The director of a famend shark analysis heart in California shared the way to keep secure and the significance of not panicking when you encounter a shark on the seashore this summer season season.
Chris Lowe, the director of the Shark Lab at Cal State College (CSU) Lengthy Seashore, instructed Fox Information Digital that sharks will act aggressively after they really feel threatened by people.
“If an animal feels threatened, it’s going to act aggressively,” he mentioned. “If you happen to chase a cat down an alley, and also you nook it, it’s going to arch its again and lift its fur.
“It’s going to act aggressively to attempt to scare you off,” Lowe mentioned.
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Lowe mentioned that by analysis on the Shark Lab, they’ve discovered that sharks in Southern California are usually round swimmers– and more often than not largely ignore people.
“I believe numerous occasions when folks see sharks in Southern California, it is as a result of the shark desires to be seen, like they may actually swim proper in entrance of individuals,” he mentioned. “And numerous occasions, they’re very shy. They’re very coy.”
“We see many sharks simply fully ignore folks on the floor,” Lowe mentioned.
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The shark researchers mentioned that within the occasion you see a shark, preserve your eyes peeled on the predator.
“What we all the time inform folks is to look, preserve your eyes on the shark,” Lowe mentioned. “Let the shark know you see it and monitor it.”
“In case your face is within the water, observe the shark. It is aware of the place your head is. It is aware of the place your eyes are,” he mentioned. “If you happen to’re in your surfboard, flip your surfboard in direction of it. So the pinnacle of your surfboard acts like the pinnacle of an animal, and the shark feels prefer it’s being watched.”
Lowe mentioned that when you lose monitor of the shark, look behind you as a result of the predator is probably going stalking you.
“If you happen to lose sight of the shark, the primary place it is best to all the time look is behind you, as a result of that is what all predators do,” he mentioned. “If they’ll examine one thing, they’ll examine it from behind as a result of that is the most secure method to do this.”
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Lowe mentioned that an aggressive shark may be recognized if it is “quickly coming in after which zipping away.”
“What an aggressive shark seems to be like is its quickly coming in after which zipping away and coming in nearer and zipping away or circling and getting nearer and nearer,” Lowe mentioned.
He mentioned that if the shark is swimming slowly, it might imply that it’s simply curious and never aggressive.
“But when they begin selecting up pace, that is often related to aggression,” he mentioned.
Lowe mentioned that shark aggression is often related to two causes: for defensive causes or if the predator is defending its meals supply.
“There could possibly be some meals close by that it is making an attempt to guard, and due to this fact it could be appearing aggressively in direction of an individual,” he mentioned.
Lowe mentioned that if a shark begins appearing aggressive, they slowly again away with out dropping eye contact.
“Simply preserve slowly shifting again, all the time dealing with the sharks, swimming away,” he mentioned. “After which when you get out of the water, notify different folks, let lifeguards know. Let different folks within the water.”
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The Shark Lab at Cal State College (CSU) Lengthy Seashore tirelessly works to analysis shark habits and inform the general public.
Lowe mentioned that the middle has quite a lot of alternative ways to come across the general public and assist them develop into extra knowledgeable about shark exercise and shark habits.
“A method is thru what we name, Shark Shacks,” he mentioned. “The Shark Shacks are pop-ups at a bunch of seashores throughout Southern California a number of occasions throughout the summer season.”
“We even have an enormous open home on the college on July twentieth, which we name Sharks on the Seashore,” he mentioned. “So that is the place we get to ask the group in to see the Shark Lab.”
