A shark alert has once again been declared in Sharm el-Sheikh, a resort town in Egypt, after a 70-year-old German woman was attacked by a whitetip shark as she snorkeled close to the shore on December 5. She lost a leg and half her right arm and died in the water.
The authorities in Egypt have again closed the beaches, and tour operators fear that foreigners may flee the Red Sea coast. Nobody can guarantee their safety, and the comments of oceanographers give no reason for optimism.
The cause of the attacks could be the reckless tourists who throw food into the sea, or major changes in the sea's ecosystem. Unfortunately for ocean lovers, there is no way for individuals to protect themselves from an aggressive shark.
Hotels in Sharm el-Sheikh offer spectacular scuba diving right off their own beaches, while the less adventurous can snorkel in the warm sea and admire the multicolored coral and fish. Even people who can't swim can grab a mask and marvel at the beauty of the underwater world right beneath their feet. Nobody ever thought that Sharm el-Sheikh beaches could be dangerous.
The shark attacks have frightened Russian tourists, for whom Egypt has become a favorite destination in recent years. Actually, Russians were the first victims of the attacks this fall. On November 30 and December 1, four tourists - three Russians and a Ukrainian - were seriously injured by sharks. One of the tourists, a 70-year-old woman, lost her right hand and left leg in the attack.
The local authorities immediately prohibited diving and swimming in the sea and caught two sharks allegedly responsible for the attacks. The latest shark attack, however, occurred just a day after the beaches had been reopened on December 4.
Beaches in Sharm el-Sheikh have now been closed indefinitely, and it is difficult to say what will happen next. The Egyptian authorities are waiting for the media commotion to die down. But even when it does, they will still be unable to guarantee tourists' safety. Special underwater barriers against sharks have been built but not along the entire coast. And experts say these barriers do not ensure 100% protection because they require regular maintenance and repair.
According to the Russian Union of Travel Industry, the attacks have likely killed the tourism business on the Red Sea coast.
"You can imagine the fear tourists now feel when they think about swimming in the Red Sea. Tours will be cancelled, both to Sharm el-Sheikh and also to other Egyptian resorts. Moreover, Israel and Jordan also have beaches on the Red Sea. Nobody knows how many sharks might attack people there, and nobody can guarantee that there is not a killer shark moving along the coast," reads the statement posted on the Union's website.
The reasons for the shark attacks are unclear.
After the first tragedy, director of Sinai Conservation Mohammed Salem said in an interview with RIA Novosti that uncontrolled fishing in the popular diving areas have left the sharks without food. "That forces the sharks to approach the shore in search for food," Salem said. He noted that previously there were only one or two shark attacks a year.
Russian oceanographers agree that lack of food is the main reason for the attacks.
"The growing popularity of scuba diving has also played a part because divers scare away the large fish the sharks hunt," said Vladimir Ushivtsev, the head of the Caspian branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences' Institute of Oceanology.
Experts warn that sharks have a keen sense of smell and are easily provoked. Yet, tourists and scuba divers often throw food into the sea to attract sharks. Moreover, the Egyptian media earlier reported that a cargo vessel carrying sheep to Jordan threw the bodies of dead sheep overboard. Whitetip sharks could have been attracted by the smell.
"I agree that this could have contributed to the appearance of sharks near the beach," said Antonina Polyakova, an assistant professor at the oceanography department of Moscow State University's Geography Faculty. But there could also be less obvious factors at play. "It also could be caused by changes in the ecosystem and in the global climate," she said, adding that more time is needed to thoroughly analyze the situation before conclusions can be made.
Nobody knows when tourists will be able to swim in the Red Sea without fear again. And individuals are essentially helpless in the face of a shark attack; even the deepest knowledge of these sea predators will not help.
"I can only recommend that tourists not swim and not throw food into the sea," said Sergei Yevseyenko, the head of the oceanic ichthyology lab at the Oceanology Institute. He warns that no distance is safe when there are sharks around and that sharks can swim extremely close to the shore.
The views expressed in this article are the author's and do not necessarily represent those of RIA Novosti.
