Have Hawaii's Residents Developed Better Taste? Nope

Recently Dr. Carl Meyer, of the Holland Shark Lab, was featured in a video by TIME Magazine on Hawaii's increase in shark attacks during 2012.  The video highlights how the Shark Research Group went out simply to understand these animals and ended up dispelling several popular assumptions of shark behavior, in turn saving many of these magnificent animals.  Dr. Meyer reveals the true significance of the increase in unprovoked shark attacks in Hawaiian waters. Take a listen and look at the video embedded below.

     






















So there you have it.  When comparing the amount of time beach goers spend in the water to the change in occurrence of attacks, the change of rate is not a significant event.  Hearing that the rate of shark attacks has more than doubled is an attention grabbing statement.  When you compare nine non-fatal attacks to the millions of hours swimmers, surfers, and SCUBA divers expose themselves to potential shark attack, the probability of being bitten is minuscule.  So no, it does not appear that Hawaii residents are tasting better.

The Tiger Shark Research Program most likely has prevented the culling of hundreds, if not thousands, of sharks.  Check out their webpage to discover the geographic range of local tiger sharks as well as other exciting experiments and developments.  

For more information, please visit the following pages.

"Are Shark Attacks on the Rise?" (video): http://www.time.com/time/video/player/0,32068,2168047836001_2136644,00.html

Carl Meyer's Home Page: http://www2.hawaii.edu/~carlm/welcome.html

HIMB Shark Research Group: http://www.himb.hawaii.edu/sharklab/