Summer of Shark - more soundbite than real teeth?
Date: 04-Sep-01
Country: USA
Author: Angus MacSwan
The United States traditionally marks the end of summer at the Labor Day weekend. Although sharks are not thought to change their behavior after the holidays, shark watchers do expect some of the hysteria over attacks to die down now.
"It's not like it's been an outstanding year - it's been an average year," said George Burgess, director of the International Shark Attack File at the University of Florida.
"The main thing is we had two or three high-profile attacks ... that kind of got the media's attention very quickly. It had a life of its own."
Sharks hit the headlines more this year than any time since the 1975 movie "Jaws" filled beach-goers with trepidation. Time magazine ran a cover story headlined "Summer of the Shark."
In fact, worldwide, only one death from a shark attack, in Brazil, has been reported so far this year compared to an average of eight per year in the past 11 years, Burgess said.
Shark File figures record 48 attacks worldwide so far this year. Of these, 37 were in the United States, including 20 in Volusia County and eight elsewhere in Florida.
Last year in total 84 were recorded, including 53 in the United States, 37 of those in Florida. The final 2001 toll will likely be about the same, Burgess said.
Still, those statistics are little comfort to young Jessie Arbogast and Wall Street investor Krishna Thompson, who suffered terrible agony and horror.
Eight-year-old Jessie was grabbed by a shark off Pensacola, Florida, in July. It tore off his arm and ripped a chunk from his leg. His uncle dragged the shark to shore and prompt medical attention saved the boy's life. His arm was retrieved from the gullet of the shark and reattached but Jessie remains in a very delicate condition.
A few weeks later New Yorker Thompson, who was on a romantic holiday with his wife in the Bahamas, was attacked while swimming off the shores of a resort. He struggled back to the beach, his leg mauled, and was evacuated to a Miami hospital where surgeons amputated the limb.
Although witnesses say lifeguards at the Our Lucaya resort saved his life, Thompson and his wife Avemaria have consulted with celebrity lawyer Johnnie Cochran about suing the resort.
Following the two attacks, TV crews hired helicopters to film a shark congregation and staked out Florida beaches. Sharks obliged by biting six people over one weekend during a surfing competition in Volusia County on the Atlantic Ocean. The beaches have since been closed intermittently.
Volusia has been dubbed "shark capital of the world." Most incidents occur at Ponce Inlet, popular with surfers for its waves and sharks for the baitfish that gather there.
The county Beach Services point out that 10 million visitors come to its 47 miles (76 km) of beaches each year so a few incidents are inevitable.
"Unfortunately the greater public does not understand the difference between a shark attack and a bite ... often it's no worse than a dog bite, it's not life threatening, no limb is lost, we'll treat them on the beach and they can go home," Beach Patrol Deputy Chief Joe Wooden told Reuters.
Huge crowds were expected at the beach over the holiday weekend and airborne spotters were checking the area for sharks, who would probably score a few nibbles, he said.
"After Labor Day we'll have less people in the water so we'll see a drop off in incidents," Wooden said.
Shark experts, while expressing sympathy for the victims, say there is no evidence sharks are becoming more vicious or that the rate of attacks is going up. The simplest explanation is that more people than ever are taking to the water for fun and sport. The chances of attack are "infinitesimally low," Burgess said.
"It was really the Summer of the Shark story," said Sam Gruber, a marine biology professor at the University of Miami. "And it was a compelling story."
Gov. Jeb Bush accused the media shark coverage of feeding "24-hour, seven-days-a-week cable" and harming tour
