I’m originally from L.A. The west coast is relatively low on shark attacks. We seldom see big sharks in close to the shore. So we never worried much about swimming in the ocean. The main thing I hated about “Jaws” was the almost full decade of never ending TV specials on sharks. I don’t need or want to know anything more about them.
When I was on the gunboats in the Danang area we shot any sharks we saw near the surface. It never seemed to reduce the numbers. One thing to remember about sharks. There are plenty more no matter how many you kill off.
Maybe like roaches. Where there is one there are plenty more.
They are fascinating creatures. End of the day though, in the water we are in their domain and I have no desire to be fish food.
With drones being practically ubiquitous now to the point that they’re frequently used by county lifeguards to survey the shoreline for sharks, authorities in SoCal believe that white sharks are far more common in the surf than previously thought. “Juvenile” white sharks are what are seen the most. Of course, even a 6’ white shark is considered young.
If anything though, I think this underscores that the fear of most shark species, white sharks in particular, is overblown because attacks are so incredibly rare. They’re their and they certainly are aware of humans even if the humans aren’t aware of them and yet, attacks almost never happen.
Having said that, whenever I see a bull shark when diving, I give it a very wide berth because it’s been my experience they are incredibly aggressive and bold.