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California shark attack rates plunge 90 percent since 1950s
Swimmers and surfers today are about 90 percent less likely to be attacked by sharks off California's coast than they were in the 1950s, even though there are hundreds of thousands more people in the water, according to a new study.
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What the study did show was that although the reported number of attacks along California has risen slightly over the past six decades, the risk of attack has plummeted, according to Ferretti and fellow Stanford researcher Fiorenza Micheli.
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Researchers said the decline likely was the result of sharks focusing their attention on their natural prey, such as sea lions and elephant seals — whose populations have surged in recent years thanks to conservation efforts.
There might also be fewer sharks in the water, they said. It's been tough historically to track shark populations.
--- Snip ---
--- Snip ---
What the study did show was that although the reported number of attacks along California has risen slightly over the past six decades, the risk of attack has plummeted, according to Ferretti and fellow Stanford researcher Fiorenza Micheli.
--- Snip ---
Researchers said the decline likely was the result of sharks focusing their attention on their natural prey, such as sea lions and elephant seals — whose populations have surged in recent years thanks to conservation efforts.
There might also be fewer sharks in the water, they said. It's been tough historically to track shark populations.
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http://www.sanluisobispo.com/2015/07/09/3715712_california-shark-attack-rates.html
The article points out that attacks (great white) are more dangerous in central/northern California than in the south: they're more likely to be juveniles toward the south, but as they get bigger they move north in search of larger prey such as elephant seals...
