Shark Attacks Down in 2005 but Up Over Long Term

Worldwide shark-attack numbers fell in 2005 for the fifth year in a row.

Last year 58 confirmed "unprovoked" shark attacks occurred in natural ocean habitat, according to a report from the International Shark Attack File (ISAF), an organization based at the University of Florida in Gainesville.

That's down from 78 in 2000 and 65 in 2004.

Incidents in which the animals are provoked—such as during shark-feeding operations, in aquariums, or when fishers try to remove sharks from a net—aren't counted in ISAF's annual survey.

Four people were killed in unprovoked attacks last year, down from seven in 2004 and a bit below the 2001-to-2005 five-year average of 4.4 per year.

Last year's deaths included two in Australian waters, one in Florida, and one from the South Pacific island of Vanuatu.

Shark-attack fatality rates continue to drop decade by decade as improving medical treatments help boost the odds of survival in the rare event of an attack.

More from National Geographic...

ALL SHARK ATTACKS since 1880

The Global Shark Attack File has an Excel sheet listing all shark attacks on record starting around 1883. A fascinating record. A bit sketchy in the early days, but now full of all reported incidents. Most attacks appear to take place in USA, Australia and South Africa.

Download here -- 1.5MB file.
http://www.sharkattackfile.net/GSAF5.xls

Unprovoked Incidents = Tan
• Provoked Incidents = Orange
• Attacks on Boats = Green
• Air / Sea Disasters = Yellow
• Questionable Incidents = Blue

The Global Shark Attack File

INJURED - 13 February 2006 - Golden Beach, Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia - swimmer attacked

Early newspaper reports in Australia say:

A shark has bitten an 18-year-old man in shallow water on Queensland's Sunshine Coast.

Fisheries Minister Tim Mulherin said the man was wading in 30cm of water at Golden Beach at Caloundra on the morning of 13 February when he was bitten.

The wound required 11 stitches, Mulherin said.

More details are expected later.

Sources:
The Courier Mail

INJURED - 8 February 2006 - Nahoon Beach, East London, South Africa - surfer attacked

Fifteen-year-old Jason Noades was bitten on the right calf while surfing at Nahoon Beach, East London, South Africa on Wednesday afternoon, 8 February 2006.

He escaped the shark's jaws by kicking it with his left foot.

He told the Daily Dispatch newspaper: “I was surfing when I fell and the wave took me down. I felt something grab me on my right leg.

"Then I saw the fin, which was about 15 centimetres long, as the shark was taking me."

Noades said he kicked out with his other leg and then "I paddled faster...without even looking back."

Noades suffered two minor wounds to his right calf. He wetsuit also bore puncture marks where the shark bit his leg.

There were seven other surfers in the vicinity at the time of the attack according to Jason.

The newspaper said that experts were yet to determine the size and species of the shark.

Sources: Daily Dispatch

Scientists trace origin of shark's electric sense

Sharks are known for their almost uncanny ability to detect electrical signals while hunting and navigating.
Now researchers have traced the origin of those electrosensory powers to the same type of embryonic cells that gives rise to many head and facial features in humans.
The discovery, reported by University of Florida scientists in the current edition of Evolution & Development, identifies neural crest cells, which are common in vertebrate development, as a source of sharks’ electrical ESP.
It also fortifies the idea that before our early ancestors emerged from the sea, they too had the ability to detect electric fields.
“Sharks have a network of electrosensory cells that allows them to hunt by detecting electrical signals generated by prey,” said Martin Cohn, a developmental biologist with the departments of zoology and anatomy and cell biology and the UF Genetics Institute. “That doesn’t mean they can only detect electric fish. They can sense electricity generated by a muscle twitch, even if it’s the weak signal of a flounder buried under sand.”
Likewise, sharks are widely thought to use the Earth’s magnetic field for navigation, enabling them to swim in precise paths across large expanses of featureless ocean, Cohn said.

More from the University of Florida...

FATAL - 1 February 2006 - Neiafu jetty, Vava’u island, Tonga - swimmer attacked

Tessa Horan, 24, from New Mexico, was killed by a shark after it tore off her leg while she was swimming near Neiafu jetty, Vava’u island, Tonga at 6pm local time on 1 February 2006.

According to Pacific magazine she had recently arrived on the island on 18 January to work as a volunteer for the US Peace Corps.

“She was believed to have joined village youth in games of netball and soccer before a swim in the harbour.

“A Tongan youth that accompanied Ms Horan for a swim said she was pulled underwater and attacked by the shark,” the magazine reported.

Details of the size and species of the shark were not mentioned in the report.

Sources:
Pacific magazine