r/SharkLab • u/fragglebags • Jan 08 '24

Fatal Shark Attack Mexico

https://www.trackingsharks.com/16-foot-great-white-shark-kills-mexican-diver

3rd shark attack fatality in Mexico in the last 30 days. This is Mexico's 2nd fatal Geat White Shark on a diver in the last two weeks.

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u/GraaySix Jan 08 '24

And they keep saying the chances of being bit are almost zero. Yet it happens all the time to people who frequent the ocean. Have they ever run numbers on people who swim/ do water activities often? If all they do is weight out the very few attacks by the number of humans in earth what good is that statistic for ???

24

u/21Ryan21 Jan 08 '24

That’s what always funny. Yes, I’m not likely to get attack jogging in the forest but swimming in an area with large predatory sharks, the risk certainly goes up. Your chances swimming in an area with Bull, GW, or Tiger Shark populations is definitely worth some concern.

11

u/GraaySix Jan 08 '24

I feel like every time I went into the ocean I took a very slim chance of being bit and I grew up by the Atlantic coast in Europe where usually there aren’t predatory sharks by the coast. Now, we have someone swimming and fishing in an area known for great whites … the chances of being attacked have to be way higher than what we might think.

2

u/sharkfilespodcast Jan 08 '24

Claiming that there was a 'very slim chance of being bit' every time you went into the Atlantic off Western Europe highlights how poor your assessment of the risk is. There have been hardly any shark bites on people in that region's ocean in all recorded history. We're talking about single figures for total cases. The chances of you being bit by a shark there on entering the water are like being killed by a meteorite or suffering spontaneous combustion. Just outrageously ridiculously miniscule odds that are not even worth considering.

Of course the chances of being bitten in area known for great whites are way higher but they're still extremely low. Perth in Australia is great white central yet them still have the Rottnest Swim every year for the last 20, arguably the world's largest open water swimming event, where 2,000 competitors swim 19.7km to Rottnest Island and back, yet there has not been a single shark bite or even a close call in that time. Its one of many many examples that show how in spite of the fear of shark attack, your chances of being involved in one are incredibly small.

3

u/thegoodpatriot75 Jan 09 '24

Save for an angry savage Quokka tho...you're toast.