Shark attack or not?

The term "shark attack" is typically used by the media, government officials, researchers and the public to describe almost any kind of human-shark interaction -- even those where no contact or injury occurs between humans and sharks. For example, 38 percent of reported shark "attacks" in NSW between 1979 and 2009 did not involve any injuries.

Now, Christopher Neff of the University of Sydney, Australia, and Dr Robert Hueter, leader of Mote Marine Laboratory's Centre for Shark Research in Sarasota, Fla. -- the only Congressionally designated national research centre in the US focused on sharks -- propose a new system of classification to support more accurate scientific reporting about shark interactions, along with more accurate public discussion about shark risk to swimmers and divers.

To support more accurate reporting and discussion of shark incidents, the Neff-Hueter study groups them into four categories based on outcomes that can be clearly documented, rather than speculation over what the sharks' motives and intentions were. These include:

1. Shark sightings: Sightings of sharks in the water in proximity to people with no physical contact.
2. Shark encounters: No bite takes place and no humans are injured, but physical contact occurs with a person or an inanimate object holding a person, such as a surfboard or boat. A shark might also bump a swimmer and its rough skin might cause a minor abrasion.
3. Shark bites: Bites by small or large sharks that result in minor to moderate injuries.
4. Fatal shark bites: One or more bites causing fatal injuries. The authors caution against using the term "shark attack" unless the motivation and intent of the shark are clearly established by experts, which is rarely possible.

"These new categories provide better information to the public so they can judge their levels of risk based on local shark activity," Neff said. "If 'sightings' of sharks are increasing, or if 'encounters' with kayaks are decreasing these are important pieces of information. There simply is no value in using 'attack' language. It is time to move past Jaws."

"Few sharks look like the large great whites you might see on the movie screen; of about 500 shark species on Earth, most grow to less than three feet long. In addition, most shark species rarely, if ever, come into contact with humans. When they do, serious bites are the extremely rare exception rather than the rule."

Indiscriminate use of the term shark attack "...can create a perception of a premeditated crime, lowering the public's threshold for accepting shark bite incidents as random acts of nature. The narrative establishes villains and victims, cause and effect, perceptions of public risk, and a problem to be solved," the authors say in the study.

In contrast, the Neff-Hueter naming system would provide an accurate and balanced way to describe shark risks, significantly adjusting reported statistics, the authors say.

The authors write: "In short, this is a call to scientists, public officials, and the media to reconsider their discourse on the subject of sharks and to improve the accuracy of information provided to the public."