SEA 



SCIENCE 



The most common 

 type of shark attack 

 is a "hit and run" 



in the surf zone 



with swimmers 

 and surfers as the 



normal target. 

 The victim seldom 



sees the attacker, 



Although the odds of a shark bite are low, a series of shark attacks last year in U.S. 

 waters created fear among beachgoers. 



The attacks, including one on the Outer Banks last fall, generated intense media 

 coverage that created the perception that 2001 was a banner year for shark attacks. 



However, Burgess says that data indicate that attack numbers for the United States 

 were almost identical to those of the previous year — 54 in 2000 and 55 in 2001. The 

 international total of 76 in 2001 was 1 1 percent lower than in 2000, when there were 85 

 attacks. More importantly, the number of serious attacks, as measured by the fatality rate, 

 was less than half of that over the last decade, says Burgess, a Florida Sea Grant researcher. 



"The number of shark attacks has been rising throughout the past century as a result of 

 human population growth and concurrent rises in aquatic recreation," says Burgess. "Greater 

 efficiency in ISAF recording in recent years also has contributed to rises in recorded attack 

 totals." 



East Coast Shark Populations 



Shark attacks also have been interlinked with fishery management and conservation 

 efforts. In 1993, NOAA Fisheries implemented a fishery management plan for sharks, which 

 set shark harvest limits in commercial and recreational fisheries. The plan also included data 

 collection programs, permitting and reporting requirements, bycatch reduction of sharks in 

 all fisheries, and promoting sea safety for shark fishers. The measures apply to sharks in the 

 Atlantic Ocean, Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea. 



"The East Coast shark population is not in recovery, based on NOAA Fisheries 1998 

 assessment," according to Margo Schulze-Haugen, fishery biologist in the Highly Migratory 

 Species Management Division of NOAA Fisheries headquarters. "The measures put into 

 effect will require 30 to 40 years to rebuild large coastal shark species." 



Because of severe biological limitations, shark populations grow slowly and reproduce 

 at low rates, according to Robert E. Hueter, director of the Center for Shark Research at 

 Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota, Fla. 



Sharks do not spawn thousands or millions of eggs like bony fish cousins. When they 

 reach adulthood — which may take a dozen years or more in some species — sharks mate 

 just like mammals, and the females get pregnant and carry their growing young inside them. 



"So in many ways, sharks reproduce more like ourselves than the other fishes," says 

 Hueter. "And unlike other fishes, sharks cannot produce lots of young quickly to replenish 

 an area depleted by overfishing. When sharks are overfished, the stocks can remain in a 

 depleted state for decades after fishing has ceased, simply because it takes that long for these 

 animals to grow and produce a new generation." 



NOAA and the Panama City Laboratory's Shark Population Assessment Group at the 

 U.S. Department of Commerce have extensive shark population data. 



Sharks, which are "top predators," play an important role in the ocean and are typically 

 at the top of marine food webs. 



"This ecological role of sharks in the oceans is very important, similar to that of the big 

 predators on land," says Hueter, past president of the American Elasmobranch Society. "As 

 top predators, sharks affect all the levels below them, and there are few other species that 

 can take their place if sharks are removed." 



Numerous Shark Species 



More than 400 different species of sharks inhabit the world's oceans. 



In North Carolina, more than 50 species are known to swim in estuaries and ocean 



28 HIGH SEASON 2002 



