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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Tuesday, March 1, 2005

Shark attacks down by 2 in '04, including 1 fatality

By Christie Wilson
Advertiser Neighbor Island Editor

There were 61 confirmed cases of unprovoked shark attacks worldwide in 2004, three of which occurred in Hawai'i waters, according to the Florida Museum of Natural History's International Shark Attack File.

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MFor information on sharks and shark attacks, visit the Florida Museum of Natural History's shark research Web site at: www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish
/Sharks/sharks.htm

A Maui surfer was one of last year's seven shark-attack fatalities worldwide.

The 2004 total for Hawai'i compares with five in 2003 and six in 2002, according to George Burgess, director of the International Shark Attack File.

He said year-to-year fluctuations aren't as important as long-term trends, and last year's shark attack numbers are not noteworthy. Over the past 15 years, there were 53 shark attacks in Hawai'i — an average of 3 1/2 per year — and four fatalities, he said.

The most recent death occurred April 7 when surfer Willis "Will" McInnis, 57, was mauled by a shark off Kahana in West Maui. Before then, there hadn't been a fatal shark attack in the state since 1992.

The other two Hawai'i incidents occurred Oct. 9 when a fisherman was bitten off Moloka'i, and March 16 when a shark grabbed ahold of a surfer's board off Kaua'i.

Florida led the nation in shark attacks last year with 12, significantly lower than the annual average of 33 in recent years. Burgess said this is likely because there were fewer people in the ocean off the Florida coast in 2004. A series of hurricanes and tropical storms that pounded the state reduced ocean recreational activities by residents and tourists, he said.

Besides the three attacks in Hawai'i, there were six such incidents in California last year, four in Texas, two in North Carolina, and one each in Alabama, Oregon and South Carolina.

Elsewhere, there were a dozen shark attacks in Australia in 2004, five each in Brazil and South Africa, three at Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Africa, and one each in the Bahamas, Cuba, Egypt, Fiji, New Zealand and Venezuela.

Swimmers or waders were involved in 41 percent of the shark incidents worldwide, while surfers and windsurfers accounted for 39 percent of attacks. Less affected were divers and snorkelers — only 13 percent.

Although shark attacks are by far more numerous in Florida, the resulting injuries are often less serious, Burgess said. The most common species involved in the Florida incidents are blacktip and spinner sharks, which grow to a length of about 7 feet. Burgess said these sharks are usually hunting small fish and sometimes mistakenly nip the feet and ankles of surfers and swimmers in "splash zones."

The injuries usually require just a few stitches, he said.

In Hawai'i, more fearsome tiger sharks, which can grow to 15 feet or larger, are the culprits in most attacks. "A tiger shark's teeth are designed for shearing. ... when they bite, the consequences are more severe," Burgess said.

Still, the odds of getting bitten by a shark in Hawai'i are remote. "When you think of how many people spend time in the water in Hawai'i in any given year, and that the number of 'person hours' in the ocean is in the hundreds of thousands and maybe millions, and divide by three, the chances are very slim indeed," Burgess said.

However, ocean users can reduce the risk of shark attack, he said, by avoiding murky waters and areas where streams enter the sea.

Reach Christie Wilson at cwilson@honoluluadvertiser.com or (808) 244-4880.