Column: Are shark 'attacks' on the rise in unusual waters?
This past week I received three emails from readers. All were wondering why sharks were attacking humans so much this summer.
After all, this problem didn’t seem to be present in previous years, at least not in these numbers of reported shark bites. So what gives?
As most of us have noticed due to all the television, radio and newspaper articles, this year, there has been a larger number of shark “attacks.” They are being reported from all over New York and other Atlantic coast states, as well as California’s beaches. And it is causing a lot of concern, especially among beach goers, beach shops, restaurant owners, charter boat operators, life guards and many other people.
What in the world is going on?
Well, there are many possible answers to this problem, but two stand out in my mind. The first is that, for the past decade or a little longer, sharks have received far more protection than in many years before.
I can remember fishing in the lower Chesapeake Bay as a teenager and seeing a few sharks every August. They were few and far between back then, mainly because so many anglers would just kill them when caught.
And shark’s fin hunters have virtually disappeared due to more recent and more stringent regulations requiring shark’s meat as well as fins be on board when the boats reached the docks and could face official inspection.
With the increased regulations, and enforcement, I believe sharks are responding accordingly with more baby sharks that are having a better chance to survive to a size where they are taking bigger and bigger fish to eat. And, from what I can gather, this shark explosion is happening in almost every ocean, the Indian Ocean being the only apparent exception.
When sharks are on the prowl for fish near shore, they often do so in murky water. Their eyesight is already poor, and they rely on their nose as well as nerve “sensors” located around their nose and mouth.
But those tools are anything but reliable, causing the sharks to nip or bite potential food in order to determine its desirability as possible food.
When humans are swimming nearby they are “targets” to be examined, and they get “tasted” just like a passing bluefish, striped bass, or other desirable fish (or seals) species (to sharks).
The second reason for sharks surviving in greater numbers is the protection afforded to the North American seal and sea lion populations, which are exploding in many areas.
Canada already had a severe over-population of fur seals. When the seal protectionist raised a ruckus over the hunters clubbing so many of the baby seals for their pelts, laws were passed that virtually eliminated all seal hunting.
The only exception was for indigenous peoples, and they were prohibited from selling more than a permitted number of pup pelts.
As a direct result of that fact, sharks are “hunting” those critters, especially the youngsters. And people along the coast from Maine to Virginia, are seeing more seals along their coast, some of those individuals for the first time.
A retired agent and a good friend spent two weeks on the Massachusetts coast and lost track of the number of seals, both juveniles and adults, that he and his wife observed. He also observed the fins of two sharks.
He believes that one was a Sand Tiger shark, a fish that rarely goes north of the Chesapeake Bay. The other was, in his opinion, a bull shark, one of the five known species of “man-killers,” and that rarely venture that far north as well.
This “plague” of shark “attacks” is also happening to a lesser degree on the west coast. And the same essential facts apply.
Sea lions have received a lot more protection, and their numbers have been increasing. Just recently, visitors to the primary sea lion beach in California were sent scrambling when two bulls got irritated with people encroaching on their “territories.”
And sharks appear to be getting more active just off-shore, possibly in anticipation of the juvenile sea lions that will soon be learning how to swim in those waters.
This, of course, is supposition on my part, but time will tell if shark attacks continue to rise.
Mental strength in numbers?
It seems I almost always get questions on my dumb crooks columns whenever I run into one of my readers.
So, while thinking of job security, here is another installment for your reading pleasure.
Three guys went-a-poaching, and killed a doe that was standing just a few feet from a farmer's barn. A nearby bowhunter observed what had occurred, and yelled at the poachers.
His yelling apparently scared them away. They then went to where two of their friends were hunting, explained the situation, and agreed to return for the deer. One of the five was sent home to establish an alibi for all five, and the other four went back for the deer.
The witness was still there, and he again yelled at them. And again they drove off, leaving the deer behind. The witness then went to his neighbor's house. The neighbor happened to be an off-duty state trooper.
The trooper went to the barn and waited. Sure enough the four individuals returned a third time, moved quickly to retrieve the deer, and were caught red handed (literally) by the officer.
The subsequent investigation into this matter revealed a number of other violations. Earlier on that same day one of the five had shot a buck and used an illegal (last year's) tag on it. And one of the five was a convicted felon illegally in possession of a firearm.
A dozen tickets were eventually issued, and the felon went to jail for his transgressions.
Hot on the trail, literally
A person who shoots an illegal doe deer would not put it into his trunk and then drive directly to his residence when an irate farmer's truck was just a few feet behind his rear bumper, would he?
Well, one did. And apparently the poacher did not even notice the farmer tailing him.
But the farmer, who returned home and called the local conservation officer, got the last laugh. When he and the officer returned to the poacher's home they found him inside the garage dressing out the deer.
He got tickets for the illegal deer and trespassing on private posted property, and he later got two convictions in local court.
The great pumpkin caper
Two conservation officers, returning from a night fish detail along the Salmon River, observed a pickup truck in a farm field. It was operating in a suspicious manner, with its lights being turned on and off and individuals running around it.
Then it began leaving the field, turning on the lights only to ensure nothing was in the way but mostly running without lights. The officers stopped it as it reached the gate, and while they didn't find a poached deer, they did find 20 large pumpkins in the bed.
The pumpkin thieves were arrested for larceny and criminal trespass, and turned over to the state police.
Len Lisenbee is the Daily Messenger's Outdoor Columnist. Contact him at lisenbee@frontiernet.net
This article originally appeared on MPNnow: Column: Are shark 'attacks' on the rise in unusual waters?
