Shark “Infested” Waters makes me angry

There is a story of a young man in the Bahamas falling off a dock and getting bitten by a shark. Unfortunately, reporters want to call the water “shark infested.” 

Let’s be clear: Sharks live there! The waters are not infested by sharks. 

This story is better than most. The anchor calls it shark-filled water. 

24-year-old speaks out after falling into shark-filled marina: 'I got very lucky

First, I am glad the young man is okay. He has a couple scars but otherwise seems to be fine. It could have been a lot worse. I will try not to make jokes about his name being Marlin. Literally. 

I’ll also compliment him on his reaction. He is saying sharks are apex predators and they just did what they do. He isn’t blaming the sharks or saying we should kill them or anything stupid like that. 

Consider the situation for a minute. Fishing boats come in with their catch. The fishermen clean the fish and then throw what is left into the water. 

They have trained the sharks that there is free food available. 

When he fell into the water, the sharks did what they have been trained to do — probably over years. 

I haven’t been there, but I doubt the sharks stay around the dock. They likely just respond to the sound of the boat’s engines. I have seen that happen in areas where there are shark dives for divers. The sharks respond to the sound of the boat engines and show up at the sandy area wanting snacks. 

I see no difference between that and when I shake the treat box and my cats come running to the kitchen. 

There are people that are deathly afraid of sharks and can’t understand why divers would even want to be in the water with them. 

If you feel that way, I highly recommend following Cristina Zenato on social media. She is known as the shark whisperer. (I’ve met her in passing, but I can’t claim to be friends or anything. I have nothing but respect for her work, though.)

She dives with sharks and thinks of them as her children. It is pretty amazing to watch. She’s in the Bahamas, too, by the way. 

In short, we are coming into the summer season. Millions of people will head to the beaches. There will be a few shark encounters. A few people will get hurt. 

According to the International Shark Attack File “the 2023 worldwide total of 69 confirmed unprovoked cases is in line with the most recent five-year (2018-2022) average of 63 incidents annually. There were 14 confirmed shark-related fatalities this year, ten of which are assigned as unprovoked. This number is higher than the five-year annual global average of six unprovoked fatalities per year. Three of the unprovoked fatalities were due to bites from white sharks on surfers in Australia.”

Remember, that’s worldwide. 

In the United States last year, there were 36 incidents and two were fatal. 

Considering the number of people playing and splashing around on the beaches, I feel like we are lucky there aren’t more. 

You could easily call the coastal waters at the beach human-infested and not be exaggerating. 

To try to teach kids that sharks aren’t scary, I included a story about sharks in my children’s chapter book. 

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