Headed to the beach this summer? Here's what you need to know about shark safety

School is out in Georgia and summer is in full swing, with many Georgians heading to Georgia and Florida beaches.

Florida's Gulf Coast beaches are less than a day's drive for most Georgians, and the waters there have been carefully watched recently after shark attacks in shallow water closed several beaches off Highway 30A.

For more on sharks, we turn to Dr. Ryan Saylor, a fish expert and assistant professor of biology from Berry College in Rome, Georgia. He spoke with GPB's Peter Biello.

TRANSCRIPT

Peter Biello: So stories of sharks off the coast can be pretty scary but tell us about the reality of it. What should people do? What advice do you have for people who might be venturing into shallow waters in Florida beaches or off the coast of Georgia?

Dr. Ryan Saylor: Sure. I think it's a great question, and it really applies to all of us Georgians, right? Whether we're going into the ocean, you know, in this particular case, or if we're going into other wilderness, it's like what I like to consider as a calculated risk. When we head into national forest, we often think about maybe the bears we may encounter. If you're out west, you might encounter mountain lions, it's part of that risk of wildlife. I think a lot of times we get caught up in the beautiful scenery of these beaches and forget that it's a wilderness and there's wild animals in there, and they happen to be, you know, longer than us, heavier than us. And they have these, right? They have sharp teeth. And, you know, the more we know about them and the more caution we have entering in there, the better off we are. Right? It's just a part of that calculated risk of enjoying the outdoors.

Peter Biello: And for those listening on the radio who couldn't see what you just did, you held up a skeletal jaw of a shark. Is that what that was?

Dr. Ryan Saylor: Yeah. We have here — this is relevant. This is a silky shark. Would have been roughly maybe 4 to 5, 6 feet long. It's in the same family as the sharks that have been linked with the attacks here in Florida, the bull shark. It's in the family called the Carcharhinidae or the requiem sharks. It's a very speciose group, there's a lot of different species, and this happens to be one of the real common ones that you often, that people often fish in Florida and all throughout the Gulf of Mexico. They all have very similar triangular-shaped teeth with serrations — it's hard to see here — but they're just really a utility kind of group where they kind of just eat whatever they can, but they're mostly fish eaters, right? They're really designed for that.

Peter Biello: Okay. So if you are venturing out into their neck of the wilderness, the water, is there behavior that you should engage in or avoid to keep yourself safe?

Dr. Ryan Saylor: Sure. There's a lot of information out there, and I would really encourage the viewers to look into the International Shark Attack File that's managed by the University of Florida. They actually have a lot of tremendously helpful information in there. And part of that is just some of the decisions you might make. And I think it really came on full display here. You know, these individuals were attacked on beaches where there were actually quite a few people. And I think one of the draws for some of these beaches, even in Florida, because I'm familiar with these beaches, is the isolation you can get, right? You're on this private beach. There's nobody around, but there's also nobody around to help in these events. And in this case, there were many people on the beach. And in fact, one of the last attacks, there were doctors on the beach and nurses and getting those folks out, it's all about getting them out and stopping the bleeding as soon as possible. And it's just a tremendous thing. So making the decision to swim with a buddy or friends, not to isolate yourself and to swim at beaches that are more populated or have lifeguards or other emergency crews on standby. They're trained for things like this, you know. It's so rare. It doesn't happen necessarily all the time or on a routine basis, but they are trained to deal with these things. So having those experts around and then more people, the more likely it is to have somebody. So, and then we're not — you know, even the best swimmers pale in comparison to the worst fish, right? And a lot of that comes with the splashing of the hands and the feet. And if you look at a lot of these attacks, a lot of those are generated there, especially here in Florida in the Gulf. They're going for the hands that are flashing. They're going for the feet that are flashing that maybe aren't covered with swim trunks, and some of the colors.

Peter Biello: So sharks like movement, they're attracted to the movement is what you're saying?

Dr. Ryan Saylor: Absolutely. It mimics some of the fish that they're — You know, sharks are great, right? We need sharks out there to eat the fish that are dying, that are diseased. They're great garbage disposals out there, and they're looking for these twitchy movements that indicate that that fish probably isn't completely healthy and they go for it. And again, even on our best days, we make a lot of noise, right? We make a lot of noise and very splashy. And we rely heavily on our eyes, and sharks have better eyesight than us but that's the worst of all their senses, right? They have way more senses than that attune to sound, smell, electroreception, just a suite of things. So the more we can minimize that, the better. And if you're at these really populated beaches, they put out shark advisories. It's usually a purple flag to indicate there's some kind of dangerous marine life there. So if you listen to those, I mean, most people are out and I'm kind of surprised we don't have more drone patrols, for instance. Because of that, you know, there's all these videos from people's cameras and drones now. Fantastic footage of just off shore. It's amazing what we can get now.

Peter Biello: Are we seeing more shark sightings? Is it becoming more frequent, or is it simply an effect of everybody having cameras ready to film something when they see it?

