Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
Turns out sharks should fear us more than we fear them
SNEAKING off from work for a midweek swim in the ocean this year turned deadly for a few.
Wednesday afternoon in July was the most likely time worldwide to be attacked by a shark in 2022. For some reason the attack modus operandi of sharks changed a little this year.
For the past two decades most shark attacks happened in the mornings.
Then again, the chances of being attacked by a shark are incredibly slim, so the statistics are easily skewed.
There is a one in 3.7 million chance of being killed by a shark and that beats lightning, terrorists attacks and falling fruit.
On average 10 people are killed by sharks a year and in that same time 150 people from falling coconuts. And coconuts kill all day and night long.
These fun statistics regarding shark attacks appear on the Florida museum’s Interactive Shark map, which pinpoints the global hot spots where this apex predator is known to attack and kill humans.
South Africa is up there, although it is not the shark attack capital of the world.
First on the list is the US, then Australia, followed in third spot by South Africa with 258 attacks.
In the US there have been 1 563 unprovoked attacks since 1580.
What is concerning about South Africa is that one of the highest fatality rates in the world is in Africa, followed by France. It means if you are attacked by a shark, you are more likely to die in Africa than elsewhere. The only recorded shark attack on the site for this year in South Africa was fatal.
This interactive map is based on data from the International Shark Attack File, which is considered to be the only scientifically verified database of all shark attacks in the world.
“What started out as a fun research project quickly became a passion project. During our research, we learnt that in a typical year less than 10 humans are killed by sharks,” said David Angotti, the founder of the site.
“Contrast that with the astronomical figure of 100 million sharks killed by humans. We believe that this educational shark attack statistics interactive (site) will help the general public realise that shark attacks are incredibly rare and normally survivable. Based on the data, we should not fear the sharks – rather, we should protect them.”
As for the sharks responsible for attacking humans in 2022, there are the usual suspects and a few others not usually associated with attacks.
White sharks accounted for five attacks this year, in which 20% of them resulted in deaths.
At the bottom of the list are lemon sharks, spinner sharks and the one shark some surfers like to get real close to – the bronze whaler. None of these sharks caused any human fatalities.
A YouGov survey of 1 000 people in the US found that 17% would be willing to be bitten by a shark, if it didn’t cause serious damage. They would do this so they would have a cool story to tell their friends.
And 11% said if they had to die, they would choose death by shark.
So there you have it: if you are one of those 17 percenters out there, you will have to take that one in a 3.7 million chance and head out for a midweek afternoon swim and hope that nibble from a shark will be enough to leave a non-threatening scar and a killer story.