Photo: @JuanSharks
Editor’s Note: Learn how to minimize chances of an adverse shark encounter as well as critical information about shark behavior, shark personalities, shark language, what to do in the unlikely event a shark bites you, and more during 20-plus video lessons in Ocean Ramsey’s Guide to Sharks and Safety.
You’ve likely done it before. You’re enjoying yourself at Cardiff or wandering up the coast to El Capitan. Caught up in the moment, you’re focused on everything about your surf session except for one thing: sharks.
“It’s just a NorCal thing,” a lot of people murmur around Southern California parking lots. But people who familiar with Southern California understand that just because you don’t see them doesn’t mean they aren’t there.
While much about sharks, and specifically California’s great white shark population, is unknown, researchers have been utilizing techniques like tagging and drone surveillance to gather data and learn more about these animals along the Pacific Coast.
Adult great whites from California have historically spent their later years in the middle of the Pacific, often driven from SoCal waters due to a decline in pinnipeds — fin-footed mammals like seals, sea lions, and walruses. But with protections from human interference, pollution, and overfishing impacting the coast in the 1990s, these populations have bounced back. The pinnipeds, along with stingrays, are well-rounded meals for great whites. Those population are also experiencing a modest rebound due to those protections including a ban on gill-nets near the shore, and warmer and cleaner waters in Southern California. With this shift in the environment, the region has become the perfect nursery for sharks.
Keeping that in mind, here are a few simple thoughts and tips that can help surfers and swimmers avoid adverse interactions with the apex predators:
- Stay closer to the shore, and avoid areas on the outside of reefs with large dropoffs. Generally, sharks hunt along ledges or anywhere that provides a little drop-off and camouflage for them.
- Avoid bright swim caps and other garments.
- Minimize your splashing on the surface.
- Be aware of how close you are to pinniped colonies or turtle aggregations.
Whatever your impression of sharks, it’s important to remember that the animals are misrepresented in most media like film and television. The truth? They contribute immensely to the overall health of marine ecosystems and our planet as a whole. It’s true that sharks have much more to fear in humans than we do in them.
Editor’s Note: Learn how to minimize chances of an adverse shark encounter as well as critical information about shark behavior, shark personalities, shark language, what to do in the unlikely event a shark bites you, and more during 20-plus video lessons in Ocean Ramsey’s Guide to Sharks and Safety.
