Ode to Shark-infested Waters

As I sat down to write this last week, a brave 13-year-old boy was fighting for his life at Rady Children’s Hospital after being attacked by a shark in Encinitas the weekend before last as he intrepidly dove for lobster during the season opener. Gratefully, he has since been released and is now predicted to make a full recovery. But how can we as San Diegans handle our trepidation about entering the ocean again after such an attack?

Humans do have a place in the ocean. If we separate people from the sea, the oceans will lose their greatest advocates.

Time after time following a well-publicized shark attack, we hear the same refrain from the army of couch surfers: “If you want to go swimming, go to the pool,” or, “People don’t belong in the ocean – sharks do.” I even read a comment in response to a social media news thread about the above-mentioned shark attack that “people should stay out of the sea” and, “If you want to see sea lions, go to Sea World.”

I wonder how detached some of these people have become from their natural world. They also seem to extend their armchair judgments to hikers, backpackers, and other adventurers if some accident befalls them, as if Humankind’s place is in the Mall. We ourselves are animals – a fact some people seem to have forgotten.

For many people, the draw to the ocean feels as strong as the urge to breathe – indeed, exposure to the natural outdoors and to the ocean confers health benefits which are undeniable, both psychological as well as physiological. But let’s not forget the fact that the people entering the ocean – exploring it, enjoying it, and yes, treasuring it – also become advocates for the sea.

Ask yourself: who is the first to put their time, money, and energy behind beach clean-ups and legislation to protect our ocean wildlife? The surfers. The divers. And it’s not just to beautify their favorite hang-out. It’s because the more time you spend in a place, the more invested you become in it, and to the locals. And by “locals” I mean the fish, the sea lions, and the plethora of other animals observed there every day.

If you spend time in nature observing animals, you’ll notice fascinating behaviors. Yes, you might get hurt now and then – stung, bitten, cold, or tossed by the waves. But it will all be worth it when you connect with an animal in a meaningful or amusing way – even once – or observe something spectacular you thought you’d only see on a nature program.

The idea that humans can be the oceans’ greatest champions is not unlike the fact that hunters are the greatest conservationists of our national parks and wilderness. Hunters preserve the wilderness not only with their funds (taken in the form of hunting licenses and tags, which form the single largest financial contribution to the maintenance of our parks), but also with their activism. Without their passionate participation, much of our protected wilderness would have disappeared by now.

Now even if we know that we should be in the water, what to do about our fear?

Statistically, the odds of you being attacked by a shark are extremely slim.

Your likelihood of being killed by shark is said to be one in 8 million, and as outlandish as those stats sound, when you think about the number of people who visit San Diego’s beaches every year (over 8 million by conservative estimates from the year 2000) it actually is that unlikely. Your likelihood of being killed by an asteroid is much more likely at a distant one-in-1.6 million, yet the fear of shark attack seems to loom larger than it should in our minds.

Since 1908, there have been two fatal shark attacks in San Diego County: one in 1959 in La Jolla Cove on a man freediving for abalone named Robert Pamperin, aged 33, and one in 2008 in Solana Beach on open-water swimmer Dave Martin, aged 66. That’s two in the 110 years we’ve been keeping records, and we can assume a percentage of annual beach visitors in the roughly 8 million-range as measured in the year 2000. You can see where I’m going with this. 

There have been other close calls which have not resulted in fatalities, including the San Onofre attack on Leanne Ericson in relatively shallow water in 2017, which she barely survived – as well as non-life-threatening encounters such as the bite a spear fisherman sustained in 2011 in La Jolla by a sevengill shark, and by a kayaker who reported an “aggressive” encounter with a hammerhead shark off of La Jolla Shores in 2015; but even with these encounters taken into account, the number of people experiencing a dangerous encounter with a shark in San Diego is statistically nil. These stories are notable and memorable simply because of their rarity.

According to Business Insider, here are some things with much greater odds of killing you than a shark attack, and they are based on good hard numbers from the year 2013 which were analyzed and presented by the CDC in 2016:

• Stinging by hornets, wasps, and bees — 1 in 309,000 (can we please omit bees from this stat?)
  
• Lightning — 1 in 174,000
• Earthquake — 1 in 130,000
• Dog attack — 1 in 115,000 (my own son was literally bitten last weekend at the park, so yes I know that any of these events will feel extremely likely and common if they’ve actually happened to you)
• Bicycling — 1 in 4,340
• Choking on food — 1 in 3,410
• Fire or smoke — 1 in 1,450
• Poisoning (liquid, gas, and solid) — 1 in 1,360
• Drowning — 1 in 1,180
• Motorcycle — 1 in 949
• Murder — 1 in 249
• Falling — 1 in 133
• Any motor vehicle incident — 1 in 113
• Suicide — 1 in 98
• Kidney disease — 1 in 85
• Influenza + pneumonia — 1 in 70
• Diabetes — 1 in 53
• Stroke — 1 in 31
• Cancer — 1 in 7
• Heart disease — 1 in 7

So we should really be watching our cholesterol, getting our flu shot, and driving very slowly and defensively. Now that we’ve looked at what should scare us instead of the threat of shark attack, how do we explain why we have this irrational fear?

