Wouldn’t you know it, I decide to take a few days off BW and go to the beach sans camera, only to discover all kind of activity.
A man had been bitten by a shark just around the point from where we usually swim and paddle. So I grabbed a little footage and have a belated report for you, with a somewhat timeless question. How does “group mind” affect you? Have you stopped to wonder how you would feel about sharks if there were no scary shark movies? Yes, they do sometimes eat humans. But ever so rarely.
Here’s the story about Harvey Miller in the local paper.
Here’s the BW episode about the hammerhead shark.
Hawaiian Word:
Manō: shark
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In the beginning of this I was thinking, people should just always swim with a thick rib eye, in case a nearby shark is hungry. But- only one attack in 50 years?!! There’s really no reason that should cause fear in anyone!!
I found it very powerful to see the image of the warning sign at the beginning, and then see you swimming with a smile at the end of the episode. For me, this demonstrated and anchored what you said so beautifully.
There’s nothing to worry about guys .. not likely to happen.
General information about shark attack fatalities
This article is in response to being often asked if sharks should be killed or swimming areas fenced off because they pose a threat to humans.
When we read or hear about someone being attacked by a shark it has a very emotive affect on most of us, but It is important to put this issue in perspective.
A few facts
In the USA in the 30 years 1970-2000 ~ 12 people died from shark attacks, in this same period ~ 1,500 people died from lighting strikes in coastal regions. These figures are only from coastal regions so as not to inflate the number of deaths from lighting strikes.
Each year worldwide there are ~ 10 deaths attributable to shark attacks compared with ~ 150 deaths worldwide caused by falling coconuts.
More people each year are killed by elephants, crocodiles, bees, and wars and many other dangers that confront us, than by sharks.
Compare the number of deaths by shark attack with death as the result of a motor vehicle accident.
Remember there are ~10 deaths attributable to shark attacks worldwide.
USA – ~45,000 deaths by motor vehicle (pop ~250 million)
Thailand – ~ 60,000 deaths by motor vehicle (pop ~60 million)
Australia – ~ 3,000 deaths by motor vehicle (pop ~20 million)
Now go paddle with no fear.
Cheers Rambo
The perspective stuff is all true, but it doesn’t lessen your awareness out in the surf these days. I just spent a week on the North Carolina coast near Cape Fear where there were two shark attacks in two days. No one was killed, but you can bet that we were looking around pretty good while in the water the rest of the week!
You have all pointed out the difference between how emotion works vs data. Data (mahalo Rambo!) is more accurate but it’s hard to find a place for it sometimes, because emotion is just so durn compelling! I too have been more watchful on my swims, though really look forward to that “hypervigilance” fading away again soon.
@Bonny – your ribeye idea? Too funny!