ZURICH (dpa) – Anyone heading out on holiday to the coasts of Florida and Virginia need not be over fearful of sharks, say experts.
Despite year’s attacks – including deaths in two U.S. states in the space of a few days – the risk of a shark attack is extremely slight, Alexander Godknecht, president of the Swiss Shark Foundation in Zurich, says.“The risk of being struck and killed by lightning is much higher,” he said.The attacks, he continued, were the result of tragic accidents in which the victims bled to death after the sharks had bitten through arteries. “Sharks do not eat people,” says the shark advocate; the topic had been “terribly talked up”.Nevertheless, there are circumstances in which attacks take place, although these rarely end in death. In fact, the predatory fish had pounced on the swimmers by mistake. A Shark Foundation staffer is currently in the United States studying the latest accidents.Godknecht believes that the animals involved in the attack were blacktip sharks. This species has been blamed for most attacks off Florida as long as anyone can remember.Blacktip sharks are said to pass through the coastal area during their seasonal migration, and so encounter people swimming, surfing and fishing.Tourists should give sharks a wide berth by finding out about conditions at the beach on the day: “The same way as they ask about current, they should also check whether sharks are about,” says Karl- Hermann Kock at the Federal Fisheries Research Institute in Hamburg.Godknecht advises swimmers to avoid beaches where anglers are present. Their live bait could attract sharks as it thrashes in the water. Swimmers should avoid venturing between sandbanks, says the Swiss expert, as sharks tend to congregate there.Research by the Natal Sharks Board in Durban – an area of the southern Africa which also has its share of shark attacks – show that many occur in poor visibility in shallow water. Beaches near river mouths are especially notorious for shark attacks.The Board advises swimmers to keep the risk of attack low and only swim in daylight in clear water.Godknecht is sure that attacks will continue to occur in Florida and Virginia: “Many surfers and swimmers think it ‘cool’ to hang out precisely where there are sharks.”
