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3 shark attacks have Mexico resort area in panic
(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-05-29 10:45 The attacks around Zihuatanejo have puzzled experts and, alarmingly for local businesses, the mayhem is keeping tourists away. After the first fatality, panicked officials strung lines of baited hooks offshore and slaughtered dozens of sharks, drawing international criticism. Authorities planned to meet Thursday to seek Burgess' advice. Marine biologist Chris Lowe, who runs the shark lab at California State University, Long Beach, said there is little officials can do beyond trying to keep people out of the water and studying why sharks have suddenly turned so aggressive. Hunts don't usually help, he said. Lowe also said officials should keep the attacks in perspective. "People have a much better chance of dying of food poisoning going to Mexico than being bitten by a shark," he said. "It's far more dangerous driving to the beach than it is getting in the water." The International Shark File has found that attacks have been increasing over the past century, mostly because of the growing popularity of water sports like surfing. That's part of the reason experts say shark hunting is futile: Even as shark populations are declining, the number people swimming in the ocean is increasing. "Finding the killer shark is nearly impossible," said Jose Leonardo Castillo, the chief shark investigator for Mexico's National Fishing Institute. Mexican experts are planning a catch-and-release study to determine the species of sharks that has been attacking. And maritime officials, stung by the backlash over the shark hunt, have switched to conducting sea and aerial patrols to watch for sharks near shore. After repeated appeals by environmentalists, officials have promised to post large warning signs on beaches where sharks have attacked — a dreaded prospect for some in the surfing business. "Those signs will be the worst thing for us," said Herberto Perez Yanez, who teaches surfing and rents out boards at Troncones beach, where 24-year-old Adrian Ruiz of San Francisco was killed April 28. "Plenty of fishermen out here hunt sharks, and no one says anything. The ecologists say they don't want the hunt, but they're just sitting in their offices while we have to be here," he said. |
