Global warming explains increase in shark encounters

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eports of sharks and in some instances actual attacks seemed a common occurrence during a recent Queensland visit.

Sharks and surfers - global warming
explains the increase in encounters.

The whole “shark thing” reached something of a fever pitch when Australian surfer, Mick Fanning, was attacked in mid-July during a world surfing tour final in South Africa. Fanning was not injured and is back surfing.

Oceanographers and climatologists can explain why there is an increase in number of instances of humans and sharks encountering each other, sometimes with a deadly outcome, mostly for those people who have ventured into shark’s environment.

So what is happening? – Ocean temperatures are being directly influenced by global warming and so as those temperatures rise, the feed stocks the sharks depend upon seek cooler waters and they are generally found closer to the shores, in the areas mostly favoured by surfers and swimmers.

Subsequently the paths of sharks and people now cross far more frequently, often with a fatal or rather serious outcome for the human.
 

Beyond that, the other complicating factor points to commercial fishing for as we catch and kill more of the fish that was once on the shark’s menu, the predator is forced to look further afield for its food and humans, being largely defenceless in the water, look and are pretty tasty.