Tell Oak Island to Take Shark Attacks Seriously to Protect People and Sharks
- by: Susan V
- recipient: Town Manager Tim Holloman and Mayor Betty Wallace of Oak Island, North Carolina
Three teens were bitten by sharks last week on North Carolina‘s coast. Maybe the first attack couldn't be prevented, but the last should have been.
The first kid got by with a nick on one foot and a badly-bitten boogie board, but the last two, injured the same day, lost parts of their arms. As the girl was receiving first aid and even after she was flown off critically wounded, neither the town’s leaders nor lifeguards evacuated the water-which they had ample time to do before a 16-year-old lost nearly his entire arm.
According to news accounts, Oak Island's mayor said there was no policy in place to either evacuate the water or close the beach after a shark attack. And there seems too much focus on the rarity of shark attacks, as if little can or should be done to prevent them. However, Jim Kelly with NC Marine Fisheries says several measures can make the rare attack even more rare, like not swimming near piers or where floating sea grass provides food for fish.
Clearly Oak Island needs to calmly evacuate swimmers when risks are high. And, since swimming is "red-flagged" when water is rough, there‘s no reason it can’t be prohibited near piers or other risky areas. Also NC should ban shark fishing off piers, as other states have done.
Ignoring risks to satisfy business interests will not help business in the long run.
Tell the Town of Oak Island to adopt and carry out reasonable measures to prevent shark attacks and retaliatory attacks on sharks.
We, the undersigned, say prevention measures are necessary even though shark attacks on humans are very rare.
According to several reports on these NC incidents, at least one of the victims was swimming near the pier, which is obviously a bad spot due to all the angler baits in the water. And there seems to be no reason why swimming can’t be prohibited near piers and surf fishing prohibited during certain hours.
Also Jim Kelly says swimmers should avoid going in the water near dawn or dusk and never swim at night. Avoiding wearing shiny jewelry or swimwear is also helpful, as is making sure to swim in areas where the water is clear. He explained that one of the attacks in NC happened where sea grass was floating. The grass attracts fish, and the fish attract sharks.
Even though Kelly knows that when sharks bite humans, it’s usually by mistake, he says swimmers can make the possibility of being mistaken for shark food less likely by not to looking or acting like fish. In other words, don‘t wear striped swimwear or bright jewelry and don‘t splash around too much, in addition to avoiding swimming where there’s fish and shark food.
The Associated Press reports that already Myrtle Beach, Virginia Beach and others have outlawed fishing for sharks from piers. This is something Oak Island and other NC beaches should have done after the first attack, if not before.
Even after the attacks, Oak Island Pier’s owner seems unwilling to make the change. The pier's current “Fishing Report,” notes that “Sharks and skates are plentiful with dogfish 12-24 [inches]." Thomas Thomes told the Press he would not stop allowing shark fishing until he got more evidence to support that "his pier is imperiling swimmers by attracting sharks.”
Finally of course the shark is not at fault. People invade the shark’s habitat, not the other way around. However, unless everything is done to prevent these gruesome attacks, angry people or authorities may take it out on the sharks. In some areas, like Western Australia, sharks have been culled after numerous attacks on humans. This is undeniably the wrong approach to solving the problem.
So is sidestepping the issue by comparing risks and claiming lack of policies when at issue is really a need for education and common sense. Any risk than can be lowered should be, and everyone in town, including business owners who fear losing business, should realize that in the long run, prevention is the best policy for swimmers, sharks and business.
Currently these concerns and solutions are not listed among “Current Issues” on Mayor Wallace’s webpage, found here: http://mayorwallacemessage.homestead.com/index.html
We request that the Town of Oak Island take immediate and effective steps to prevent shark attacks in the future.
Now there are SIX. This is NOT more rare than being struck by lightening!
"...no one was warned to get out of the water because of the low severity in the incident, said Town Manager Larry Bergman..."
http://www.starnewsonline.com/article/20150624/ARTICLES/150629887
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