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It's too hot and sticky to write tonight. Here in Southern California, I'm tempted to draw a lukewarm bath and settle in to get some long-postponed reading done. While the east coast deals with the effects of a rare earthquake and Hurricane Irene as it slowly loses power but relentlessly churns its way along the eastern seaboard, the west coast is beset with high heat and humidity - up to 112 degrees in the northern inland valleys and the strong possibility of thunderstorms in the mountains, thanks to moisture drawn up from the south - which can bring the dual risks of flash floods or brush/forest fires.
Add to that, beach goers in Mission Beach, San Diego who hoped to cool off in the ocean have been forced out of the water due to sightings of a large shark cruising the area. Lifeguards twice closed the beaches at Belmont Park when a reported 14-foot shark was spotted, but the park is currently re-opened.
It's at times like these that thoughts of apocalyptic weather, global warming in high gear, and "summer of the shark" descriptors get bandied about and, to a degree, it's understandable. It's human nature and it can be heightened by a feedback loop with the help of the media. After all, in today's crowded information age, the media relies on our emotional hot buttons to catch our attention which, in turn, furthers the public frenzy and round and round it goes.
This isn't meant to diminish the importance of the damage being wrought by Hurricane Irene. While it has lost some of its clout and could even be downgraded to a tropical storm if it continues to lose energy as it makes landfall, it still has delivered high winds, considerable rain, and the threat of high water storm surge which can produce considerable flooding in low-lying coastal areas. And there is the tragedy of at least 6 deaths being attributed to the storm so far.
But scientists will tell you to take a deep breath before attributing our severe weather to global warming. The computer models are definitely there that will show that as the climate changes, so do weather patterns and one of the anticipated outcomes of warming temperatures will be more severe weather, including tropical storms and hurricanes. And there is plenty of historical evidence to show that temperatures are up and we are on that path. As an advocate of climate change, I do not dispute the scientific evidence but the experts will tell you that one extreme summer does not a trend make. At least not yet.
At the same time, one does not want to end up being one of those who ignored the boy who cried wolf until you wake up and find the big hairy brute on your doorstep. So, I wait to hear what the climatologists will have to say and take heart that if a definitive trend does take time, it means we have a window of opportunity to act now and do something about it before it becomes insurmountable.
With regards to recent shark sightings both here and off the coast of Massachusetts, these both could be, like the weather, statistical anomalies. It's certainly not unusual to have large sharks - typically great whites - cruising the California coast. Juveniles feed here and there can be lone adults looking to feed on seals or sea lions while others stick to the siren calls of migration - for San Diego, adults are often running south this time of year to Isla Guadalupe off Baja, Mexico.
As a shark advocate, my initial reaction to calls for a "summer of the sharks" or the media's use of the well-worn term "shark-infested waters" is one of "wouldn't that be nice." If the statistics were to support those labels that would mean that sharks as an ocean species are making a comeback from years of extreme decline due to overfishing. For me, that's a comforting thought, but let's see how the numbers play out over time. In the meantime, as with my optimism regarding taking action to minimize climate change, I will continue to support efforts to protect and conserve are toothy oceanic friends.
So, while my knee jerk reaction will continue to be, "geez louise, this has got to be the hottest ever," I'll try to take that deep breath and see what the trend analysis shows - while I crack open another Diet Coke and settle into the tub.
This past Thursday, in San Diego, California, a 5-foot juvenile great white shark was reported by two scuba divers at around 500 yards off shore of La Jolla Cove in about 30 feet of water. Lifeguards briefly closed the beach while they cruised the area but soon reopened the beach, issuing a precaution to swimmers and leaving it at that. The local press reported the sighting without any overwrought hysteria and moved on to their next sound bite.
Chock up one for common sense.
Frankly, it does my heart good to hear of these sightings. With each juvenile seen, we know there is one more shark to add to the white shark's precarious population; one more shark that can, in 10 years, reproduce and, as Matt Hooper said, "make little sharks." Juvenile white sharks do not pose a substantial threat to humans as they are fixated on fish as menu items. It won't be until they reach maturity that they graduate to pennipeds (seals and sea lions) and the possibility of a surfer or swimmer being mistaken for a seal could occur, and has occurred.
But why off of warm Southern California? Juveniles have been sighted from Malibu to San Diego. There are deep canyons that run along the coastline in which juvenile white sharks can comfortably cruise, feeding on fish, while adults have generally taken up their migration patterns that often bring them to areas of seal or sea lion concentrations, like the Farallon Islands off San Francisco and Isla Guadalupe far off the Baja coast.
A recent report from the Shark Research Committee, a California non-profit headed by well-known shark behaviorist Ralph Collier, cited 7 unprovoked shark attacks along the Pacific Coast in 2010; 5 in California waters and 2 off the Oregon coast. Only one attack produced a fatality. Of interest were the activities the people were involved in at the time of the incidents: 3 surfing, 2 kayaking, 1 paddle-boarding, and 1 boogie-boarding. All surface activities, all included an elongated shape with limbs or paddles in the water. When you add in the right conditions of low visibility or other possible attractants like heavy splashing or nearby pinnipeds, all lend themselves to the classic scenario of mistaken identity as the white shark executes its typical single-bite ambush technique which it uses on an unsuspecting seal or sea lion (although not definitively confirmed, the white shark was suspected in all seven incidents). The attacks also took place in the late summer/early fall. This is when many adult great whites are on the move, returning from their mid-Pacific migration, back to their coastal hangouts.
