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           Recent Spike in Shark Attacks Reported Off Carolinas Coast

   by Associated Press

   Shark experts have a not-so-reassuring explanation for a recent spate
   of attacks along on the coast of the Carolinas: It's mainly because so
   many people are getting in the water.

   Six shark attacks were recorded in June in North Carolina waters, and
   the two most recent victims had to be flown to a hospital in Virginia
   for treatment. That's more than North Carolina has recorded in any
   single year dating to 2000. But it's all a matter of perspective, said
   George Burgess, director of the [1]Florida Program for Shark Research.

   There were 28 attacks reported in Florida in 2014. So far this year,
   there have been 11 shark attacks there, with eight of those in
   neighboring Brevard and Volusia counties. Volusia is home to Daytona
   Beach, which is often packed with tourists.

   "Obviously that's a much smaller area than the area of North Carolina
   that's been affected, from the southern border up to Cape Hatteras,''
   Burgess said. "... Those eight attacks have not generated much more
   than passing interest here in Florida.''

   Americans made 2.2 billion visits to beaches in 2010, up from 2 billion
   in 2001, according to a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers estimate.

   "We're basically flooding them out of their own home. It's a function
   of how many people we've got,'' Burgess said. "You get this unholy mix
   of bait fish, sharks and humans together. When you have that, you're
   going to have some bites.''

   Roger Rulifson, a distinguished professor of biology and senior
   scientist at East Carolina University, said that there have been
   reports of small bait fish coming closer to shore this summer, which
   attracts sharks. There have also been reports of larger numbers of sea
   turtles along the coast, which sharks also like to eat, he said.

   Rulifson said he recently vacationed at Ocean Isle Beach, where there's
   already been one reported shark bite, and was unintentionally catching
   small black tip sharks with minnows on an inlet on the island's west
   end.

   Rulifson said one of his graduate students has also done research
   showing that bull sharks, which can be one of the more aggressive shark
   breeds found off the Carolinas, have been able to create a nursery in
   the Pamlico Sound off the Outer Banks each year since 2011.

   Each attack is also unique, and it's highly unlikely there's any one
   dangerous shark roaming the coast, especially given the extensive
   geographic area in which they've occurred, said Fred Scharf, professor
   of fisheries biology at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington.

   Despite the attention the attacks have brought, tourists aren't
   expected to cancel trips en masse, said Lee Nettles, executive director
   of the Outer Banks Visitors Bureau in North Carolina.

   After all, a person is more likely to be struck by lightning than be
   attacked by a shark: from 1959 to 2010, there were 193 people killed by
   lightning strikes, according to the Florida Museum of Natural History's
   International Shark Attack File.

   By comparison, there were 39 shark attacks in North Carolina during the
   same period. Only one was deadly.
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   [2]http://www.voanews.com/content/spike-in-shark-attacks-carolinas/2842
   548.html

References

   1. http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/sharks/fpsr/fpsr.htm
   2. http://www.voanews.com/content/spike-in-shark-attacks-carolinas/2842548.html