The attack by a bull shark on tourist Peter Smith in Tobago waters yesterday was most likely unprovoked, said Zaheer Hosein, Fisheries Biologist and Assistant Lecturer in the Department of Life Sciences at the University of the West Indies, St Augustine Campus.
He said T&T lies in the range of the bull shark which “stretches all the way from temperate waters in North America and in Europe, all the way down south as far as Brazil and Northern Argentina.”
According to ifaw.org, bull sharks can be found in shallow, warm, coastal waters worldwide and have the unique ability to tolerate freshwater and saltwater habitats.
However, Hosein admitted, “I have never really heard reports of bull sharks attacking anyone in Trinidad or Tobago for that matter, but we do lie in its range.”
He explained that there are two broad categories under which attacks could be triggered, provoked and unprovoked, and yesterday’s attack fell under the latter.
“As the name suggests, the individual had nothing to do with the organism but the shark still attacked,” he said
Categories of unprovoked attacks include hit and run, bump and bite and sneak attacks.
Hit-and-run attacks are prevalent but usually non-fatal, as the shark is likely checking to see if it is a prey item and would usually leave after “taking a bite.” Hosein said such attacks often occurred in the surf which is where Smith had reportedly been swimming when he was attacked.
He said the shark might have been confused and tried the hit-and-run tactic to “see if that individual was prey.”
Hosein advised beach-goers to try to remain calm if confronted by a bull shark in the water.
“I know it is easy to say remain calm but when you have a 150-pound animal coming at you, it is difficult,” he said.
“If you react and try to swim away, or thrash in the water and try to swim away, that will trigger a predatory response in the shark and he is going to try and take a bite out of you.”
He also advised against swimming at night as sharks are nocturnal creatures and are most active then and said wearing jewellery in the water can attract sharks as glinting lights can be mistaken for fish scales. Splashing at the surface too much can cause sharks to mistake humans for prey, he added.
Hosein said it is likely that a similar attack could occur in Trinidad waters.
“If it could happen in Tobago, Trinidad is right next to Tobago and our waters are not that much different in terms of the chemical parameters,” he said.
Meanwhile, CEO of the Environmental Research Institute in Charlotte (ERIC), marine biologist Aljoscha Wothke, said the Tobago House of Assembly’s (THA) offer of a $10,000 reward for the capture of the shark would only promote a killing spree that would ultimately damage the ecosystem.
“There is no shark threat in Tobago. It is an accident. If they are going for hunting out sharks in Tobago they will destroy the ecosystem. It sounds to me like someone is just on a rampage, a killing spree trying to do something, whatever they want to do. It’s not done according to best scientific knowledge,” he said.
Wothke said that based on ERIC’s extensive research on shark issues in northeast Tobago, the incident was an accident.
“Mostly, especially on those beaches, I can’t say if it was like this—the sand is turned up, the shark might have patrolled the beach for turtles, saw something bigger that looked like a turtle and bit into it by mistake,” he said.
“By no means humans are anywhere on a prey team for sharks or a target. This was a mistake on the side of the shark.”
Wothke also wondered how people could identify “the” shark without any specific markings on it and expressed concern about individuals chasing after sharks solely for financial gain.
“In some instances, those bull sharks are coming to Tobago during the nesting season. However, in 30 years in Tobago, I’ve never heard of an accident like this. It is very unlikely,” he said.
Regarding the claim that the shark involved was a bull shark, Wothke noted that most people could not differentiate between shark species.
“Rehabilitating or recovering a shark is not plausible. What is going on right now, is a lot of people want to catch a shark and claim the reward. How would they know it’s the shark? There is no number on it. It’s impossible to say. People are going to run and catch a shark to get money.
“It might make sense at the moment to have precautionary measures like closing the beaches that are turtle nesting beaches in that area for a period of time.
“No shark...and there is a tremendous amount of scientific evidence, is a blood thirsty killer. Sharks are extremely careful. It’s not a beast, it’s a wild animal that does what wild animals do. It attacked a human by mistake which I feel extremely sorry for,” he said.
Wothke added that the chances of dying from a shark attack are much lower than other everyday activities such as driving in a crowd, flying on a plane, or standing under a coconut tree.
While bull sharks might visit Tobago during the nesting season, Wothke said in his 30 years on the island he had never seen such a gruesome accident.
As a precautionary measure, Wothke suggested temporarily closing the beaches that served as nesting grounds for turtles, as sharks might patrol those beaches and mistakenly bite something larger that resembled a turtle.