Our fear of predatory animals is hard-wired into our brains.

Our deep-seated fears of certain animals are thanks to our limbic system, which comprises our primitive brain and helps us to survive from dangers known to our species for thousands of years: namely, predators, or animals with life-threatening natural defenses. Our limbic system is also what’s responsible for our fear of snakes and spiders, and although we can work past that fear and still handle non-venomous snakes or rescue the occasional house spider, we still have that split-second flinching response which activates in the first moment we set eyes on these animals.

Since humans actually do have a long history of diving into bodies of water like oceans or lakes for various resources, it has served us well from a survival standpoint to fear animals such as alligators… and large sharks. The mammalian dive reflex is a holdover from our water-borne evolutionary ancestors, and it is the reason why some people today are able to spend many minutes submerged underwater like sea lions do.

All of this said, in this day and age shark attacks on human beings are incredibly rare – indeed I have personally gone out many times actively looking for sharks (not usually the dangerous kind, but still) and they are not easy to find even when you’re looking for them. Even when you’re chumming for them! That gives me an overwhelming sense of ease in the water, and it should you, too.

So: get back in the water!

Enjoy all that San Diego has to offer, especially the best part: our oceans and beaches.

If you really want to play it safe statistically, abide by the following:

• Stick to the shallows of our calmest beaches. Calmer beaches tend to have a more gradual entry point into the water resulting in less violent wave breaks. Mission Bay is the calmest because no waves break into the Bay. Coronado and La Jolla Shores can also be calm due to their long, even beaches. This also makes threats in the water more easily-observable by lifeguards.
• Swim near a lifeguard stand. Our local lifeguards are the best in the world and they are constantly looking for threats in the water – especially the truly dangerous ones you might not be focused on, such as rip currents and sets of higher-breaking, more powerful waves.
• Don’t swim alone. I hate this rule and break it all the time, but if you are nervous, simply go with a friend. Having someone with you will definitely put your mind at ease and be a great help if you do run into any trouble.
• Swim in the middle of the day. I love nothing more than a crack-of-dawn or sunset swim, but the truth is that the visibility isn’t as good as when the sun is overhead, and many believe that sharks prefer to hunt at dawn or dusk. If you’re a nervous swimmer, swim at mid-day.
• Avoid fishing areas, or swimming near spear-fishermen. Some of the close-calls noted above were by fishermen who believe that the blood of their catch drew in a hungry shark. Some even claim that some smart sharks like sevengills respond even to the sound of a speargun going off, even when it hasn’t made contact with a fish. They liken the noise to a “dinner bell.” Locally, you can stick to areas which comprise our La Jolla Underwater Marine Park + Ecological Reserve, where no fishing is allowed (and I feel like the fish know it!)
• Stick to busy areas. Sharks and most marine animals are skittish themselves around a lot of people. Swim around others and you’re not only less likely to run into a shark – you’re also less likely to step on a stingray, which can give you a painful sting!

Another thing that you should always do before heading to the beach is to check conditions. I keep the following on my bookmarks bar, and check them all before heading down to the beach:

• The Del Mar/ La Jolla SwellWatch site – designed for surfers to find the best waves and enjoyed by me to find the least waves for the best snorkeling. You’re going to want to see a lot of dark blues on this to feel safe going in as a beginner, but rogue sets are always possible so always ask a lifeguard if it’s safe to go in.
• The La Jolla/Scripps Pier Tide Chart. I love watching to see when it will be high or low tide! It also shows swells, so you can compare with the site above. They often differ a bit.
• Scripps Pier/La Jolla Surf Report + Forecast. Combines a lot of the features of the above two sites and also tries to forecast farther out, which is nice for planning purposes. But I would still check the day before and the morning of. 
• … and just as a big fat bonus because I’m such a visual person, I love to check:
• the Cove Cam at La Jolla Cove Hotel & Suites. Because I want to see what’s going on there RIGHT NOW. 

It is worth noting that the boy attacked a couple of weekends ago was quoted as saying that he “can’t wait to get back in the water,” and to his mother, “Mom, the chances are so much more slim on the second bite.” What a kid!

Thanks for reading, and I hope to see you out in the water soon. xx