March 11th, 2010
Archive for the ‘Scuba Diving’ Category
January 20th, 2009
Sanibel Island Sharks? Here’s the Real Scoop!
Image by Wolfgang Kopp via Flickr
With the recent shark bite in the shallows of the Gulf of Mexico off Sanibel Island comes the usual media blitz about the dangers lurking in the waters.
But let’s put this recent nip in perspective.
In the period between 1882 and 2007, there were a documented 5 unprovoked shark attacks in the WHOLE of Lee County (the county where Sanibel Island is located). And regarding attacks leading to mortal wounds, according to a study by the Centers for Disease Control, 4,406 people drowned in America during 1998. That’s about 550 times as many deaths as caused by sharks in an average year.
OK, sharks exist, and once in a great while, one takes a human sample (and more often than not the shark is just looking to see what species the human is before attacking: thankfully most of them are none too keen on the way we taste).