Dr. Ryan Saylor: You know, I, I think that's a great question. And it seems like probably a combination of both. I think some other experts agree that it seems like some of the numbers are up from previous years where they had went down. But we also live in a world where the phone is part of our body now, almost. And then there's quite a few people that make a living putting out these drone footage and, you know, these media productions. There's just a lot of people interested in videoing what's going on out there, whether it's a little snippet or whether it's a full on video press for a photography company. And then this is around the time of year where more people are getting into the water in Florida and honestly, as we get closer to July and August, the water's so warm down there that, you know, in my experience, I was less likely to go in now. So there's a lot more people going in the water. And these sharks are also following their food, which travels along the coast. There's a lot of spawning activity. You know, they're attuned to their prey. That's what brings them in there. They know where their prey is, and we happen to swim in the same areas.

Peter Biello: What about shark tagging by way of tracking them to see if we can figure out where they are via GPS or whatever? Is that a thing? Is that effective at keeping people safe? Can you track sharks that way?

Dr. Ryan Saylor: Yeah. There's certain groups that do that kind of as their main source of data. For instance, OCEARCH ... off the coast of Florida oftentimes they're over there tagging those big white sharks that always make the news because it's phenomenal to get these creatures. And, you know, they're literally bolting these GPS tags on there that will essentially just continuously show us where they're at. And the public can actually view those too, right, they can go in and view where those sharks are. If we scale that down, there's research labs all along the Gulf of Mexico that are actively researching shark populations because, believe it or not, shark populations were in decline for a very long time because of human activity. And they're starting to bounce back a little bit. And so part of that is the satellite telemetry, which allows us to track them both when we see them, but when we don't, so that when they pop up and the more we can get this unbiased estimate of where they're traveling, the more we know about their natural behavior. Because as we get close in boats and things, that can affect their behavior, so these satellite archival tags not only tell us where they're at, but also give us some indication of depth, temperature, and can give us a lot more just than where they are generally, just how deep they are, too. So it's tremendously useful life history, and by default, that can help us understand maybe when they're in closer to shore versus off shore. For instance, you know, white sharks don't come in close to shore on the East Coast until the summer, all the way up in Maine. And they're usually off-shore where it's colder. So that's all from tagging and a lot of tremendous effort from these other shark biologists that they spend their careers studying these animals. It's magnificent. You know, they're lucky, I'm a fish fanatic. And I always appreciate the shark guys out there, and ladies.

Peter Biello: Well, let me ask you about the great white sharks, because recently, a few were spotted off the coast of Georgia. It seems like what you're saying is that it would be normal for great white sharks to be off the coast of Georgia. And is it normal for this time of year in particular?

Dr. Ryan Saylor: You probably wouldn't see great whites off the coast of Georgia, not right off the coast. They really like cold water. You'll often observe them in the wintertime when the water is colder, and that's usually deeper, deeper off. There's really nothing to bring them to the shoreline that you find in areas of California or Massachusetts or New England where their marine mammal prey are. So we won't see them real close to the shore, most of what we're seeing in Florida and in the Gulf Coast are going to be bull sharks, dusky sharks, those requiem sharks I was talking about, the largest of which could be a tiger shark. They do venture in there.

Peter Biello: I see.

Dr. Ryan Saylor: And the bull sharks and tiger sharks have probably been linked with most of the attacks here in Florida compared to the other species. So while it might be in the Gulf in the winter when it's colder, you would be unlikely to run into them in the summer.

Peter Biello: Okay. I'm not sure I'm any less terrified having spoken to you a little bit about this, Dr. Saylor, but any parting thoughts as people head off into the — into the ocean in the summer?

Dr. Ryan Saylor: Yeah, sure. I mean, I'm not gonna lie. I mean, even I, when I go into the water, think about these things, right? And I can only imagine how scary it actually is to go through this, you know, my heart goes out to the families and the people dealing with it, and I just wanted to really share how everybody came together to really help those individuals. You know, there's just all these things that came together, you know, people being on the beach, the hospitals being close, and it's just a real sense of community when you go down there. And, you know, I think about this too, when I go in the water and I don't swim alone, but that doesn't keep me from the water either, right? And I pay attention to the professionals when they say, "hey, stay out of the water, there's jellyfish." Okay, well, I don't want to get stung by those either, right? So, just add it to your calculations, right? And then if somebody says, "hey, there's something dangerous swimming in the water." Let's get out for a couple of minutes and then wait till it goes by. You know, there's no reason we can't enjoy it, but it is a wilderness and there is some caution we have to exercise with that. But I implore everybody to enjoy the water, it's wonderful down there this time of year, and I look forward to seeing more of the wonderful footage that everyday citizens can put up online, it's amazing.

Peter Biello: All right. Well, fish fanatic and assistant professor of biology at Berry College in Rome, Ga., Dr. Ryan Saylor, thank you so much for speaking with me, I really appreciate it.

Dr. Ryan Saylor: Oh, it's my pleasure. You have a great day and hopefully we'll do it again sometime.

Peter Biello: All right, let's hope.