On September 6th, a female cruise passenger visiting the country lost her life after being attacked by a bull shark. She and her family were snorkeling at the time. In 2019 another female visitor to the country was attacked and killed by a shark. Despite these instances, shark attacks are said to be rear.
Falon Cartwright, Director of Science and Policy at the Bahamas National Trust said, “we have had seven confirmed bites over the last decade and this would be the second fatal incident that we’ve seen. So if you think about the number of people entering the water everyday, in The Bahamas and around the world, you’re talking about millions of people. Annually an average of less the ten fatalities as a result of human and shark interactions are recorded. So we need to keep in perspective that this is really rare and that while we should be making every effort to make sure that tourist and Bahamians are as safe as possible.”
Females are often the victims of shark attacks and the question has arisen of whether menstruation is a factor. On this Ms. Cartwright said, “they don’t see humans as their natural prey as well. So often times these incidents are, they make and error, they misjudge, now there is blood in the water and then there is a frenzy, its like a reaction. But they’re not seeking out humans per se and I don’t know the data on that but I don’t think that there has been a strong causal link between saying they’re seeking out women because of that, I don’t think so.”
Ms. Cartwright recommends the further regulation of shark excursion as well as wildlife.