Kategorie: News
An attempt to explain the two shark accidents in Hurghada
Comment by Gerhard Wegner, Founder of SHARKPROJECT and co-author of two standard books on shark encounters.
It has happened again and again the same procedure. A deadly series of shark accidents, this time on Egypt's Red Sea coast. The consequences are also always the same: Lots of self-proclaimed shark experts speak out and spread an equally large number of partly abstruse theories. Each of the experts claims to know exactly why the accidents happened. As I said, it's always the same procedure.
In the last few days, I have been contacted several times by various media and asked to give my opinion. Was the sinking of the sheep cargo ship three weeks earlier the reason? Or is it the overfishing of the seas, which is why the sharks are now coming closer to the coast? Or is it even one of those killer sharks that have been infamous since Hollywood and are now terrorizing the bathing beaches around Hurghada? Or what and why?
I would prefer to stifle any discussion of this with a quote from Doctor Samuel Gruber, which had already shocked a group of journalists in 2013. At a specially convened press conference on the series of accidents in Egypt in 2010, everyone expected him, one of the world's most renowned shark researchers, to give a well-founded, scientific opinion on the shark attacks. But no one expected his answer. He literally said: "I don't know! No scientist in this world can judge the cause of a shark accident. There are simply far too few accidents and too many different influencing factors."
If you think about it, Doc Gruber was absolutely right. But for us humans, who are always looking for an easy answer, and especially for the media, this was a statement they could do little with. But if science cannot explain shark accidents, then who can?
This was the birth of BLIND DATES, the book by Christine Gstöttner and me about the causes of shark accidents. The book is not based on scientifically founded explanations, which according to Dr Gruber cannot exist, but on pure facts and figures and mainly on the personal experiences of people who spend a lot of time with sharks for professional reasons. In the book we have discussed theses and ideas on the causes of shark accidents with twenty-five researchers, underwater photographers and dive guides with a combined total of over 35,000 shark encounters, and from this we have created a well-founded platform of experience.
Nothing is officially confirmed
First of all, it has to be said that the data situation is more than insufficient. Nothing has been officially confirmed. This means that neither the shark species presumably involved (mako shark) nor a repeat act by the same shark has been confirmed. There are also several question marks about the injury (arm and leg bitten off). A mako shark cannot bite off anything due to its tooth structure and whether such a severely injured victim can swim to shore under its own power is also more than questionable.
In fact, we only know that there were two deaths after shark attacks. What remains open is, among other things, the type of shark or sharks involved. Was it makos or oceanic whitetips or even a tiger shark? One animal or several? The three shark species mentioned are at least the two suspects and are involved in most shark accidents in the Red Sea. What remains open in any case is the reason for the attacks. A ship with dead sheep that sank a thousand kilometres away certainly cannot attract sharks to Hurghada's bathing shores. And a lack of food due to an overfished sea would not bring sharks to bathing shores only for short flying visits. So let's just wipe these theories off the dining table as pure speculation.
Waste can attract sharks
One thing is certain: sharks, like other predators, are mostly food-driven. So food is certainly the reason why the sharks were on the beaches. The question remains open whether it was because of direct or indirect food. By this I mean either schools of fish that have stayed close to the shore for some reason or the smell of food, such as waste or toilet dumping from ships or hotels, which is spread by the current and thus attracts sharks.
It has been proven that waste from ships can attract sharks from a great distance. They therefore often follow ocean-going vessels and can also be found near moving or anchored safari boats. I myself took my best Longimanus shots on the anchor rope of the last safari boat. It took less than half an hour before the first animals were attracted by sounds and smells.
I would rule out direct feeding. Firstly, because it is strictly forbidden in Egypt and punished with draconian penalties, and secondly, because only crazy people would feed so close to a bathing beach.
Whether waste was discharged into the sea from hotels is beyond my knowledge. Also, whether passing safari boats might have had one or more sharks in tow remains an open question. However, it was probably schools of fish. Basically, it doesn't matter. It was almost certainly food or the smell of food that caused the shark or sharks to travel so close to the shore.
The behavior that is triggered by this can make it a close encounter between humans and sharks. This is not dangerous at first. But why do individual cases come so close that one or even several bites can occur?
BLIND DATES experts agree that there are three motivations for this:
1. hunting bite. Here, prey that is recognised as such is attacked immediately and quickly.
2. exploratory bite. This refers to the so-called test bite, in which potential prey is first examined. The secondary wounds of such a bite are, incidentally, the most common injuries in shark encounters.
3.stress bite. Animals fight back when threatened or under stress.
In the two fatalities, hunting bites can certainly be ruled out. That leaves exploratory and stress bites. This makes sense if you imagine the situation. The shark involved is in the area where the swimmer is, looking for food from which it was directly or indirectly attracted. To do this, it is in shallow water, a situation unfamiliar to deep-sea sharks. In this situation, which is heated up for him, he suddenly hears sounds that arouse his curiosity. (Swimming, splashing and hectic movements are also perceived as sounds by sharks).
The cause of the vast majority of deaths by sharks is high blood loss
The shark becomes curious and comes to look (probing behaviour). Here it remains very cautious at first. Only when there is further "evidence" of potential prey will it dare to come closer. And if the swimmer then continues to make noises, which can also come from an injured fish or if the fish suddenly becomes frantic when it notices the shark and tries to flee to the shore in panic, this will overcome its caution. The end result may be a test bite. If the swimmer now defends himself by punching or kicking, stress bites can even be triggered in this situation.
Regardless of whether it is a probing or stress bite, two factors determine whether a shark bite is fatal for the victim: Where the victim is bitten and how quickly help arrives.
The cause of the vast majority of deaths by sharks is high blood loss, i.e. if an artery has been injured or there is an extensive injury. In this case, the victim loses consciousness after a short time. Rescue from the water is hardly possible in this short time.
This seems to have been the case in Egypt as well. So the two women were not prey to a killer shark, they were just incredibly unlucky. Unlucky that they were bitten by a shark at all, and unlucky that they were bitten in a place that caused severe blood loss. Rapid unconsciousness and circulatory collapse are logical consequences, and time-consuming first aid means that death is very likely.
It was an accident
Sounds cynical, but it is clearly not meant that way. The victims and their relatives have my
my deepest sympathy. Let's be clear: it was not just any killer shark, it was an accident. And a very rare one at that. With almost 15 million bathers visiting the Red Sea every year, swimming in a place where a shark is looking for food and unconsciously attracting the animal even more by making noises and behaving in the wrong way has the same bad luck factor as being struck by lightning while barbecuing in a city park.
What is the right way to behave in the event of a shark encounter?
Here, too, the experts at BLIND DATES have a clear opinion and those who have been reading along attentively so far already have the answer:
- Stay calm and level-headed.
- Keep an eye on the animal and swim slowly to shore.
- Turn with it when the shark begins to circle. In any case, it is recommended to wear swimming goggles when swimming so that you can also see under water.
- Important: Do not react in a panic, e.g. by swimming frantically.
- There is advice to stand vertically in the water to confuse the shark - this makes sense, but only if the animal is at the surface.
- If the shark gets too close, do not strike at it. If it is extremely close, push the animal away if necessary. Only touch above the snout or sideways in front of or after the gill slits.
Everything else and detailed explanations of the types of shark approach and accident factors in the book BLIND DATES available in any bookshop or signed at www.ocean-heroes.shop.
Or personally at my lecture HAIE (Sharks) on 6.8.2022 in Offenbach.
Details of the lecture: taucher.net/diveinside-sharkproject