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Why Are White Shark Attacks on the Rise? | SharkFest


3m read
·Nov 11, 2024

[dramatic music]

NARRATOR: Great whites are the most feared predator in the ocean. They typically hunt large mammals, like seals, sea lions, and whales. But they are also responsible for more attacks on humans than any other shark species. And that's not all. When Collier digs into the details from the other four incidents in 2014, it appears they were all carried out by white sharks. So what's making the great whites of Southern California suddenly go on the attack?

Good morning. Thanks.

NARRATOR: According to shark expert Dr. Andrew Nosal, a great white's actions are highly driven by the presence of prey. And a major food source for these predators can be found along the coast here in abundance.

DR. ANDREW NOSAL: There's a seal.

NARRATOR: Pinnipeds. A great white's favorite food are pinnipeds, like the California sea lions we see behind us. And they like them because they're full of fat and full of nutrients.

NARRATOR: But there may be a particular time when sharks need to gorge themselves on these pinnipeds-- right before they make an incredible annual journey to a remote and mysterious location nicknamed the White Shark Cafe.

DR. ANDREW NOSAL: The White Shark Cafe is located about halfway between California and Hawaii-- so right about here in the middle of the open ocean.

NARRATOR: Dubbed a pool of nothing, this unremarkable patch of sea is roughly the size of Colorado. And for some reason, every year great whites that typically swim solo gather here by the hundreds as part of the largest known congregation of white sharks in the world. It's unclear what the purpose of the White Shark Cafe is. But one theory is that this is a place where mating is actually happening.

NARRATOR: Not only that, but these predators remain here in the middle of nowhere for months.

DR. ANDREW NOSAL: We typically see the white sharks leaving California about November, December, and then late summer is when we see them start showing up again off the coast of California.

NARRATOR: But this long-term stay seems odd because there appears to be a distinct lack of one crucial thing at the cafe-- food.

DR. ANDREW NOSAL: For a long time, we thought that it was a desert of sorts. There was nothing there.

NARRATOR: So if there's nothing to eat when they arrive, could great whites be stocking up on pinnipeds before the journey in order to sustain themselves?

DR. ANDREW NOSAL: White sharks want the easy meal, so they're going to go to a place where there's a lot of seals and sea lions.

NARRATOR: A place like the California coast. So are humans here simply in the middle of a feeding frenzy? Is that what's causing this alarming spike in attacks? According to Nosal, the answer lies far below the surface of the cafe where, in 2018, scientists make an unexpected finding involving the very thing that appeared to be absent-- food.

[uplifting music]

DR. ANDREW NOSAL: Turns out that there's actually a lot living there. There's all kinds of fish and crabs and things in the water there.

NARRATOR: This prey just lives much deeper than could previously be seen on satellite images.

DR. ANDREW NOSAL: So because they're feeding there, I don't think the white shark stocking up on food right before their migration is a sound explanation for the uptick in shark bites.

[dramatic music]

NARRATOR: Something else must be driving great whites to attack. And maybe it isn't what they're hunting, but what's hunting them.

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