feelin' sharky

Photo Courtesy: Rusty Watson

One of the most difficult elements of the COVID Pandemic, for me personally, has been the tangible exposure to fun life events, that I’m not a part of.

That’s right, FOMO for ME-O.

Not one usually phased by such frivolousness, I tend to enjoy going to work every day. However, doing so has kept me ignorant of life outside of the 40 (read 60) hour work week life. Since my quarantine office is now smack dab in the center of my every day life, I have had a few moments that made me realize that while I am away at work, there are some people in my family having a much more interesting time than I am, and rightfully so.

Recently, it was a missed afternoon surf that ignited my envy. Granted, we are a surfing family, so this is an activity I miss out on more often than not, but this day was something special. Just as my husband and our children paddled out at Del Mar, a large pod of dolphins appeared around them. For ten or twenty minutes, the dolphins swam underneath and beside them. The kids squealed in delight of the (slightly terrifying) interaction and were all amazed at how close the dolphins came to them. It was one of those surfing days I was incredibly disheartened to not have been a part of.

Besides, growing up as a fifth generation Californian, I knew that when there are dolphins present, sharks are not around.

Or so I thought.

A week or so after the incident, I reached out to our good friend and local lifeguard, Jason Shook, to see if he could answer some questions about the recent increase in shark activity along our coastline. “Shooky” put me in touch with Dr. Chris Lowe, a leading researcher and professor in Marine Biology at CSULB. Dr. Chris Lowe is also the director of the Shark Lab at California State University, Long Beach (CSULB), where he and his students work with acoustic and satellite telemetry techniques to study the movement, behavior and physiology of sharks, rays and gamefishes.

Dr. Lowe was kind enough to spend thirty minutes on the phone with me, discussing the increase in shark activity and educating me on shark behavior and why the State of California is dedicated to supporting this type of research and education.

While Dr. Lowe recognizes the increase in communication about shark sightings via platforms like social media and devices that allow us more exposure to shark sightings such as drones, he is now confident that the number of sharks along our coastline has, undoubtedly, increased. Though much of the data is anecdotal, Dr. Lowe and his team look at a combination of drone surveys, eye witness accounts, tagging/tracking, and shark interaction/incidents to arrive at their conclusion.

So, why does it feel so 'sharky' lately?

Truth is, the abundance of white sharks in the water in Southern California is not just a product of recent changes or seasons, but is a combination and culmination of decades of legislation and agreements enacted to protect marine wildlife and habitats.

It the early 1970’s, it was the Clean Air and Water Act that set California off on a trajectory that would help foster an ecological environment ripe for healthy marine mammal population. Contrary to the fact that we now have many more people living in the state of California than we did back then, we can proudly say that our air and water is cleaner now than it was when these regulations were enacted.

Around the same time in history, the seal and sea lion populations had been hunted almost to the point of extinction. Two separate rounds of marine mammal protection, one in the 1970’s and another during the 1990’s, laid the foundation for protecting these animals long term.

Then, in 1994, the State of California enacted several laws helping to protect white sharks specifically. These laws included protection from deliberate targeting of white sharks as well as a ban on gill nets - a tool often used in commercial fishing. Prior to this, thousands of juvenile white sharks wound up getting caught in the gill nets and dying. All of these protections have helped to create an environment ideal to enable the shark population to thrive.

But, if you look at white sharks position they hold in coastal waters, you realize that protections alone of the animal can’t justify the large increase in numbers we are currently witnessing.

Welcome to the nursery.

From Santa Barbara to Central Baja, our coastline is a juvenile white shark nursery. Sounds cute, doesn’t it? But juvenile white sharks need nurseries for protection, often from the jaws of their own mother and father. Not so cute anymore, is it?

While it’s not known where female sharks give birth, the abundance of channels along our coastline likely offer the deeper, colder water scientists believe to be the appropriate environment for hatching. After hatching, baby sharks likely flee the cold, deep channel to head for warmer, safer shores where they can learn to hunt for themselves. It takes white sharks years to become the skilled hunters we see launching out of the water on the Discovery Channel.

Queue the all you can eat stingray breakfast.

Juvenile white sharks love round stingrays. Southern California has a very healthy population of stingrays, as you may know, or even have learned the hard way. You are way more likely to have an encounter with a stingray than a shark. Granted, both will put a damper on your beach day, but I want to be clear on the contrasting threat levels we are discussing. In fact, juvenile sharks rarely show aggressive behavior at all when swimming near humans. Thanks to drone footage above the waters of Southern California, we are now more aware than ever of the presence of sharks and according to Dr. Lowe, the juvenile sharks simply “don’t seem to care” when in close proximity to humans. “They don’t change their direction or speed,” he says.

It is important to remember that these encounters are seen from above and people near the shark often don’t even know that the shark is in the area. Young sharks are still very afraid of everything, so if a human were to swim after it or threaten it in any way, there is no guarantee as to how it would react. Common sense to most would be never to engage with a shark that way, but we live in a world with instructions on shampoo…so, I’m going to bet it’s better stated out loud.

Speaking of common sense, Dr. Lowe warns that it is always best to be paying attention and using best judgement of any situation in the ocean. Encounters with other sea life can be indicators of a shark nearby. For example, my friend Sheri and her family took kayaks out in San Diego when a young sea lion jumped on board. It seemed friendly enough but simply wouldn’t go back in the water. When I told this story to Dr. Lowe, he was quick to point out that these animals are often being actively hunted by a shark in the water and are using human vehicles to escape.

Same goes for bait balls. We’ve all been in the water before when a huge bait ball of fish swims frantically beneath and around us. It’s important to remember that predators seek these balls of food and come crashing through them to capture as many fish as possible.

Moral? If you’re surfing in the middle of one, pick your feet up for a bit.

When I asked Dr. Lowe to summarize his thoughts on what he’d like people to be aware of, he said this, “Be aware of your surroundings. Pay attention to other marine mammals in the water, from sea lions to floating whale carcasses and how those animals might be interacting with or provoking predators. Make educated decisions about where you are and how you’re behaving as well. We don’t want to sterilize our oceans of sharks; that would be the worst answer possible, so we must learn to live with them. And lastly, stay together in groups. Statistics show that we see less adult white shark activity around crowded beaches. Swim in a group, surf in a group, and stay aware.”

He reminded me that the ocean “is not like a ride at Disneyland. Your safety is NOT guaranteed. We are merely guests in the sharks home and sometimes we are rude and ignorant guests.”

Let’s all work harder to not be rude, ignorant guests… but to learn about these incredible creatures and honor them by educating ourselves, preparing accordingly, and working towards peaceful coexistence.

Oh, and for the record, there is no scientific data to support the theory that dolphins in the water are an indicator that sharks aren't around. Dr. Lowe says, the two mammals just don't seem to care about one another, so don't lean on that myth for protection.

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