Scientists try to explain N.C. shark attack rash

This is becoming another Summer of the Shark. The last one was in 2001, when a series of shark attacks on the East Coast combined with a period of generally slow news to whip up shark mania.

This time, the fears are most acute in North Carolina, where there have been seven recent shark attacks. Government officials wonder what might be luring the usually shy sharks so close to shore and among the swimmers they usually avoid.

North Carolina’s seven shark attacks is an unusual number for a state that recorded 25 attacks between 2005 and 2014, according to the International Shark Attack File. North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory said Thursday that state officials are looking for patterns.

“It’s an all-time record for North Carolina,” said George Burgess, who directs the International Shark Attack File at the University of Florida. “This is the real deal,” he said.

Burgess speculated that several environmental factors could have pushed sharks to congregate in the Outer Banks. It is a warm year, and the water has a higher level of salinity because of a lowlevel drought in the area, he said. Also, a common species of forage fish — menhaden — has been abundant this year and might have attracted more sharks to the area. Burgess also said some fishermen put bait in the water near piers, which could lure the predators closer to shore; two of the encounters took place within 100 yards of a pier.

“That’s a formula for shark attacks,” Burgess said of these conditions, taken together. “Now, does that explain seven attacks in three weeks? No, it doesn’t.”

Despite the recent attacks, tourists were still swimming during this long holiday weekend.

Burgess said the government should close any beach where there has been multiple shark attacks — at least for a few days. That could cause the sharks to move on, reducing the already small chance of an encounter.

“It’s an all-time record for North Carolina.

This is the real deal.”

George Burgess

International Shark Attack File, the University of Florida

CHUCK BURTON/ASSOCIATED PRESS Vacationers sit in chairs in the surf at Oak Island, N.C., site of two separate shark attacks on June 14. A 12-year-old girl from Asheboro lost part of her arm and suffered a leg injury, and a 16-year-old boy from Colorado lost his left arm about an...