PERSPECTIVE 



Figure 5 Air view of the experimental shark facility at the Mote Marine Laboratory, 

 Sarasota, Fla. 



pales into insignificance when compared with other improbable accidents 

 such as death from lightning or from the sting of a wasp or a bee. But 

 shark attacks are gruesome, and the press frequently publicizes each gory 

 detail. 



While the news media unquestionably are culpable, public officials and 

 representatives of chambers of commerce who insist on ignoring and con- 

 cealing shark attacks are equally at fault. Until public officials in the 

 United States recognize the problem and act on it, as in Australia and 

 South Africa, our beaches will continue unpatrolled, our lifeguards will 

 be untrained in first aid for shark victims, and visitors will not even have 

 signs to alert them to the possible hazard. Bathers would feel far safer 

 and more reassured if they knew their beaches were patrolled and that 

 sensible precautionary measures were being taken by city officials to 

 reduce the shark hazard. Although sometimes costly and imperfect, many 

 methods to reduce the shark hazard exist (Springer and Gilbert 1963). 

 It would appear that chemical deterrents are impractical simply because 

 such vast quantities of material must be used to compensate for dilution 

 (Baldridge 1976). Physical devices hold greater promise as shark deter- 

 rents and a number of such devices are now available (Gilbert and Gilbert 



