Weary Of the Ocean Waters, Just How Dangerous Are Sharks?

In the days of old, when only the rich possessed cellar phones and had the web available to them in their homes, novelist Peter Benchley's book "Jaws" was cast upon the big screen in 1976, and to this day, thrust fear to many ocean swimmers.

For those souls who have never seen the hit movie "Jaws," it's about a great white shark that patrols a popular beach area on the east coast, and devours as many swimmers as it possibly can.
Right off the bat, the movie is a myth, sharks do not hunt humans.

While reading "The Untold Truth About Sharks," an article I read in "iD, Ideas & Discoveries"  magazine, I learned that when sharks attack their various prey, mostly sea lions, they sprint in the water at speeds of up to 25 mph just before they clamp their jagged teeth into their prey.

Even when I was in elementary school, I learned that sharks are not man eaters, their man biters, they do not like the taste of man and the vast majority of the time only bite once, if at all. Obviously a bite by the likes of a great white shark which can be as large as 15 feet can prove most deadly.

The research presented in "The Untold Truth About Sharks" stated that sharks are curious about humans in the water. The researched proved that when sharks do spot humans swimming in the seas, they don't swoop in at their 25 mph speeds and bite. Sharks either leave humans alone, which is the majority of the time, and when they do bite those few unfortunates, it's out of curiosity as to the taste of people and not to hunt. When sharks to get near people, they approach with leisure or undramatic behavior claims R. Aidan Martin, former director of Canada's ReefQuest Centre for Shark Research.

Obviously the safest way not to get bit by a shark is to stay out of the ocean waters, but if you do swim in the ocean, avoid going in the water with large cuts and don't swim near an active fishing boat, because their is a lot of bait in the waters attracting sharks.

I also learned from reading this article, that sharks do have a gentle, even dog like attitude toward humans. Marine biologist Ocean Ramsey who I think is much too daring in the waters of the deep blue, often swims uncaged with sharks, currently she's done this with 32 different sharks species, including holding the fin of a 13 foot great white shark. Ramsey pointed out that when she released her grip on the caudal fin of the great white, the shark was careful not to slap her as she let go.

The fact is, humans are much more dangerous to sharks then they are us. "The Untold Truth About Sharks" states that more than 273,900 are killed everyday by people, that's around 100 million sharks killed by people each year.  In contrast, 10 to 12 humans are killed each year by shark attacks. Shark fins can net fishermen as much as $50,000 per fin in the far eastern regions of the planet. Shark meat is much less, about 85 cents per pound, which is why a lot of fishermen cut off the fin of sharks and throw them back into the sea where the shark suffers a slow and painful death.

"We're built to fear the unknown, when you go out in the water, there's this idea that your incredibly vulnerable," James Hambrick, psychologist at Columbia University said.