Given the image that is generally served up by the media, I don't expect the general public to rejoice with every sighting of a great white shark along the California coast. But it's good to know that the circle of life is still taking place for these threatened ocean predators who play such an important role in balancing the marine ecosystem. Hopefully, the juvenile white shark seen off La Jolla Cove will not encounter poachers and live to carry on the species.
Read about the white shark sighting in San Diego.
Read about the Shark Research Committee report.
It's summertime in the U.S., folks are vacationing, heading to the beaches (well, maybe not the Gulf, unfortunately) to frolic in the surf. And like clockwork, the media reports begin to pile up, one after another: sharks reported cruising the coast, increases in sharks, attacks on the rise, it's the revenge of the evil elasmobranch . . . ad nauseam.
Following a very successful week of programming for the Discovery network (this year, Shark Week brought in its highest ratings ever at over 30 million viewers), there have been reports of white sharks seen along Southern California beaches along with indications that the population of white sharks in California is increasing; surfers are having close encounters of the third kind; shark incidents in Australia are filling the news pages of sites like Underwater Times; and South Africa has issued a coastal shark warning. I think it peaked last week but there was a moment where it seemed like the world was about to be swallowed up.
It's not the individual reports that are necessarily the problem - I'll give the reporters the benefit of the doubt that what they are writing is researched and factually accurate. And there have been some very good articles from the likes of Pete Thomas, as an example (although, Pete, you succumbed to the "summer of the shark" title temptation). My concern is the collective result of all this reporting and the impact it has on the general public's view towards sharks and, by extension, shark conservation. It makes for titillating summer media but without the all-important ingredient: context, context, context.
Sharks migrate along the California coast, giving birth in the deep coastal canyons. And this happens elsewhere in the world. Ergo, we get juveniles cruising the coastline, feeding and fattening up before the migratory impulse hits them and off they go on their annual journeys. It happens every year. Perhaps there might be a spike in sightings, maybe in actual number, but those have always been considered anomalies. Is the California population actually increasing? Well, if it is, as recently reported, then that would be GREAT! But still no reason to fear, statistically-speaking.
And speaking of statistics, we all know that with more people in the water, the chances of a sighting or an encounter goes up. Drastically? Well, no - but that always seems to get glossed over.
So, the bottom line is: this shark activity is all VERY NORMAL! Time of year, migratory and birthing patterns, increased numbers of people in the water - with these factors there is bound to be an increase in sightings or encounters. Sharks just don't need the accompanying hysteria when its whipped up by the media. Shark conservationists are having a tough enough job as is.
BTW: Regarding shark conservation, there is some interesting headway being made in Hong Kong, where Asian-based conservation groups are promoting anti-finning policies. Read the latest from The Daily Caller.
Here is an amusing article from Stuff, a new Zealand web paper, first brought to my attention by my friends at the SharkDiver blog. The writer is having fun with all the news media hysteria that seems to always erupt with every shark sighting.
With every discussion or screening/lecture I conduct, at some point I have to respond to an audience member's question about whether the oceans are safe. Out comes all the statistics to try to put it in perspective. It still seems to be a "built-in" nervous response with the general public caused by, on average, a half dozen shark-related fatalities worldwide each year. Then they all drive home on the freeways where 50,000 people are killed annually in the U.S. alone.
Here's a part of Linley Boniface's take on it:
Shark yarns make me yawn
Linley Boniface
The Dominion Post | Monday, 26 January 2009
I never thought I'd say this, but I am bored with sharks. This summer, it has been impossible to open a newspaper or turn on the TV without being subjected to yet another daring shark escape story.
On closer inspection, these yarns have invariably turned out to involve nothing more thrilling than an exceptionally timorous surfer paddling for safety after spotting a fishy shadow pottering quietly along the shoreline, minding its own business.
While sharks in Australia do, as the Australians rather wonderfully say, "take" the occasional swimmer, Kiwi sharks are about as predatory as a newborn ladybug.
Occasionally, a shark will accidentally graze a surfer's calf with a tooth, while yawning: cue national panic and the mass closure of beaches.
Silliest of the many absurd shark reports the media has pestered us with this summer was one from Radio New Zealand. The national broadcaster quoted Constable John Paul Tremain as urging people to stay away from beaches near Dunedin because a large shark had allegedly chased a couple of surfers from the water.
RNZ said Constable Tremain did not know the "exact size or breed of shark" - terrifying news in itself; someone is breeding the things! - but was convinced it was "lurking with intent". Lurking with intent? Intent to do what? The sea is where sharks live: sharks no more lurk in the sea than I lurk in my house.
I would have thought the fact that the shark didn't bother eating the two surfers was sufficient proof of its benevolent intentions, but it would have had to have been waving a white flag and making a peace sign with its dorsal fin to alleviate Constable Tremain's suspicions.
(Read complete article.)
It's too hot and sticky to write tonight. Here in Southern California, I'm tempted to draw a lukewarm bath and settle in to get some long-postponed reading done. While the east coast deals with the effects of a rare earthquake and Hurricane Irene as it slowly loses power but relentlessly churns its way along the eastern seaboard, the west coast is beset with high heat and humidity - up to 112 degrees in the northern inland valleys and the strong possibility of thunderstorms in the mountains, thanks to moisture drawn up from the south - which can bring the dual risks of flash floods or brush/forest fires.
With regards to recent shark sightings both here and off the coast of Massachusetts, these both could be, like the weather, statistical anomalies. It's certainly not unusual to have large sharks - typically great whites - cruising the California coast. Juveniles feed here and there can be lone adults looking to feed on seals or sea lions while others stick to the siren calls of migration - for San Diego, adults are often running south this time of year to Isla Guadalupe off Baja, Mexico.
