How Do You Fight Off A Shark?

Sydney Morning Herald

Friday January 16, 2009

RICHARD MACEY

IT'S summer - and that means sandflies, sunburn and shark scares at our beaches.

Taronga Zoo's curator of the Australian Shark Attack File, John West, says 1.2 people are killed on average every year by sharks in Australian waters. And while not fatal, there were three attacks in two days this week.

Australia's first recorded fatal shark attack happened in 1791, when an Aboriginal woman was bitten in half in water off the North Shore.

Since then, West says, about 200 people have been killed. But we are far more likely to be killed by the water than any predator swimming in it. According to the Royal Life Saving Society, 261 people drowned around Australia in 2007-2008.

Indeed, Australians are about twice as likely to be killed by bees as by sharks. And when a shark does attack, global records suggest, 70 per cent of people survive.

West offers some simple survival rules. "If a shark attack is imminent, try to keep the shark in sight and move away as quietly as possible." Thrashing about in the water, shouting "Shark! Shark!" may only attract more interest. "They are very inquisitive and they will swim over to see what it is."

According to one popular theory, if a shark does latch on to you, you should punch it on the snout or gouge at its eyes. "It may assist," West says. "It has worked in a number of limited cases."

Or at least, it has according to those who have tried it and lived.

Survival may depend more on the type of shark that chomps into you. Fatal attacks, West says, are more likely to involve great whites (in southern Australia), tiger sharks (in northern Australia) and bull sharks.

While 20 per cent of Australian attacks involve wobbegongs, none have been lethal.

"They are angry little buggers," West says.

A better strategy than fighting a shark is avoiding areas where they congregate. Swim in groups. The "washing machine effect" of several people in the water together may discourage predators. And don't swim in dirty water. "You can't see the shark but it can sense you."