How scared should we be of sharks?

HOW SCARED

SHOULD WE BE OF

SHARKS?

By Mark Stone, US correspondent

SWIMMING WITH SHARKS

Four miles off the coast of Florida, I'm about to do something I hadn't considered possible before. Until now, I had assumed that swimming with sharks, without a cage, was something only the most specialist divers would attempt.

"Follow our instructions and you'll be fine. We鈥檝e never had an accident," says shark expert Jordan Lempke.

I'm not wholly reassured.

Jordan is a diver and my guide for the next few hours. She has advised the experience is best enjoyed without a cage.

It's bull sharks I'm about to see, up close. A quick Google doesn't calm my nerves.

"Bull sharks are often considered the most dangerous to humans because of their aggressive tendencies and ability to migrate up rivers. However, shark attacks are extremely rare," the entry reads.

"We've never had an accident"

Shark attacks are why I'm here in Florida, about to embark on an assignment which has left me excited and terrified in equal measure.

ARE 'ATTACKS' ON THE RISE?

This past year, the news headlines have been full of reports of shark "attacks". Up and down the east coast of America, swimmers and surfers have had encounters. Some are just sightings, but some are bites - and one person has died.

The US has been the world leader in unprovoked shark attacks for a long time.

But some of these latest encounters have been happening in areas where sharks are not typically spotted. They appear to be out of their usual habitat - the Carolinas and as far north as New York too, where the state has implemented a million-dollar programme with drones, jet skis and police patrols to spot sharks.

In the water with bull sharks
In the water with bull sharks

Over the past two summers, at least 13 swimmers have reported being bitten in the waters off New York State - more than the total number of bites in New York's history before 2022. So what's going on?

The consensus among shark experts, scientists and environmentalists is that shark movement and human behaviour are likely to be evolving because our environment is changing. Furthermore, a change in the patterns of shark movement risks their survival and the health of our oceans.

Will 2024 be another year of sharks hitting the headlines?

Beyond the headlines about attacks, there is also a shared desire to repair the reputation of sharks. The experts all agree: Jaws, the 1975 film about a killer shark, is the worst thing that's ever happened to the creature they know and love.

And that's what's brought me to the warm December waters off the coast of Florida. I'm about to discover that far from being the man-eating killers that Hollywood has set them out to be, sharks are shy and majestic, as long as you don't startle them.

THE JAWS EFFECT

The team from Florida Shark Diving has permission to use bait to draw the sharks. They are researchers but tour guides too, who educate the public about sharks.

The sharks are shy, so fish meat is thrown over the side of our small boat to attract the fish; the sound of the fish in turn attracts the sharks.

It takes less than a minute. "Our first bull shark just showed up!" our skipper Johnny says. "Here she comes!"

Sure enough, right next to the boat, my first sighting of a shark in the wild. Our guide Jordan gets in first, gently lowering herself off the side of our small boat. I'm next.

Snorkel and mask on but no wetsuit for such warm waters, Johnny supports me while the boat rocks. It's choppier than I had expected. The boat sways towards the water, then a nudge from Johnny and I'm in. Instinct forces my face down to see what might be lurking below. The same instinct forces my legs up, out of the water.

They didn't want to eat me...

Below me, just a few metres away, there they are. Three bull sharks, as wary of me as I am of them. Holding on to the rope suspended between the boat and a buoy, I take in this truly memorable moment.

It's easy to forget that there is no glass between them and me. Six and seven foot sharks are swimming around me - and they don't want to eat me.

I'm beginning to understand why those who study sharks prefer the term "encounter" to "attack". A shark never intends to attack a human, they say. But why are we seeing more encounters?

Mark Stone swam with bull sharks off the coast of Florida
Mark Stone swam with bull sharks off the coast of Florida

BATH-WARM WATERS

It's December and the waters here in Florida are bath-warm. Earlier this year they were the warmest they have ever been in recorded history.

A buoy just off the coast recorded a sea temperature of 38 Celsius in July, a possible world record for sea surface temperature.

These temperatures are drawing more of us into the waters but are also having a devastating impact on the health of our oceans.

Take coral, for example. The warm waters here in Florida are causing corals to expel algae and this in turn causes them to bleach. If the water temperature remains unusually warm, as it has been, then the coral dies.

As the ocean's apex predator, sharks are critical in keeping the ecosystem balanced. If their population is shifting or declining, there is a knock-on down the food chain. And that, scientists believe, is what is happening.

Shark populations have declined globally by a staggering 70% over the last 50 years.

This is largely due to overfishing. A hundred million sharks are killed every year, according to the WWF. It's a figure so extraordinary, I had to check it twice.

"Most people have no idea that shark populations globally are declining," Dr Neil Hammerschlag tells me on a zoom call from Nova Scotia on the northeastern tip of Canada. "They've got so many threats."

"The biggest threat is being killed through fishing for their fins"

Dr Hammerschlag is the former Research Associate Professor and Director of the Shark Research & Conservation Program at Miami University. He has now launched a research project called Atlantic Shark Expeditions.

"The biggest threat is being killed through fishing for their fins and their meat for human consumption," he explains. "But now they also face other issues: pollution, habitat destruction and climate change."

