How to survive a shark attack

Brut America

Whatever you do, don't swim away...  Here's what to do when you encounter a shark.

Transcript

00:00As the shark gets closer, make sure you maintain eye contact and reach out your hand and lock your elbow.

00:06Then press your hand down flat on the top of the shark's head and follow through

00:10while pushing your body over and away from them.

00:30So number one most important thing whenever you're diving and even especially if you do

00:46know there are sharks in the area is to look around show your awareness that way you can

00:50see if a shark is approaching or coming into the area sooner but it also shows the shark

00:54that you're paying attention and you are aware of your environment by you know looking they can see

00:59your head moving they can see that you are an alert predator and that kind of signals to them

01:03that you are a predator rather than prey.

01:10So snorkeling and diving in areas where there is a lot more you know sediment in the water and it's

01:15harder to see makes it a lot harder for you to see if there is a shark approaching and it does

01:19make it more challenging for the shark to see what you are see where you are.

01:22You want to also avoid any splashing that you do so that excess noise of you splashing actually

01:28can signal to the shark that you are injured you're a struggling prey item which you're not

01:32you're a strong predator so you don't want to signal to them that you could be weak

01:36injured sick dying through that splashing motion.

01:42So basically turning your board different directions simulates you looking around and can

01:48turning your board different directions simulates you looking around and can

01:52show the shark that you're not just like floating at the surface like a little dead animal

01:56and that turning signals that you are showing that awareness you know in that 360 degree environment.

02:02If you're going to buy a board make sure you're buying a surfboard that doesn't have

02:06a lighter trim around the outside of the board you can see kind of like a border along it

02:11that can be attracting to the sharks especially if you have a lighter color so if you have something

02:15that is white yellow bright pink any of those kinds of colors again that higher contrast is

02:20more eye-catching to them and can definitely get more attention.

02:28Look into your local area but some things just to be aware of and some examples to give would be

02:32for example the blacktip migration in Florida that occurs from January to March there are a

02:36lot of blacktips that will come near shore that way you know there is a larger population in the

02:41area at that time and for us in Hawaii we do have a population of large female tiger sharks that tend

02:47to come through August, September, October months and those months they'll actually come near shore

02:52to pup so they're going to be closer to shore more likely to encounter people.

03:00If you are diving and you see a shark the first thing that you want to do is actually give them

03:04eye contact so show them the front of your body show them your awareness and that you are paying

03:09attention and then when they see your eye contact they do respond to that and recognize you as

03:13another apex predator. If that shark is still confident and coming up and approaching you

03:18you want to stand your ground you don't want to turn around swim and try to run away really quickly

03:22as soon as you turn and start to swim fast it kind of elicits a chase behavior similar to if

03:27you ever run by your dog and the dog wants to kind of chase you except this is a wild apex predator so

03:32you don't want to turn your back try to run away.

03:34If you have a smaller species like a reef shark approaching you we always suggest that people use

03:43if they have a gopro pull to extend that out or if you even have fins on you can extend your fin

03:48out in that shark's direction so you're claiming that space they can feel the water movement that

03:52you're claiming space towards them and you want to try to use something like your fin or that

03:57gopro pull because it is plastic you know it's not your hands so the hands on the smaller sharks

04:03sometimes they're very flexible and they can turn really quickly and they don't respond very well to

04:07physical touch with larger species for example a tiger shark you will most likely need to use

04:12something else rather than just your fins you want to try to keep yourself vertical in the water

04:16column make yourself look nice and big and then you're going to extend your arm out and as that

04:22shark is coming up you want to make sure you're locking your elbows and then push your hand on the

04:27top of their head and push over them so you can use some nice force behind this

04:37if you're going to try to hit them in the nose you're very likely going to end up in the shark's

04:42mouth so you're going to miss the nose you're going to end up where you're going to get cut in the

04:45teeth so rather than hitting them in the nose another sensitive area that you can touch would

04:50be alongside their gills so you can you know just jam your hand into the gills show them you know

04:55try to create some pressure it is a sensitive area and it's going to be uncomfortable for them

05:12shark populations are declining rapidly and there's a lot that we need to do to change to

05:15help protect and save them they are so critical for the health of the ocean as those apex predators

05:20at the top of the food chain they're picking out those sick injured dying fish and because of that

05:25they're really maintaining and balancing out the entire ecosystem we need to be better and kind of

05:30stop different fishing practices with bycatch where all these animals are caught through commercial

05:35fishing and a lot of them are just disposed of thrown back in the ocean not used at all there

05:40are so many other things including plastic pollution habitat degradation i could go on

05:45forever about different threats facing sharks but we need to do things to understand them better

05:50to minimize the fear that people have towards them learn how to coexist with them peacefully and

05:55really maintain them for the future because our oceans will not be healthy

05:58and thriving if sharks are removed forever

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