“A professional diver explained what to do when meeting a shark so that it does not attack you.”, — write: www.unian.ua
A professional diver explained what to do when meeting a shark so that it does not attack you.
How to behave when meeting a shark to get out of the water alive / ua.depositphotos.comHow would you react if you came face-to-face with a shark during a leisurely swim? Ever since the cult movie “Jaws” hit the big screen 50 years ago, this fear has been lurking in the minds of many of us. Fortunately, shark attacks on humans are very rare, but in the event that you do encounter a great white, tiger, or bull shark, there are ways to deal with the situation. An experienced diver told what to do if you were attacked by sharks – more precisely, what not to do if you want to get out of the water alive.
Earlier we also told why a shark does not attack a diver – what you should know about the predator.
How to escape from a shark in the open seaAndriana Marine (Andriana Marine) is a professional diver with a master’s degree in marine biology. On her Instagram page, where she has more than half a million followers, she shares her knowledge about sharks. Andriana’s recent post debunked a common myth about saving from a potential predator attack, writes the British edition of The Mirror.
Many people mistakenly believe that the best course of action when encountering a shark is to swim away as soon as possible. However, this is not the case. In fact, you can save your life if you do the exact opposite: instead of splashing in the water in panic like prey does, you should stay put.
According to the expert, it is important to remember that no person can outrun a shark in the ocean – that is, you will not be able to swim away from it:
If you see a shark, never splash or run away – this will make you look like a wounded creature, and the shark will start chasing you, hoping that you will become easy prey for it.
In her video, Andriana showed how she tries to escape from an approaching tiger shark by slapping her fins on the water behind her. As you can see from the short clip, this only draws the shark closer. Therefore, the diver emphasizes, you should not look injured or vulnerable in the presence of sharks – you should look like their predatory relative.
Andriana showed what to do if you meet a shark:
- instead of running away, turn to face the shark;
- make eye contact;
- stand still.
If we talk about what sharks are afraid of, then on the Internet you can find information that they avoid large predators such as killer whales and sperm whales, as well as strong and unpredictable blows to vulnerable places – eyes, gills and nose. From here people have a question – where should you hit the shark during the attack in reality?
So: you don’t need to hit the shark – the expert advises, but only if necessary (!), press hard on the top of its head to move it away from you, and don’t let go until it swims away.
After the diver demonstrated this technique, the shark turned away, apparently losing interest in her. At the end of her video, Andriana shared perhaps the most important advice: “Get out of the water as calmly and quickly as possible.”
Importantly: don’t try to do anything like this again, as this is done by professionals, and never dive with sharks without trained guides.
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