Second. Man-eating. Shark. Potomac River.
Those are words you don't ordinarily find together in the same sentence. And we don't want together in the same sentence.
Last Tuesday, a fisherman caught an eight-foot bull shark near Point Lookout. You can read about that shark here. On Wednesday an even larger, 8' 3" bull shark was caught in St. Mary's County.
If you're unfamiliar with bull sharks, here's a short description from National Geographic: "Many experts consider bull sharks to be the most dangerous sharks in the world." And for SharkDiving.us: "Bull sharks have been responsible for numerous shark attacks all over the world especially in the USA and Australia." Bull sharks don't mind swimming in brackish or fresh water.
I guess the only thing more dangerous than swimming in certain parts of the Potomac River is floating on a bedbug-infested mattress on the Potomac.
It is unfortunate that people target these creatures and are proud to catch and kill them. They are very valuable to the environment. I hope they will be protected. Deborah
ReplyDeleteSharks deserve better press. Scary, no doubt, especially in a river, but not out of the ordinary. Sharks are crucial to a properly functioning ecosystem, and should not be killed. As it stands right now, global shark populations are in critical decline, in some areas down by more than 90%. People kill up to 100 million sharks annually, but unprovoked human fatalities average only about 5 or so per year. Calling them "man-eaters" is just crass sensationalism born of fear and ignorance.
ReplyDeleteSharks might as well be called nature's toughest dedieng. Sharks have been around for 75 million years longer than the dinasuars, and some scientest suspect they were the first creatures to have teeth. They had almost no use for evelution in the time they have been around. If sharks die out it will not be because of the environment, it will be because of us. We pollute their oceans, we heat their waters, and they do not deserve to have their fins cut off and then toosed back into the water to drown. They deserve to live. I have loved sharks since I was nine and it is my ambition to become a shark biologist and study these amazing creatures. I love sharks and beleive in their protection.
ReplyDeleteAmen. Can't believe I'm defending a man-eating shark, but they are the ultimate example of Darwin's survival of the fittest. They're a nearly flawless breed, and that deserves some props.
ReplyDeleteThat said, I'll be keeping my feet dry for a while! :-)
Funny that people think this is something new. They've been there the entire time. In the Delaware River, in the Chesapeake Bay, too. I love how all this summer DE newspaper kept printing things about "there are no bull sharks in DE waters." BS! (And that doesn't stand for Bull Shark.) The Delaware Bay is the spawning place for the sand bar shark, one of the bull shark's favorite foods. Why in the heck wouldn't they be here? Of course they're here. And then you get a DE fishing guide and it lists the seasons open for catching bull sharks. If they're not here, why do we have a season? Hmm.
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