Dr Hammerschlag has been tagging sharks in Florida for the past decade. With a satellite tag attached to the dorsal fin, he can keep track of their movements for years.

Dr Hammerschlag's tracking of a large mako shark, which was tagged off Cape Cod. It eventually migrated down to Cuba before it was caught and killed
Dr Hammerschlag's tracking of a large mako shark, which was tagged off Cape Cod. It eventually migrated down to Cuba before it was caught and killed

Dr Hammerschlag is a world authority on sharks and his enthusiasm is evident.

"These animals are cautious. They're not man eaters - they're social, curious and charismatic. When I get to be around any shark, but particularly great whites, which are so big and powerful, just watching them is inspiring."

Great whites are the subject of Dr Hammerschlag's latest research project and the reason why he is in Nova Scotia.

"Places that were historically too cold for them are becoming suitable and so they're going to go there," he explains.

"In recent years, sightings have increased. Just 15 years ago, if you told someone, 'I saw a great white', they wouldn't believe you. Now people are seeing them all the time. So, what's the reason?

"Is it increasing great white shark numbers? An increase in prey population - seals? Or is it from the drastic changes in ocean warming?"

Dr Neil Hammerschlag is a world authority on sharks
Dr Neil Hammerschlag is a world authority on sharks

SEARCHING FOR GREAT WHITES

Dr Hammerschlag is at the beginning of a project which will take years. He has invited me to witness the start of it.

We are in Liverpool, Nova Scotia - 1,500 miles north of Jupiter, Florida, where I came face-to-face with my first shark. The small Canadian port town is the launch point for Atlantic Shark Expeditions, Dr Hammerschlag's research project.

It turns out that for great whites, a shark cage is required - at least for everyone other than Dr Hammerschlag . He makes a few last minute adjustments to a small purpose-built cage which sits on the back of the boat.

It's a half-hour journey out to a reef which marks the point where we will search for the sharks and he has a warning for us: we may not see them on this particular day. An incoming hurricane, rare for this part of the world and itself a consequence of warm waters, will probably push them deep, he explains.

While we wait, we discuss the legacy of Jaws.

"The film has had a hugely negative effect on sharks," Dr Hammerschlag says. "Most people are scared and see them as these rogue sharks that come in and go, 'we'll hunt you'. They're nothing like that."

Dr Hammerschlag points to the reef ahead. It's barely visible.

"Where these seals are, there used to be grass on it and a lighthouse just 10 years ago. Now, there's barely any land showing."

"And that's sea levels rising fast?" I ask.

"Really fast."

Dr Hammerschlag has special permission from the regional government to use dead fish as bait to draw in the sharks, just as the team in Florida do. That allows him to tag them. To do that, he must be in the water, outside the cage.

"They're nothing like Jaws"

He shows me the tag, a small white plastic clip with spikes on it. Attached to the clip is a transmitter with a small aerial. Once attached to the shark's dorsal fin, it pings a satellite every time the shark comes to the surface.

As long as it doesn't become detached then it can transmit the shark's location for years.

On a shark mission...
On a shark mission...

"These studies take a long time," Dr Hammerschlag says. "We have to gather all the data, which takes the longest time, analyse it and write it up."

The tag is clipped on to the end of a long rod with a trigger on it. This enables Dr Hammerschlag to attach the tag from a distance, albeit only a couple of metres.

ELUSIVE CREATURES

Inside the cage, it's an unnerving experience. The water in Canada is murky, nothing like the crystal clear seas off Florida. If a great white emerges from the deep then it will be much harder to spot.

Like Florida though, the water is uncannily warm. It's hard to believe this is the northern Atlantic.

"This part of the world right now is where we are seeing warming at a pace that's faster than 99% of the rest of the ocean," Dr Hammerschlag explains.

"My own research is tracking sharks, including tiger sharks, which has shown there's been big alterations to their distribution and migration in terms of not only where they go but when they go there."

Dr Hammerschlag believes that multiple factors are at play but he wants to be guided by research not conjecture.

"You have their prey source, seals, that have been heavily protected and are rebounding in numbers. And then you have changing water conditions - the temperature. It's important to understand how those kind of environmental changes could be altering where these animals go and how long they spend there."

"The biggest struggle is finding these elusive animals in the first place"

The patience required for this sort of research, not to mention the funding, is remarkable.

"We're funding this through citizen science," says Dr Hammerschlag. "The public are paying for the privilege to join our research team and have the opportunity to see these incredible animals in the wild.

"But the biggest struggle with this type of work is finding these elusive animals in the first place."

He's right. It wasn't our day. No great white sightings for us. But the day before and in the days after, Dr Hammerschlag saw them. His images, from cameras suspended under the boat, are remarkable.

A great white captured on camera by Dr Hammerschlag
A great white captured on camera by Dr Hammerschlag

QUESTIONS TO ANSWER

So what about all the shark 'attacks'? What's causing them?

There's no one obvious answer, says Dr Hammerschlag.

"It's still relatively rare, so there's not a lot of data points. We're experiencing rapid ocean warming temperatures that are unprecedented and that is likely altering shark movements. It's also putting more people in the water.

"Rising water temperatures could be impacting shark food. It could be bringing it closer to shore. It could be changing where shark food goes, which could be altering where the sharks go."