Sharks, the unknown frontier

Shark attacks is serious news. Any news of a shark attack creates instant panic and over reaction.
Recently a surfer died after an attack off Port St Johns in Kwazulu- Natal, South Africa. Shark attacks createa fear that is not rivaled by much else, even spiders.
Sadly films like Jaws and numerous other scare films that have been made to prey on our fear of all things shark. Their portrayal of sharks as evil human mass murderers,  further reinforces this fear. It also creates an image of a shark as a silent serial killer, lurking in the depths, waiting for a human to enter his dark world so that he can attack and kill the helpless victim.

As is a terrible human trait- we tend to ignore little things like the facts. Annually there are between 60-80 unprovoked shark attacks worldwide. Now that is WORLDWIDE for those who missed it! Most do not result in death.
To put this in perspective, so far this year alone some 40 people have drowned off South African beaches alone. Yet people still flock to the sea like summer birds. We do not ban cars or driving, yet tens of thousands die from motor vehicle accidents. Yet after a shark attack there is over-reaction, fear panic and sadly some call for revenge hunting.

Not only are our chances of being attacked really tiny, but we also have to look at our own actions. In this case, the water appears to have been warm and murky. A couple of reasons water could be murky- due to rains inland, the rivers wash down dirt and pollution into the sea, thus causing sharks to seek food. The second could be pollution from a sewage plant, which would attract shark attention as well. I am guessing of course as I am not there to investigate myself. The point though, is humans will jump into the water, no matter what it looks like. Often swimmers enter the water bleeding or hurt themselves on rocks whilst swimming- blood attracts sharks, as does urine, as it contains traces of blood. So that innocent wee in the sea, could be a large HI I AM HERE to a shark's senses.
Furthermore, thanks to scuba diving and other shark related adventures, humans and sharks are interacting more. This gives humans a false sense of security and often divers see sharks as playthings- and when the shark retaliates, the diver is suddenly innocent. They are wild animals and should be respected from a distance.

Now, if you are reading this and are on the other side- if you have gills and a large dorsal fin, then I am sure you have more reason to hear the pink fish wanna be amphibious creatures than they do you. Millions of sharks are killed each year by humans. There is no comparison between how many people sharks take compared to what we are doing to their numbers. Human greed is probably the most destructive force on the planet.

Sharks are not just killing machines, but highly developed apex predators who have over millions of years, become close to perfect hunters. Often their prey is selective and lucky for humans, we are not on the menu. Due to a shark not having hands, it must bit to explore and in doing so, damages whoever it bites.   If sharks wanted to kill humans, there would be hundreds if not thousands more shark related deaths and due to the sharks being made for the ocean (unlike us), there would be very few who make it out alive. Point is- there is not. We have little to fear from sharks and they should be respected as when we jump with abandon into the sea, we are in their domain and we should not only respect that, we should respect ALL sea creatures.