Maybe, I should have noticed the Band-Aid had dropped off my foot where I had cut my heel on a sharp rock making my way down to the beach. Maybe the surf gods were simply not on my side - or so I thought, but by ten that morning I had a dozen good rides and was resting out past the break. A little further out was a boat with a couple of guys and a girl on board and outriggers on each side. They gave me a wave and as I waved back, I felt something brush alongside my left leg.

"What the hell?"

I pulled my leg up onto the board. I should mention I was riding my longboard giving me a lot of flotation. I peered down into the water and saw a shadowy shape drift away. Then I noticed blood on my board, coming from my foot where the band-aid had disappeared.

"Damn," I said out loud. I thought then that I should have wrapped it with a bandage. I pulled my other leg up on the board and struggled into a kneeling position. Blood was seeping from under my heel. There was a disturbance in the water at the back of my board and I glanced around to see a dorsal fin sweep by. I couldn't tell what type of shark it was. There had been a rumor of a couple of big whites seen in the area over the years but nothing certain.

I was riding my favorite longboard, the one with black and white stripes. A few days ago I had added two eyes to the bottom of the board, this being the latest fad to supposedly keep sharks away.

"Hey, surfer."

I looked around. One of the people on the boat was waving at me and the boat was heading in my direction. It pulled up a boat length from my board. One of what I thought were fishermen called over.

"I thought you should know there are sharks in the area."

"I know. I saw the sign. I had one graze my leg." I said. " I think he sniffed blood."

I held up my foot with blood dripping off it.

"Why don't you paddle over and come on board. We can bandage that up for you. No point in tempting fate."

I paddled over to their boat and climbed over the gunnel. One of them lifted my board into the boat. The three crew introduced themselves as Chuck, Henry, and Marianne. They were marine biologists from the local university and were tagging sharks in the area Chuck said.

Marianne added, "The largest shark we've tagged in this area has been a 12 foot white but most of the others had been 6 to 10 footers of various species, the ones you don't have to worry about as a surfer. The big white is the one you need to worry about. Let me have a look at your foot."

"The one I saw wasn't 12 feet; somewhat smaller but scary just the same," I sad.

"Sharks have infinite curiosity and the only way they have of satisfying that curiosity is biting," said Chuck. "There is no such thing as a man-eating shark. It's nonsense. Sharks do not hunt humans. End of story. The biggest risk to sharks is humans, not the other way around."

Marianne had bought out a first aid kit and was working on my foot.

"Is the shark cold-blooded? she said. "Yes. Is the shark a man-eater? No. Do sharks have the greatest sense of smell of all the great predators? Without a doubt! Sharks are sometimes called “swimming noses” because of their remarkable sense of smell. The shark's two nostrils are located under their snout. However, they but do not connect with the throat. As sharks swim, water flows in one side of the nostril, through a nasal sac, and out the other side. While sharks do have a strong sense of smell, this statement is largely overblown. Some sharks can identify blood a quarter-mile away, but the scent doesn’t reach them instantaneously or necessarily cause them to attack. Sharks are very smart and very inquisitive."

"A shark more than a quarter-mile away won’t smell your blood and decide to make you into a yummy snack," Henry said. "Smells reach a shark through the currents, and it would take time for the scent to travel that distance to a shark’s nostrils. The motion of the ocean carries smell molecules with it, so, the more motion, like in surf, the faster the smell will travel."

Marianne looked up from wrapping a bandage around my foot, grinning. "Henry's our anal numbers guy. But he's right. People think the shark is top of the food chain in the ocean. It may have been true 5,000 years ago, maybe more, maybe less but without a doubt, the top of the food chain is now man. So many sharks are being slaughtered senselessly around the world and to such a degree, it's affecting the whole ocean food chain."

I nodded. "Yes. I read there’s just one in almost four million chance of being killed by a shark."

Henry nodded. " The odds of being killed by lightning are around one in five hundred thousand. The chances of being killed as a pedestrian by a car, depending of course where you live in the world are one in five hundred and forty-one, this number applying to the United States. Many swimmers and surfers attacked by sharks were wearing black wet suits. This makes them look like seals, in my opinion, the favorite food of big whites. Plus, it was once thought that sharks have poor eyesight. Not true. They have poor color vision but their eyesight is ten times better than humans."

"Then you have the poor old Orca whale known more commonly as killer whales," said Marianne. "There has not been one recorded case of a human being killed and eaten by an Orca. But back to sharks, I think all sharks get a bad rap. One of the worst things that happened for sharks was the movie Jaws."

Chuck pointed at my surfboard, "Contrasting colors on your surfboard. Not good. Same as your wetsuit or your board shorts." Then pointing at the silver chain around my neck. "And, wearing shiny jewelry is not a good idea either."

Marianne stood up. "There you go. You might want to redo it when you're home."

She added, "A shark's biggest tool is a very heightened sense of smell. Their sensory system used for smelling is hundreds of times stronger than a human’s. Their nostrils, located beneath their snouts, are used only for smelling and not for breathing. They do have the capacity to detect tiny amounts of various compounds in the water. But, a shark is not going to instantly smell some blood from half a mile away"

Chuck chimed in. "The best advice for surfers and swimmers in areas where sharks have been seen is to swim or surf in groups. And, keep in mind, early morning and dusk are when sharks generally feed."

I thanked my newfound friends for the information and the first aid. I left their boat and paddled back to the break, caught a couple more waves, and decided that was enough for the day. This encounter provided me with a new respect for sharks and made me a little wiser in their ways. Also, when and where to surf.

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If you want to know more about sharks, this is a good resource. If you want to contribute to the well-being of sharks, here are fifteen organizations fighting for the oceans.

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