Posted on: Thursday, November 6, 2003

EDITORIAL
Like it or not, we swim with sharks

Shark attacks are never welcome news. While the odds are long against being bitten, given the sheer volume of swimmers, surfers, snorkelers, bodyboarders, divers and paddlers in the water on any given day, they do happen.

So our sympathies go out to 13-year-old Bethany Hamilton, who lost her left arm last week in a tiger shark attack off Kaua'i. This is an undeniable setback for the gutsy competitive surfer who was set to go pro. We trust she will recover and be back in the waves sooner rather than later.

Still, we're glad to hear that the attack on Bethany is unlikely to trigger a shark hunt or shark-control program, as happened in previous decades.

As researchers point out, the number of attacks has less to do with the number of sharks than with the number of human beings in shark territory.

Tiger sharks can roam for hundreds of miles. The chances of tracking down the shark that bit Bethany are slim if not impossible. Such a hunt would satisfy little more than the desire for revenge.

To control the shark population, ocean resorts in South Africa and Australia have installed shark nets. The problem is, harmless sharks and other creatures are also trapped in the mesh. Many of these nets are being dismantled.

Exercising common sense will likely have more measurable impact on the rate of shark attacks.

For example, stay out of the ocean at dawn, dusk and dark and avoid murky waters and areas where turtles hang out. Tiger sharks dine on turtles, and from a shark's-eye view, surfers and bodyboarders may look like turtles.

Hard as it may be to accept, shark attacks are yet another, if extremely rare, cost of living and playing in paradise.