Experts express some theories

Although they all consider the June 7 shark attacks in South Walton a tragedy, the captains of local charter boats are not surprised.

“It’s just a matter of Mother Nature and opportunity,” said Capt. Gary Jarvis, who has been fishing out of Destin for more than four decades.

“The problem is that the shark population in the Gulf of Mexico is larger and more prolific than ever before, at least not in my lifetime,” Jarvis said.

“There are more sharks today than there were 44 years ago … because fishing for these animals has been banned,” Jarvis said, noting that some sharks have been listed as endangered.

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Jarvis said they have been talking to the National Marine Fisheries over the last decade about shark abundance and how things are getting out of balance. He said there is a misconception that sharks are endangered.

“There are more people in the water than ever before and there are more sharks in the water than ever before. So the frequency of shark bites is only going to go in one direction,” Jarvis said.

A 45-year-old woman and two young girls were injured in the attacks on June 7, which occurred about 90 minutes apart and about 6.4 kilometers apart.

Were conditions different on Friday, June 7, when the attacks took place?

“Sharks eat. That’s their thing. They eat anything,” Jarvis said. They eat waveboards, beer cans, birds and even other sharks.

The original story:Three people injured in two shark attacks; beaches in Walton County closed

“If the thing is hungry, it will try to eat whatever is nearby. It’s just whatever is nearby,” he said.

“From a commercial fisherman’s perspective, there was no difference,” Jarvis said.

“I see hundreds of sharks every day,” he said.

Jarvis said they see 40 to 50 sharks every time they bait fish at the mouth of the passage.

He also said he has observed a 6-foot bull shark swimming around his dock at Ships Chandler Harbor on several occasions.

“And they’re not really nice guys,” Jarvis said of the bull shark.

“If I had to bet, I would probably say it was most likely a bull shark that attacked the swimmers,” he said, noting that these sharks are really aggressive.

Captain Judah Barbee, who regularly goes shark fishing, was of the same opinion regarding the species of shark.

“If I had to guess, I’d say it was a bull shark. They’re so aggressive right now. One was clinging to the side of the boat the other day. You could hear it breaking the fiberglass,” Barbee said.

Sharks are aggressive when mating

Barbee was shark fishing when a reporter contacted him for this article. He said the sharks were mating.

“When sharks mate, they bite each other. They grab each other’s fins and hold on while they do their thing. They bite each other really hard… aggressively, brutally. I think that’s part of what’s happening,” Barbee said.

“I am definitely not prepared for that”:In Destin, a boat catches a 6-meter-long great white shark

He said that when they catch sharks today, they show signs of bites and the bites are fresh.

“And when we catch up to one, the other one is right next to it … that’s usually a sign that they’re mating,” Barbee said.

“I think it (the attacks) were cases of mistaken identity… maybe they thought it was another shark. They are extremely aggressive during mating,” he said.

Barbee said he typically sees sharks mating in May and June.

Sharks follow the bait

The attacking sharks may not only have been looking for a mate, but also for food. Barbee said they prey on redfish and baitfish, and some of the larger sharks prey on tarpon.

“They just follow the food,” Barbee said. “There’s really nothing we can do about it.”

Captain Katie Anderson, who was out pompano fishing in South Walton early June 7, said there has been plenty of bait nearby lately.

‘At close range’:Local captains say catching a shark is an exciting experience

“I think they were just further in because the bait was further in. Sharks just follow the bait.”

Anderson even said they spotted an 8-foot shark that morning just swimming along the beach.

“The sharks are everywhere, from 30 centimeters to 3,600 meters deep. There are no fences,” Jarvis said.

“Sharks have always been around, but not in the numbers they are today,” said Captain Neill Finkel.

“They have been protected long enough now. They need to last at least one more season,” Finkel said.

Finkel said they have been catching sharks every day for the past decade less than a mile offshore, and they have been catching large sharks weighing around 400 pounds.

Barbee, who was fishing directly from the beach on June 10, had already hooked ten sharks in the first two hours of his charter trip.

“We caught a lot of sharks, mostly bull sharks,” Barbee said.

“There are a lot of sharks…that’s just the way it is,” Jarvis said.

Regarding the June 7 attacks, Jarvis again said there was nothing “strange” about the situation.

“It’s worrying, it could happen again tomorrow … or in three months,” Jarvis said.

An interview with Gavin Naylord, director of the Florida Shark Research Program

To learn more about the possible causes of the June 7 shark attacks, we spoke with Gavin Naylor, director of the Florida Program for Shark Research at the Florida Museum of Natural History on the University of Florida campus.

The first question for Naylor concerned the recent sightings of two orcas, also known as killer whales, off the coast of Destin earlier this week. In the days following the June 7 attacks, many on social media wondered if the presence of the orcas might have driven the sharks closer to shore.

Could this have caused the sharks to come closer to the shore?

“No,” said Naylor.

Naylor explained that orcas are bound to attack smaller sharks, such as tiger or bull sharks, because they are found closer to shore, while orcas are typically found in much deeper waters.

“We know nothing about the behavior of orcas in the Gulf (of Mexico). There is no evidence whatsoever that they target sharks. So this is just a blind, fleeting explanation based on rumors and little evidence. It’s far-fetched and there is no evidence to support it,” Naylor said.

Naylor was asked if increased sea surface temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico were likely to have caused sharks to move closer to shore. Naylor said the conditions, along with wind direction, were favorable for shark activity.

“The temperatures at the sea surface, with the right wind conditions, can cause some of the plankton to blow in close to shore, and the plankton gets eaten by Mendhaven, and Mendhaven, in turn, is food for sharks. If Mendhaven comes close, for whatever reason, the sharks will follow, and if there are people in the water, then you have a problem,” Naylor said.

Naylor addressed a single, unconfirmed eyewitness report that on the day of the shark attacks, a freshwater estuary near the scene did not have as much brackish water as in the days leading up to the attacks.

Naylor explained that runoff from these estuaries pushes water out to sea. Without this flow, a “lens on saltwater” would have the opportunity to move closer to shore, creating an environment that allows baitfish and sharks to be seen closer to shore.

Naylor was asked what residents and tourists can do to protect themselves from shark encounters, including wearing polarized sunglasses, avoiding baitfish, removing reflective jewelry, staying in groups, avoiding swimming at dawn or dusk and, if bitten, backing out of the water “peacefully” while always facing the shark.

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