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Shark Attacks by Alex MacCormick
Shark Attacks by Alex MacCormick
Don't be fooled by the title of the updated book Shark Attacks. Overall, writer Alex MacCormick takes a fiercely protectionist line, scathingly condemning shark-fin overfishing for rich gourmet diners and praising prohibitions and shark fisheries.
But the other contents of her book are not inclined to bring much comfort to readers. For although she points out that since 1990 there have been few more than 350 shark attacks worldwide, only 80 of them fatal, she gives more than 250 terrifying accounts of them.
Take the case of a shark-boat skipper who slits open the belly of a 360kg tiger shark and out rolls a human head, pelvis and arm. Or the 69-year-old man who jumped off his backyard dock for an evening swim straight into the mouth of a bull shark!
Courtesy of Britain's Shark Trust, MacCormick gives simple guidelines to reduce the chances of unwelcome encounters with sharks, more than half of which take place in less than 1.5m of water. Of 430 known shark species, she says only 30 have been identified as having attacked human beings.
If you want to be gruesomely enlightened, this is for you.
Bernard Eaton
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Shark Attacks by Alex MacCormick (Constable & Robinson, ISBN 1841196835). Paperback, 288pp, £7.99
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