Fatal shark encounter is a first for Canary Islands

A 30-year old German woman has tragically died after a shark encounter 514 kilometres off the Canary Islands.

It's reported that she died of her injuries, after going into cardiac arrest, while being flown by helicopter to hospital for treatment.

The unnamed woman was aboard a British registered catamaran, Dalliance Chichester, when the incident happened, which resulted in the loss of one of her legs.

Any such encounter is a tragic event, and our thoughts go out to the victim's family, but such shark encounters are extremely rare. 

Even more so in these waters, as according to the International Shark Attack File, there have only been six confirmed shark-related incidents in the Canary Islands. Until now, none of these were fatal. 

There have also been no previous shark encounters, which have been documented, in the area where this fatal incident happened. 

Statistically, the bull shark, the tiger shark and the great white shark are the three species of shark with the most human fatalities attributed to them.

As yet, no species of shark has been named as being involved in this incident. But even when it does, it isn't the shark's fault, this is their domain and we choose to enter it at our own - mitigated - risk.

And certainly sharks shouldn't become public enemy number one in the region, with authorities doing a Mayor Vaughn from JAWS and putting a bounty on the head of any shark swimming by (there's also no such thing as shark infested waters, it's simply where they live. Period)  to appease the tourism gods. 

Although details of this particular incident have not yet been released, it's likely that the 'attack' (let's by very clear here that sharks aren't waiting in the shadows to leap out on poor unsuspecting swimmers) was a case of mistaken identity, someone in their domain in the wrong place at the wrong time.

The ocean is a shared environment, and many people using it know that they are taking a risk (however small) that they could be sharing it with a shark that may, or may not, want to check them out.

If you are going swimming in the sea, here's some practical advice on helping you avoid a negative shark encounter and help you stay shark safe: https://thedailyjaws.com/blog/2021/4/25/how-stay-shark-safe

Words Dean Newman

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