Sharks are getting a bad press but injuries are few and far between

TELEVISION footage of a great white shark crashing through the bars of a cage off Mexico’s Guadalupe Island has been seen worldwide. 

The huge fish was lured to the cage with “chum”, a smelly fish mixture pulled on a line through the water. Adult sharks can weigh up to 800kg, half as much as a car.

Moving too fast, this one penetrated the cage and found itself sharing the confined space with a diver. Horrified onlookers raised the cage lid and the bloodied shark fled. The diver emerged unscathed. His 20-second ordeal had seemed an eternity but the shark didn’t attack him. It just wanted to escape.

More video footage of sharks entering cages has appeared since that incident. Divers had filmed a similar occurrence off Mexico last August. A shark approached their cage seemingly quite slowly. It stuck its nose through the bars and managed to wriggle between them. The divers, unperturbed, continued filming until the lid was raised and the shark departed.

The bars of the Mexican cages seem to be more widely spaced than those used off South Africa’s Dyer Island. A shark struck the cage on one occasion during the two encounters I had at “shark alley”, but there was no risk of penetration. A person might be tempted to stretch an arm though the bars and touch a shark. Otherwise, there wasn’t the slightest danger.

The Mexican cages, perhaps, allow diving cameramen more unobstructed views. Hopefully, sharks there are not being lured deliberately into cages just to obtain sensational footage.

Stephen Spielberg’s 1975 film Jaws led to a worldwide backlash against sharks. Yes, they attack swimmers and surfers but injuries are few and far between.

According to the International Shark Attack File, there were 98 verified incidents worldwide last year, the highest yet recorded. The number of fatalities was six, no increase on previous years. Over 1.25m people were killed on the roads during the same period. A surfer is more likely to die driving to the beach, or develop fatal skin cancer from sun exposure there, than fall victim to a shark.

We have a primeval fear of predatory beasts. Being seized between jaws with razor-sharp teeth, and sucked down into a cold dark gullet, seems a more horrible fate than being flung through the windscreen of a car and crushed under the wheels of a juggernaut. Sensational U-tube sequences may discourage people from entering shark cages. That would be a pity; being in the water with such magnificent creatures is an exhilarating experience which transforms one’s attitude to sharks.

Biologists on the boats, at least in South Africa, spread the gospel of conservation. Shark encounter businesses generate revenue for local communities; tourist guides boatmen and B&Bs benefit.

Protecting the great beasts soon becomes more profitable than cutting off fins for the oriental soup trade. Everyone benefits from not killing a goose which lays golden eggs. A newly-developed product may help “take surfers off the shark menu”. It’s being field-tested in Australia. Chillax Surf Wax gives off a scent to repel sharks. Made from natural ingredients, the wax is rubbed on surfboards prior to entering the water. A team, led by Flinders University scientist, Charlie Huveneers, will use underwater cameras to film the reactions of sharks to the substance. The research is to be carried out off Neptune Island, renowned for its enormous great whites. Chillax can’t be marketed as a deterrent until its effectiveness is demonstrated.

Swimming with whale sharks has become popular in tropical coastal regions. No cages are needed; the world’s largest fish, a plankton-feeder, is docile and harmless, allowing swimmers to approach it. A similar operation with our Irish basking sharks isn’t possible; these gentle giants, it seems, won’t come to chum.

• Burgess, G International Shark Attack File. Florida Museum of Natural History