I am gonna be eaten by a shark out
here, I know it. I genuinely have that
thought about once per summer when I'm
at the beach and I just don't think I'm
alone on this.
You know how this goes... You're finally on
that summer vacation, you put your towel
down, umbrella in the ground, run to the
water and... Wait-wait-wait-wait! Are
there sharks in there? Hold onto those
ears! Well, the answer is a resounding "yes"
for Californians. Great whites,
specifically. There are a lot more sharks
being spotted than there used to be and
a lot of those sightings are happening
here, in waters just off of the beach. And
that, that, believe it or not, is amazing
news. But first, we have to talk about something.
So, between films like Sharknado and fake
TV documentaries about monster sharks
that, that don't even really exist, I'm
freaked out, man, you know? And I'm
gullible, I wish it wasn't that way, but
before we go there I want you to meet
Maria. She's sitting on the wall. I got
bit across my whole torso. It was kind of
like I was the meat within a sandwich. So
if you're biting on a burger, I'm your
burger. This is where I got bit. I got bit
by a great white shark. So today is my
two-year anniversary. So I'm about 200
yards offshore, and I feel this piercing
pain in my torso, and I stopped and
thought to myself, "Holy cow! I just got
bit by a shark!" I got 161 staples and
seven stitches. I got to save them all
and put them on a necklace.
Being attacked by a shark is really
serious.
You've probably heard stories like that
one before on the news or on Discovery
Channel's infamous Shark Week, but
attacks like Maria's are rare--incredibly
rare. In fact, in the whole of 2017 in
California there were two unprovoked
shark attacks. That's two out of roughly
150 million beachgoers. And when it comes
to deadly attacks by sharks, you are far
more likely to be killed by a dog, a
falling asteroid (seriously), or just by
falling out of your bed. You're also more
likely to die driving to or from the
beach than at the beach from a shark.
Yeah, the increase of sightings is really
unusual. I've been working here for
what's been over 40 years now, and prior
to 2015
I'd never personally seen a great white
shark. But 2015 hit and it was a dramatic
increase, and we actually had 56
sightings reported within the Huntington
City beach limits. People were obviously
a little alarmed. The sharks started
breaching, which means they were jumping
out of the water, fully viewable by
people in the area.
2016 and 2017
each still saw dozens of reported shark
sightings, and despite that there's been
about 100 reported shark sightings
here in Huntington in the past few years.
And keep in mind those sharks are
swimming in the same waves, close to
shore as thousands of surfers and
swimmers, despite all that there hasn't
been one bite or even a nibble. Since
1950, the risk of attack per U.S. beachgoer 
has actually significantly declined.
That has a lot to do with an increase in
the number of people playing in the
water. But in recent years, educators are
now teaching the public about shark
behavior, which could be helping as well.
The sharks are literally right there.
The sharks are right there.
So where that surfer is, from there out
to maybe another hundred yards offshore.
It's kind of that zone and they like to
kind of work in this area right in here.
So the question is why. And, and sometimes
they're at very crowded beaches, there'll
be lots of people in the water, so why
would the sharks want to be in it
amongst people? They don't seem to be
paying any attention to them. We really
have to be careful because the sharks
are using our coastal beaches as a
nursery habitat. I've got several
different videos here like, right off the
beach. You can see the dark object in the
water. That's the habitat that they
choose, and they prefer to be in, but
that's the same habitat that we like to
be in. It's where we like to surf, and
swim, and fish. I was in high school, I was
body surfing and surfing and we never
saw sharks.
I would say since 1975, the public's idea
about sharks has been formed based on
Jaws. But that book and then the
subsequent movie really put sharks in
the public's mind in a particular light,
and your imagination just starts to run
wild with what could happen. And when I
first saw Jaws I was like, "I'm not
getting back in the water!" 'Cause, you know,
you're freaked out, you're, you know, they
sensationalized stuff. Jaws, OK, where to
begin with this one? The movie scared
Maria enough to make her not want to get
back in the ocean, yet after an actual
great white shark attacks Maria, she was
back in the ocean within a couple of
months. Perspective, right? The problem
here with turning people against sharks
is that great whites are incredibly
important. They sit at the top of the
oceans' food chain and keep other species
in check, so we're not overcome by
disease-carrying creatures or just
overrun with sea lions. So what we focus
on with our science is to get people on
that scared side of the needle moving
more towards, "Wow, that's really cool! I
would like to see that myself one day."
26,696 detections. Why are the sharks off
these beaches? How much time they spend
there? We can tag them with a variety of
different types of transmitters or tags
that will help us answer those questions.
We got 26,000 detections on
this receiver at this location. My guess
is probably six sharks are constituting
that, we'll see. Researchers have a few
suspicions as to why there might be such
a huge increase in shark sightings. One
factor might be that their food has
mysteriously returned. Another is simply
that the water is warming. But the most
inspiring factor may be that government
protections dating back to the 1970s
meant to stop the killing of sharks are,
well, working--meaning great whites may
actually be a wonderful sign that
government protections actually do work
to solve problems in the natural world.
So we hear about bad news every day
about the environment, we hear about
pollution, we hear about global climate
change, and it used to be very depressing
for me. Now, I would use white sharks as
an example to make me feel positive. We
can make changes that can fix some of
these problems. That is all to say if you
see a shark, get out of the water,
definitely, but do remember that we have
power over sharks and the whole
population, actually--and it's not the
other way around. I am just gonna use my
cell phone for this one. I hope you liked
that video. Do you also think about
sharks when you get into the ocean? If so,
leave a comment below.
In addition, don't forget to subscribe,
always. And for more Left Field videos,
there should be one somewhere around
here. Until next time!
