Are Sharks Really In Danger?

Are sharks killer machines, tireless predators? Is the shark the perfect killer? The nightmares of many of those who live on the coasts flood. They are the recurring thought of bathers on the beaches.

Perhaps the number of myths that are woven around it is due to its millennial character. It is estimated that they have inhabited the seas for 420 million years. Although they did not share with the dinosaurs, they are much more long-lived than the human race.

There are many fun facts about sharks. But its contemporary bad publicity has basically only one culprit: Steven Spielberg. In 1975, the then unknown filmmaker released Jaws. It was the film that would end up cementing the terror of sharks forever.

Above the myth

Outside of Hollywood, urban legends and ancient tales, are sharks really in danger?

It is true that some species do pose a potential danger to humans. Sharp teeth and a powerful bite can remove considerable gash from the body of a strong adult man without inconvenience.

The largest specimens of the great white shark print a force of 1.8 tons with their jaws. This represents 3 times more than a lion, and 20 times greater than the human bite. However, despite its obvious danger, the reality is far from any fiction.

Sharks danger, for whom?

In 2016, 150 shark attacks on humans were recorded globally, of which 4 were fatal.

These episodes are divided into Unprovoked (generally the victims are bathers who look surprised) and Provoked (which include direct interaction with animals), such as when a diver is bitten after catching the shark.

Attacks on boats are also included in these categories. Of the first group, 43 (53.1%) of the cases occurred in North America, including 10 in Hawaii. The rest is shared between Australia (15), New Caledonia (4), Indonesia (2) and Brazil, Japan, Reunion, South Africa and Sri Lanka (1).

Spain had an episode recorded in Arenales del Sol, Alicante.

The fatalities were recorded equally in Australia and New Caledonia.

Statistically speaking, there are far more chances of dying from the flu, from falling from a high place or in a car accident, than from being bitten by a shark.

But the most alarming fact is that for every human who dies in an attack, man kills 2 million sharks.

The perfect killer

Specialists have been trying for years to minimize the negative perception of these beings, considered the ancient kings of the seas. The old is conditioned because the number of copies has decreased dramatically in recent decades. And the cause of this decline is one and only one: the direct or indirect action of man.

Are sharks dangerous to man? Is man dangerous to sharks?

Hunting “sport” for recreational purposes, or fishing, have been some of the reasons why there are fewer and fewer sharks in the oceans.

It also influences that sharks are a species of slow development and procreation, so replacing an adult and developed specimen is not easy, nor is it fast.

But what has really meant literal death for these animals is shark fin soup, a luxurious dish served in China.

Despite the strict controls that several countries have wanted to impose to prevent the trafficking of fins from their seas to the Asian giant, this has only managed to skyrocket prices in the markets. It has become a much more lucrative business than it already was.

In addition, the process to obtain this part of the body of sharks exceeds the limits of sadism. The fins are forcibly cut off, and the animals are thrown alive back into the sea. Unable to swim, they sink slowly, at the same time being attacked by other fish, until they die from suffocation.

Conclusion: sharks don’t eat people

As a last piece of information, it is important to bear in mind that humans are not part of the shark’s food chain. Almost all the unprovoked attacks are due to errors in the identification of the prey, mistaking it for turtles or sea lions.

Other factors of shark attacks can come from simple curiosity, attracted by surfboards (surfers are their favorite “victims”), the splash of bathers or some garments with bright colors. Furthermore, most of the resulting deaths are related to exsanguination, and not to dismembered bodies.