Agriculture business senior Lucas Lansi and his roommate arrived at Spyglass Park, Shell Beach around noon on Wednesday, Oct. 27. As usual, they checked the surf, fastened their leashes and headed for the waves.
Unbeknownst to the two surfers, a white shark swam close to the shore as they paddled out. Lansi was within arms’ reach of the 6 to 8 feet long white shark 30 minutes later.
“As we were paddling out we saw a dead seal with its head chopped off,” Lanci said. “That was an eerie and foreboding sign so my friend and I kept our eye on the horizon for signs of fins. About a half hour later we were sitting out there and a great white shark was literally four feet away from me. It was looking at us and turned around. By that moment both of us turned around and paddled as fast as we could and headed to the beach. It was intense. I’ve been close to sharks before, but never a shark that could actually really hurt me. It was pretty scary.”
Lansi isn’t the only beachgoer that has seen a white shark recently. According to The Laguna Beach Independent, there was an unusual amount of adult white shark sightings, sized about 16 to 18 feet in length, 1,000 yards off of Sunset Beach in Santa Monica in August.
Even more recently, Lucas Ransom, a University of California, Santa Barbara student, died from an alleged white shark attack while surfing at Surf Beach near Lompoc. His death was the 12th fatal shark attack in California since 1950, according to California Department of Fish and Game records.
Despite only 12 shark attack deaths in California over the past 60 years, encounters with white sharks around Central Coast waters have recently increased.
Scientists and experts have different theories about why there is a perceived increase of white shark activity. However, there is one factor that experts, surfers and water enthusiasts alike seem to agree on — if choosing to go in the water, it is important to be aware of the surroundings.
California Department of Fish and Game environmental scientist Michael Harris said there has been an increase in white shark activity, he said. Harris has been working with sea otters, including those killed by sharks, for 19 years. There was a rise in dead shark-bitten otters from July to September, he said.
For the past 10 years, the average number of otter-bitten carcasses washed up on shore in the Morro Bay-Pismo Beach area was seven. This August it was 19.
“White sharks do not usually eat sea otters,” Harris said. “They prefer seals and sea lions. This is why most of those otters only had a single bite mark. These bites are more investigative — like a taste test.”
Harris said he thinks the increase of bitten otters might have increased because there are more juvenile sharks in the area that are “taste testing” different prey. It could also be due to cooler ocean temperatures which are ideal for white sharks, Harris said.
Other experts have different theories about the spike in shark-bitten otters.
Sean Van Sommeran, the founder of the Pelagic Shark Research Foundation (PSRF), has been working with white sharks for 20 years. The PSRF has gathered data and observed open water sharks since 1990.
One white shark could have been responsible for the 19 bitten otters, Van Sommeran said.
“The random increase of dead otters was relatively centralized; it wasn’t up and down the coast,” Van Sommeran said. “I’m speculating, but since it was a relatively confined area, I could see one shark hanging out in that area biting otters as it cruised up and down the kelp beds looking for a suitable harbor seal to bite.”
Van Sommeran and his team started to tag white sharks in 1992, and around 170 white sharks have been tagged. It is almost impossible to generalize the behaviors of white sharks because so much is unknown about the species, he said. Scientists still do not know where white sharks mate or where they have their pups.
It wasn’t until a decade ago that scientists and researchers were able to observe the migration routes of white sharks and much is still unknown about their population.
“I think people have a hard time accurately describing white sharks and their so-called methods of predator strategies because so much about the sharks isn’t well known,” Van Sommeran said. “Just 10 years ago, conventional theories of their migration routes and movements were totally wrong so I’m not completely convinced that there aren’t a lot of other mysteries about them. It tends to make generalities difficult.”
Van Sommeran said the frequent shark sightings do not prove an increase in the white shark population in California.
The research findings done by some pelagic experts shows that the population of white sharks has been relatively stable in California because of the wealth of marine mammals, Van Sommeran said.
Some suggest the rising number of shark sightings is less about the shark population but rather an increase of people in the ocean. Increased use of digital media and camera phones might also contribute to the documentation of white sharks.
Others argue that the increased numbers of juvenile white sharks accidentally caught in fishing nets is indicative to an increased number of white sharks. According to the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife, more than 400 white sharks a year have fallen victim to “bycatch” — when sharks are accidentally caught with other fish in commercial nets.
However, Van Sommeran said the increased number of caught white sharks is not evidence of a rise in the white shark population, but rather that fishing pressures have increased.
“More juvenile white sharks are being caught because there are more nets,” Van Sommeran said. “There are actually some aquariums that offer rewards for fishermen to catch white sharks. There’s another interest group that keeps talking about white shark increase and that’s the game fisherman. If they could get people to be scared of the sharks and convince people that there’s too many of them and get them de-listed, then they’d be able to go and capture the big sharks and make the big money.”
Despite speculation, experts and water enthusiasts alike advise to take caution when going in the ocean.
“We go up to seal colonies and float lures in order to tag sharks and sometimes can’t find any,” Van Sommeran said. “You could go to shark central and not find any sharks but then go to a lone surf spot and run into one by accident. It’s just one of those random types of things. With that in mind, I always say be prepared. Come to terms with the fact that they’re there, that they’ve always been there and don’t be shocked if you see one or hear about one.”
Harris also encourages people to remain aware of the marine environment.
“Every time you get in the water, you are entering part of the food chain, it just depends if you are going to feel the effects of it,” Harris said. “I see the dead otters and I know the data, but I still surf and dive. There are times I am more hesitant. At the peak, in August, I stayed out of the water for two weeks, which is a really long time for me.”
Architectural engineering senior David Martin has been surfing for four years and for the most part, will choose to go in the water anytime of the year.
“I like to think the statistics are on my side,” Martin said. “It’s a hundred times more likely to be hit by a car than attacked by a shark. That being said, they (sharks) are still out there. I just don’t think about it. The more you surf, the less you care. You see dolphins and seals all the time.”
It is more likely to get stuck by lightning than mauled by a shark, according to the Florida Museum of Natural History’s International Shark Attack File. From 1959-2009 almost 2,000 people were killed by lightning in U.S. coastal states versus 23 shark attack deaths.
Lanci, who has been surfing for 12 years, will continue to do so despite surfing four feet away from a white shark last week.
“I’m still going to surf, I didn’t surf this weekend because I was a little spooked but other than that I will definitely go surfing again,” Lanci said. “Maybe I’ll think twice when there’s nobody else out there, for the most part I’m not too worried about it. It’s just the nature of the beast. If you want to go surfing, you’re going to have to take those really, really small chances and I’m willing to do that for sure.”