Much Ado About Nothing?

There is a shark scare in Reunion Island these days and it doesn’t look like it will stop.



People are scared in La Reunion, sharks have attacked for the fourth time this year. Shark attacks are not new to the island but it is the first time that they occur over such a short time period. Moreover they are localized in the hyper touristic area that is the western part on the island where no shark attack had been recorded for over 30 years. The victims are all surfers, it is well known that shark often mistake them for turtles when they are swimming to get to the surf spot. Foreigners are very often subject to those attacks and the locals usually don’t bother too much because they think that they shouldn’t have been in the water at the time they were attacked. This time though it was different because a local surfer who used to be a bodyboard champion was the victim. This last case explains why the island inhabitants and local authorities changed behaviour regarding sharks, in the past you could here sentences like “another stupid surfer who comes to the island and has no idea how things are around here” or “he should have gone to surf someplace else”. The last shark victim you the 3 surfer rules very well:
- no surfing at nightfall because it is the time sharks hunt
- no surfing after the rain because the water would be full of water the inhabitants have thrown away
- no surfing when the sea is strong because water will not be clear and sharks like it
The problem is that surfers tend to forget those common rules and what has to happens ends up happening.



The fourth shark attack had immediate results: swimming was forbidden on beaches with no lagoon. The anger of the restaurants owner and shop keepers was also immediate: “what about our profits?”. A three day compaign was organized to hunt 10 sharks (only non protected species) and only one was caught on the last day of the campaign. The mayor of Saint-Paul, city where the beach of Boucan Canot is located, was called a murderer by the angry surfers after the attack when she reminded everyone present that when she was a little girl the eldest would forbid the kids to go in the water because the sea was strong. The restaurants owner requested that sharks be hunted down on a regular basis and that the subaquatic park be removed because it was considered like food storage for sharks. They forgot to ask for the move of the DCP (a device that attracts fish) that is located in Saint-Paul’s bay and is generally installed far at sea. The surfers asked that antishark shields be installed forgetting that sharks are not the only living creatures in the sea and that those creatures may get caught up in the net and die of exhaustion. They want the city hence the island inhabitants to pay for their safety, a quick reminder: only surfer are attacked by sharks.



What can you do when you are elected and a few people are creating a panic? You have to try and reassure the people even though the origin of the problem is a lack of common sense. Closing the beaches is not solving anything and will anger tourists coming to the islands and the locals on holiday; lets not forget that shark don’t (yet?) attack swimmers. Hunting the sharks is not a solution, there will always be survivors and among them one of them may attack another surfer. Using antishark shields will create more problems. There are discussions to create a new flag to warn people at beach where a shark attack has occurred. Each group who is impacted by this situation is trying to defend his interest instead of trying to find a solution together. Only a serious study on shark behaviour in the region will provide real answers to this problem, everything else is just shouting in the wind.



Last Wednesday a man was attacked by a shark as he was on an outrigger canoe, he managed to strike the shark with his paddle but it managed to bite the canoe and through the guy in the water before going away. The attack occurred at 10:15 AM in Cap La Houssaye in the north of Boucan Canot. What is going on in La Reunion? Are sharks getting used to human flesh or human blood spilled before? Are the cities in the west of the island releasing more garbage in the sea? There are a lot of questions but answers to none, one sure doesn’t feel like getting in the water these days...