URI_Research _Magazine_Momentum_Spring_2020_Melissa-McCarthy

Summer shark sightings off the coast make for big headlines and fuel fears, closing beaches and sounding calls for protective measures. And yet, says University of Rhode Island (URI) Assistant Professor Bradley Wetherbee, the chances of an actual attack are rare and growing slimmer as shark species suffer from heavy overfishing. While he fends off the irrational falsehoods, he welcomes the curiosity and the opportunity for educating people. “A good consequence of the sensationalism is that people are really interested in sharks,” says Wetherbee, who has been teaching introductory biology, ecology, marine biology, and the biology of sharks at URI since 2001. “The bad thing is that there are a lot of misconceptions. People want to control

the ocean, control predators like we’ve done on land. But the real risk is so minimal if you look at it logically.” Humans kill as many as 100 million sharks each year through bycatch, sport, or for delicacies such as shark fin soup. At the same time, in 2018, sharks worldwide killed a total of four people according to the Florida Museum of Natural History’s International Shark Attack File. Bycatch accounts for the greatest number of shark killings, Wetherbee says. Sharks often swim in the same place as fish like tuna or swordfish, seeking the same food, and they wind up caught on lines or in nets. Fishermen then discard the sharks dead or alive.

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