A man, aged 40, has passed away following an encounter with a type of shark previously considered harmless. The individual, a tourist, was swimming and recording video approximately 100m from the shoreline in Hadera, near Israel, when he was surrounded by dusky sharks.
Eyewitnesses reported that one shark seemed to attack the man’s GoPro camera before he cried out for help as he was being bitten. Subsequently, he vanished from view as the water turned red, with shark fins visible above the surface.
Unfortunately, when rescue boats reached the scene, the man was no longer present, as per local reports. Subsequent searches recovered small amounts of human remains at sea, confirming the victim’s identity and indicating that he had been consumed by multiple sharks during the incident, according to a report in the journal Ethology.
Dusky sharks, reaching lengths of around 3m (10ft), are typically considered shy and cautious around humans despite their formidable size. Researchers attribute the rare shark attack to various factors, including animal instincts during feeding frenzies, warm water discharged from desalination plants along the coast, and the abundance of food waste dumped in the area.
Moreover, human activities such as feeding dusky sharks in the region have led to increased shark numbers. Local boat operators catering to tourists often toss fish remnants into the waters to attract sharks, creating a new behavior known as “begging” among the sharks.
This behavior has prompted the sharks to associate humans with food, resulting in them approaching divers in search of handouts. The competitive feeding environment near Hadera has caused the dusky sharks to exhibit frenzied behavior during feeding times, with scientists emphasizing the need to prevent future shark-related fatalities.
To address this issue, scientists advocate for a complete ban on all artificial shark feeding by the public to eliminate begging behavior in sharks, considering it the most crucial measure to prevent further incidents.
