Shark!

As you have probably already heard, tragedy struck today when two young girls swimming one hundred yards offshore on “boogie boards” were attacked by a shark off of Florida’s gulf coast.

One of the girls later died at the hospital—the cause of death as yet to be announced. My guess was that it was probably drowning or massive loss of blood.

This was the first time someone has been killed by a shark in this part of the Florida Panhandle in over 20 years, but a few people get bitten swimming in the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf waters off of Florida every year.

According to the Florida Museam of Natural History Ichthyology Department Web site, there were over 50,000,000 visitors to Florida in 2001, but less than 40 shark attacks world wide and less than 5 attacks in the entire state of Florida that same year.

Based on these numbers, it seems to me that the odds are more in your favor for having a safe beach trip rather than favoring the sharks getting a large, suntain oil covered and bikini clad hor'dourve...

I guess the statistic that does the most for me is this one: According to the International Shark Attack File, between 1580 and 2003 there were only 1,909 confirmed shark attacks and 456 confirmed deaths due to sharks around the world.

Not a bad statistic for a period extending over 423 years.

Remember that we kill over 40,000 people in this country each year in automobile accidents?

More good news is that no one (OK practically no one) ever actually gets EATEN by a shark unless you like to spend your time hanging out on the chilly southernmost South American or South Africa beaches during seal calving season or you earn a whole bunch of frequent flyer miles making trips necessiary to surf and/or dive on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef.

The bad news is that, if you’re in the wrong place at the wrong time, a shark can cause a serious injury to you and possibly take your life.

The infamous Great White Shark is usually the culprit of the true man eating shark stories. An occasional Tiger and Bull Shark also makes an occasional deadly snack of a human every now and then on international and domestic beaches—usually near deep waters.

What sharks normally do here in the coastal waters of the southeastern US is get confused looking at a swimmer thrashing around in murky or otherwise less than clear water, take a sample bite, and you (the victim) run to the hospital and the media hyperventilates endlessly, until some other newsworthy event occurs.

This recent shark bite story strikes very close to home for me personally because I spent many of the spring and fall weekends and some summer weeks of my youth camping in my parent’s motor home at the Holiday Travel Park in Destin, Florida adjacent to where this death occurred.

Back in that period, 1972 to 1977, I spent hours and hours swimming in the surf and wandering the adjacent dunes of this formerly rural campground. I’m a beach bum today as direct result of my beach bum training received in those glorious days before all of the dang Yankees and the rest of the world discovered Destin, Florida.

I heard a local Walton County official today say in a TV interview that sharks are a rarity in the Florida Panhandle area, using as his reference the shark attack and death statistics.

BULLSHIT—the sharks are out there—they just don’t intentionally want to EAT you!

As proof of the sharks' presence in these waters I offer the fact that almost every single charter boat captain on the Florida Panhandle makes nightly shark fishing trips. On these trips they attract their prey by putting out "chum" consisting of bloody fish pieces and parts into the water, within a few miles offshore—sometimes within hundreds of yards—of the very beaches that their beloved tourists are sunning and swimming on during the day.

Let me tell you this: they don't come home empty handed--they catch a boat load of sharks each and every night within a few miles of where this 14 year old girl died.

As I said before, THE SHARKS ARE OUT THERE, PEOPLE, just like the stray dogs, feral cats, raccoons, and ‘possums are out there wandering around your neighborhood and wrecking your back yard trashcans each night.

In support of my beliefs about sharks generally benign behavior, let me tell you a quick story.

Labor Day weekend of 1997 I took a diving trip to Walkers Cay Bahamas. The trip consisted of a low altitude air trip across the Gulf Stream from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida to Walkers Cay aboard an old 1948 vintage Grumman Albatross Seaplane. We did a really cool landing on the water, taxied up the ramp to the "palm tree roofed customs office," and spent three days diving, eating, and drinking.

I will never forget the experience. Although the operation has changed somewhat, I hope to do it again soon.

Two of our dives were in 30’ of water in what they call the Shark Dive Rodeo.

Imagine jumping off the back of a big boat in order to witness a two foot cube of frozen fish parts, suspended by a buoy in the water, surrounded by 150 sharks of all species and sizes(Bulls, Carribbean Reef, Black Tips, & Nurse Sharks), and hundreds of other fish (Groupers, sea bass, etc.) all happily eating while sixty or seventy divers swam around—no nets or protective clothing—watching and photographing the proceedings.

Not one single diver got bit.

Not one single diver got killed.

Instead of fearing sharks, I say that you should be worrying about the idiot driving the car in the lane next to you tomorrow morning on your way to the store to buy a newspaper and a cup of coffee.

It’s just that simple...