Shark Problems (from a human’s viewpoint) 171
ocean and the extremely low number of attacks that occur each year, we
feel such concerns are unjustified (see the next question).
Someone swimming or fishing might find having a few sharks around
troubling. But sharks seldom if ever reach the abundance achieved by some
other elasmobranchs whose numbers do have serious economic and eco-
logical impacts. Feeding schools of Cownose Rays along the eastern U.S.
seaboard, commonly in shallow bays such as the Chesapeake, can num-
ber in the hundreds. The rays move across grass, mud, and sand flats, ex-
posing prey with their flapping pectoral fins and then suctioning up food
organisms with their mouths. They crush shellfish such as clams, oysters,
and scallops using their pavement dentition. Their large numbers and high
rates of shellfish consumption have led to proposals to create a commercial
fishery targeting rays as a means of reducing ray predation on such com-
mercially important organisms as clams and oysters.
Are sharks dangerous to people?
Before 1916, there was little fear of sharks in North America simply be-
cause there had been no documented shark attacks on humans in temperate
waters (ignoring reports from other temperate countries such as Australia
and South Africa). In 1891, Hermann Oelrichs, a banker and adventurer,
even put up a sizable reward for anyone who could document a shark attack
in the temperate waters of North America. Historian Michael Capuzzo
concluded that respected scientists, shark experts included, were of the
opinion that “sharks were not capable of inflicting serious injury to man.”
A mountain of dogfish. Fishers
targeting other species along the
Pacific Coast of the United States
and Canada can wind up with more
Spiny Dogfish than anything else, as
happened with this catch off south-
ern California. Photo by John Wallace, www
.photolib.noaa.gov/htmls/fish 0221 .htm