The Dorsal Fin

Footage from the Australian Institute of Marine Science’s Baited Remote Underwater Video Stations (BRUVS) is making news in Australia’s The Courier-Mail. While The Courier-Mail article claims the video features a tiger shark “stalking” a sea snake, it certainly looks more like the tiger shark is “stalking” bait attached to the BRUVS unit, based on the footage. Regarldess, the footage (which appeared on the AIMS site back in August) is definitely worth a watch…

The Sun Sentinel is reporting that George Burgess, Florida Program for Shark Research Director, has determined that the species involved in yesterday’s fatal shark attack off Stuart Beach, FL was a member of the requiem family, which includes tiger sharks, bull sharks, blacktip sharks, and spinner sharks. Burgess examined the bite wounds on the victim and determined that an 8-9′ shark of the requiem family was responsible for the two fatal wounds. Burgess said his examination definitively ruled out the great white shark, a member of the Lamnidae family.

The Palm Beach Post has a cleverly crafted article with a headline “possibly” identifying the species involved in yesterday’s fatal shark attack of a Stuart, Florida kite boarder. The headline, Expert: Young great white sharks possibly involved in fatal Stuart attack, is followed up with the statement credited to Grant Gilmore noting that “young great white sharks — the fish of Jaws notoriety — are among suspects in Wednesday’s fatal attack off Stuart’s coast.” However, if you read far enough into the article, it states that Gilmore would NOT guess which species was involved, since the only available information about the attack was early news reports.

The article goes on to discuss yesterday’s shark attack and mentions three other species common to the area that are cited as being “known to attack humans” but notes that these three species (bull sharks, tiger sharks, and great hammerhead sharks) prefer warmer waters and tend to leave the area in the winter.

Despite the tendency for these species to leave the area in the winter, tiger shark sightings were reported just last week at Riviera Beach, approximately 35 miles north of yesterday’s attack. In addition, a shark which at least one news source identified as a great hammerhead, was also caught on Riviera Beach last week. That same report indicates that bull sharks are common in the area this time of year.

While there is nothing dishonest, per se, about the story’s headline identifying a “possible” suspected species, the nudging of the reader towards the idea that great white sharks (“of Jaws notoriety,” no less) were behind the attack is fairly prominent, despite no evidence being available at the time of the report to indicate the species. So, while the article is not necessarily dishonest, I find it a bit misleading at best. Other news agencies are eating up the Palm Beach Post article and running their own similar stories, including the LA Times article,
Young great white sharks may have killed Stuart surfer, expert says.

While it may turn out that great white sharks were, in fact, involved in this tragic attack, running headlines based on a few statements suggesting a possibility that great white sharks were the culprits is simply irresponsible reporting. Given the limited information that was available when the statements were made, speculation by news agencies falls outside of the realm of objective reporting, and is irresponsible journalism, at best, especially considering the fact that the expert who was questioned on the subject specifically stated that there was not enough information to even guess the species.

Shark attack survivor and surfer, Bethany Hamilton, appeared on the Today show on December 11 as part of their “Buzziest Stories of the Decade” series. Hamilton lost her left arm as a result of a tiger shark attack 6 years ago and has since become an inspirational figure to many due to her perseverance after the attack and her return to surfing.

Unlike some of the other shark-related clips that have appeared on the Today Show over the past year, this one is fairly devoid of over-sensationalizing sharks and manages to focus more on Hamilton’s story of triumph rather than emphasizing shark-related fears. While Matt Lauer does ask Hamilton if she thinks about sharks, I think it’s a fair question to ask, and he seems to respectfully take her answer at face-value. Perhaps, the Today Show is getting better at dealing with shark-related stories.

The Brisbane Times is reporting that the Queensland government will be spending $125,000 on a five-year program to tag and monitor bull, tiger, and white sharks in an effort to "reduce the risk of attacks." Acoustic tags will be used to report data to monitoring stations when tagged sharks are nearby. Shark control program manager, Tony Ham, said that they expected to tag 150 sharks in three years (which seems like an odd statement, considering that the article reports the duration of the study to be five years).

In addition to the shark monitoring aspect, the Queensland government will also invest in new and improved acoustic alarms to alert whales and dolphins of the existence of shark nets." The new alarms will use a longer lower pitch signal at a louder volume to give cetaceans a more advanced warning of the nets. The shark nets have come under criticism due to whales and other marine life becoming entangled in them.