Do sharks attack humans for a reason?

Pedro_P

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Humans are like ungainly packets of meat when paddling in the ocean and should be easy prey compared to fast-moving fish and seals. So why are so few people attacked by sharks?


▼ The crystal-clear water beneath 13-year-old Hannah Mighall darkened for a moment. She was sitting astride her surfboard, enjoying the warmth of the sun as she and her cousin waited for the next wave in Tasmania’s idyllic Bay of Fires. Behind them the brilliant-white sandy beach was largely deserted and the surfing had been good so far.
The sudden shadow below made Mighall instinctively lift her feet – balls of kelp often broke off nearby rocks and drifted in the surf. “They are really slimy so I hated touching them,” she says.
But then something took hold of her leg.
The water around Mighall exploded as a five-metre-long great white shark latched onto her right leg
“It didn’t hurt at first, it was like something gently grabbed hold of me and then I was in the water,” says Mighall.
To those who witnessed what happened, however, it was anything but gentle. The water around Mighall exploded as a five-metre-long great white shark latched onto her right leg, lifted her off the surfboard and shook her in the air before disappearing underwater.
“It took a few seconds for me to realise it was a shark,” she says. “When I popped back up from the water I was lying on my back but my leg was in its mouth. All I could see was my black wetsuit leg, its teeth, pink gums, teeth and the dark bit under its nose where it meets white. I thought I was having a nightmare and kept trying to blink my eyes open.”
Mighall’s cousin, 33-year-old Syb Mundy, who had been sitting on his own board just a few metres from her, raced over and began punching the shark in the side of its head. The shark pulled away from him and as it went underwater it let go of Mighall, lunging instead for her surfboard that was still attached by a rope to her leg.
With the board in its mouth, the shark pulled Mighall underwater for a second time. Moments later she popped back up to the surface with half of her board. The animal had bitten clean through the fibreglass and foam.
Mundy grabbed hold of his cousin, put her on his back and paddled frantically for the shore. Earlier that day Mighall had been practicing water rescues with another girl during training with her local Surf Life Saving association, repeatedly being carried into shore as the “victim”. Now she was doing it for real.
The shark came with us all the way up to the beach – Hannah Mighall
“The shark was circling us underwater,” says Mighall. “Then this wave came in and Syb just said, ‘We have got to catch this as it is going to save our lives.’ I was just tapping the water as I was terrified but he was really paddling and the wave carried us to shore. The shark came with us all the way up to the beach as there is a deep gutter running up to it. We could see its fin as it surfed in on the same wave.”
Luckily for Mighall, among the few people on the beach who witnessed what had happened that day were a doctor and a nurse. They gave her vital first aid while waiting for an ambulance to arrive.
More than 10 years later, she still carries deep scars on her leg that trace the outline of the shark’s mouth. Her right leg is noticeably weaker than her left – so much so that she has to lift it with her hands when she wants to kick-start the dirt bike she rides occasionally.
Mighall was one of roughly 83 people around the world to be attacked unprovoked by sharks in 2009. It is a figure that has remained roughly constant over the past decade. The average number of unprovoked attacks  between 2013-2017, for example,  was 84.
But recent research indicates that shark attacks in some parts of the world appear to be on the rise. The eastern US and southern Australia have seen shark attack rates almost double in the past 20 years,while Hawaii has also seen a sharp increase. But why? (▪ ▪ ▪)

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Arunita

Man..that was real scary and the girl is  a very brave one to have lived to tell the story..had it been me, I would have been died of heart attack.

asr335704

First of all, the girl was really lucky that she is healthy and alive after Shark's attack. That was pretty scary situation for her and her cousin.

it seems Sharks are attacking the humans in only those areas where humans and sharks are gathered in more numbers in same area hence conflicts are rising.

As Sharks are dangerous in water so humans should be more careful around them. At the same time, we should not despise them but respect their territory. Sharks are an important part of sea ecosystem. It is all about right balance.

soothsayer

Yeah. They have every right to get territorial. Let us not expect that we are all welcome to their homes

jackoftrades

i love sharks, They have right to attack in their living space

Rhett_Bassard

Up close and personal

Pedro_P

Well... I confess that I have eaten shark meat... If I ever encounter a great shark, I will most likely visualize the shark, turned into a great Ceviche dish.

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• Warning: the following article may hurt your susceptibility or whet your appetite: Peru's shark fishery

jackoftrades

Pedro_P 21-8-2019 12:11 PM
Well... I confess that I have eaten shark meat... If I ever encounter a great shark, I will most lik ...

most probably when you encounter one, the shark will be visualizing us a full meal on the plate.

Jordhawkins

Yeesh!  That was a nightmare read!