Ricardo F. Colmenero

Updated Monday, February 5, 2024-15:04

You may have heard that it is easier to win the lottery than to die eaten by a shark. Well, you should know that it depends on the lottery, since if it is the Euromillion, with a probability in 139 million, the sharks win outright, with

one in 4.3 million.

The International Shark Attack File (ISAF) at the University of Florida, the largest scientific database on shark attacks in the world, has just released data for 2023, confirming the trend that sharks are buying more ballots.

The figure for 2023 has risen to

69 unprovoked attacks

, compared to the 63 average over the last five years. But above all, the death toll rises to ten, compared to an average of five in recent years. "This year's death toll is disconcerting," said Gavin Naylor, director of the shark research program at the Florida Museum of Natural History. And despite this they believe that the attacks are many more: "Our information from Third World countries is especially poor, and in other parts

a great effort is sometimes made to keep them secret, for fear of bad publicity

."

The number of fatalities recorded in Australia has been described by experts as "disproportionate", since

with only 22% of the attacks, it recorded almost half of the deaths.

It is followed by two USA, and then with a Bahamas, Mexico, New Caledonia and Egypt, with that 24-year-old Russian tourist, whom the entire planet could see on social networks being devoured by a tiger shark when he was bathing in the tourist paradise of Hurghada . In the same scenario, in 2022, an Austrian woman died in another attack, even though she managed to swim to shore without an arm and a leg.

To know more

Environment.

"You are more likely to die from a bee sting than a shark attack."

  • Editorial: EFE (DAVID VILLODRES) Malaga

"You are more likely to die from a bee sting than a shark attack."

International.

Teenager dies in Australia from shark attack

  • Editorial: REUTERS / EFE

Teenager dies in Australia from shark attack

"These predation events are extremely rare. The geomorphology of the Red Sea means that very large fish are juxtaposed with tourists diving and enjoying their holidays.

Oceanic sharks are seen just 200 meters from the beach, when normally you have to travel 20 miles to find one

," notes Naylor. "These animals are used to living in a food desert, so when they find something, they're going to try it."

Although only three species share the majority of attacks: the white shark (

Carcharodon carcharias

), the tiger shark (

Galeocerdo cuvier

) and the bull shark (

Carcharhinus leucas

), the truth is that, according to researchers, "almost any large shark , approximately two meters, is a potential threat to humans."

Historically, the mortality rate was much higher, but the ease of arrival of emergency services and better treatments has managed to reduce a figure that is now skyrocketing again.

The explanation, for researchers, could not be simpler: there are more people in the water

, it is not that sharks have become more dangerous. "Increased human activity in sharks' natural habitats naturally leads to an increase in the number of encounters with these animals," says Joe Miguez, a doctoral student in the Florida Shark Research Program.

But it's not just that the bass drum with which we play with the sharks has more balls. Almost all attacks tend to occur during the summers of the northern and southern hemispheres, when the species are most active, and climate change has given us increasingly longer summers. "It's very scary, but the reality is that you are putting

many more people as bait

on a hot day ," says Naylor.

Although there is a whole list of recommendations to avoid attacks, from the smell of sunscreen to the color of swimsuits, ISAF can only offer three scientifically proven recommendations:

swim near the coast, do not swim at dawn or dusk, and avoid excess splash.

Balearic blue shark injured by hooks. Marilles Foundation

It's also a good idea not to be an Australian surfer.

They alone account for 42% of the bites.

"If a white shark is going after a seal and the seal knows it, the white shark doesn't stand a chance," Naylor said. "Seals are very agile, so the only ones they catch are the ones fooling around, circling the surface. Well, that's what a surfer does."

In the case of the US,

the improvement in water quality

during the last two decades in the surroundings of New York has also played a determining role. Larger fish are being observed off the coast, such as whales, dolphins, and of course sharks. This fueled bites this summer, including the first known shark attack in New York City in more than half a century.

While ISAF documents and investigates all bites, the annual report focuses on unprovoked attacks. When

a shark found in its natural habitat attacks without any human provocation.

"We are biologists and we want to understand the natural behavior of animals, not unnatural behavior," Naylor said.

Costa Rica, Colombia, Brazil, New Zealand, Seychelles, Turks and Caicos Islands, Ecuador (in the Galapagos Islands) and South Africa recorded numerous non-fatal bites, on a map in which this year Rabdells de Oliva beach has appeared, in Valencia, where last August a swimmer was bitten by a blue shark, which forced the beach to close. "

I didn't even have time to get scared

, I saw a shadow, I noticed a blow on my left leg and then a bite on my right foot," said the victim.

It is the classic attack. What experts call, "hit and run", and usually happens to surfers.

The victim rarely sees his attacker and the shark does not return after inflicting a single bite

. They are test bites, which occur when a shark mistakenly identifies a human as its preferred prey. In most cases, this is a shark visibility issue, caused by water quality or a hostile physical environment such as breaking waves. "A shark feeding in this habitat must make quick decisions, and it is not surprising that they can confuse a human with their normal prey," the researchers note. When this happens, the shark usually swims away after a single bite. However, some species such as white and tiger sharks are large enough that even a single bite can be fatal.

Injuries are usually limited to small lacerations, usually on the leg below the knee, and are rarely life-threatening.

The one in Oliva is the twelfth time that Spain has entered the ISAF. A surfer attacked by a white shark in Tarifa in 1986, a Valencian doctor in Playa de las Arenas in 1993, two more in Levante in 1962 and 2014, two in Catalonia in 1993 and 2016. And five in the Canary Islands: two in 2015, another two in 2010 and another in 2004. Although

the record begins in 1958, attacks have begun to be included since the 16th century

This is how the Governor of Cabrera

, in Mallorca, appears

, who one fine day at the beginning of the last century decided to go fishing in a llaüt with a friend. A wave capsized the boat and, when they were swimming back, and always according to the friend's testimony, two shark cleaners attacked the governor, and his body was never recovered.

Despite the figures, researchers remember that on the beach, there is a greater chance of dying from drowning or cardiac arrest. And even

many more people die in traffic accidents on the way or returning from the beach.