Humans have an instinctive terror of being hunted and caught by a predator and this intense fear probably explains why sharks have been demonised and the personal and public risk they pose has been sensationally exaggerated.

In 2018 globally there were 68 shark bites and 4 fatalities recorded, and this is consistent with the usual annual global statistics of 60-100 bites and 3-10 fatalities. Every year, millions of people enter the water multiple times, which represents billions of events, indicating the infinitesimal probability of being bitten by a shark. As a comparison, World Health Organisation (WHO) statistics show that approximately 1.3 million die worldwide annually from road traffic crashes.

There are over 400 species of shark, mainly 3 species - great whites, tiger and bull sharks present a threat to humans. Most shark bites occur when a shark confuses a human with normal prey, after a single investigative bite the shark releases and swims away, unfortunately, rapid blood loss and severe damage can result from a single bite. More rarely, a shark exhibits feeding or antagonistic behaviour where multiple bites may be inflicted. In the water humans are slow, weak and defenceless so a determined attack by even a small shark would not be survivable, human victims basically survive because the shark lets them go.

Lethal shark mitigation such as shark nets and drum lines kill marine life indiscriminately, such archaic measures are not supported by science and protection can be illusory. Interestingly about 40% of netted sharks are caught on the coast side so the nets actually prevented them from swimming away from the beach.

People can be shark aware by avoiding murky water or swimming at dusk, dawn and at night, not swimming with pets or near large schools of fish.

Sharks have existed for over 450 million years and are among the world's most ancient creatures. Global populations of sharks have crashed by over 70% in the past 50 years with many species facing extinction. A key factor is the shark fin trade with over 73 million sharks killed each year for their fins. Finning involves slicing fins off the shark while it is alive then discarding the mutilated animal overboard to suffer a long and painful death. This cruel and wasteful slaughter supplies the shark fin soup trade, an ostentatious Chinese delicacy regarded as a status symbol, unfortunately, demand is growing.

For another view of sharks refer to Cristina Zenato's website https://cristinazenato.com and Jim Abernathy's website https://scuba-adventures.com