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Home: Monterey Bay Sanctuary: Sporadic events: Shark attacks
SHARK ATTACKS (2011, 2007, 2003)
White Shark
FACTS
  • Shark attacks on humans are extremely rare events.
  • White sharks (Carcharodon carcharias) are involved in most attacks within the central California region.
  • Human encounters with white sharks are believed to be a result of investigation, mistaken identity, and territoriality.
  • Since the late 1950's, there have been only eleven fatal attacks on the West Coast.
Shark attacks involving humans are extremely rare events. Within the central California region the primary species involved in attacks on humans is the white shark (Carcharodon carcharias), a large predatory species attracted to the region by pinniped (seals and sea lions) breeding sites found at the Farallon Islands, Point Año Nuevo and Point Piedras Blancas.

Although the primary reason for most attacks is a cause for much debate, it is believed that investigation is the background force behind most white shark encounters. Other common reasons also include mistaken identity and territoriality. White sharks in particular are visual predators with a high visual acuity making it unlikely that they would be unable to differentiate between a human and a prey item.

Shark attack map
Figure 1. Shark attacks within the Monterey Bay, Gulf of the Farallones, and Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuaries since 1952. [View full size map]
Results from research conducted at the Farallon Islands suggest that white sharks will inspect any floating object, first with a visual inspection and if this doesn't provoke a reaction, the shark further investigates using its mouth, an exceptionally tactile instrument. Each tooth is equipped with pressure and position sensitive nerves that enable the shark to feel how their teeth flex as they bite. This means a bite is able to contain a vast amount of tactile and sensory information, a useful tool for an investigative animal with no hands.

The theory of investigative bites is further supported when taken into consideration that white shark attacks rarely result in human fatality despite the shark's power; there were less than ten recorded fatal attacks in California from 1952 - 2007. When these attacks are compared to the damage an adult white shark can inflict on its prey during an all out attack, they are surprisingly gentle affairs.

White sharks are a protected species and listed as vulnerable by the IUCN Red List, a database used by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature to catalogue and highlight those species that are facing a higher risk of global extinction. White sharks have been found to follow a predictable migratory cycle. Individuals in the genetically-distinct Northeast Pacific population persistently return to the same network of coastal hotspots (Tomales Point, Point Reyes, South East Farallon Island, and Aņo Nuevo Island) every fall and winter, before migrating toward focal areas off Hawaii and Baja California around the month of January. Recent white shark population research led by Taylor Chapple (UC Davis) and Dr. Barbara Block (Stanford University) off Tomales Point and the Farallon Islands used photographs of white shark dorsal fins to identify 130 unique individuals. A statistical model was then applied to estimate the total adult and sub-adult white shark population in the Central California region at 219. White sharks play an important role in maintaining the health of marine systems, and such research provides critical baseline data that will increase our understanding of natural population dynamics and anthropogenic impacts in the future.

Recent Shark Attacks in and adjacent to the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary:
mauled Northern elephant seal
Mauled Northern elephant seal (Mirounga angustirostris) at elephant seal rookery, San Simeon.
Photo: Friends of the Elephant Seals.

mauled Harbor seal
Mauled Harbor seal (Phoca vitulina) in Monterey Bay.
Photo: Miller, September 2007.

sign closeup
Shark attack posting at Moss Landing State beach.
Photo: Andrew DeVogelaere, October 2011.

posted warning
Shark attack posting at an entrance to Moss Landing State beach.
Photo: Andrew DeVogelaere, October 2011.

Links to More Information

History of shark attacks in Monterey: Caution, graphic images
http://darwin.bio.uci.edu/~rvilla/attack.html

Shark attack information from Southern California Bight Elasmobranch Consortium (Scripps Institution of Oceanography):
http://www.sharkbight.com/education/SharkAttack.php

1926-2006 Map of California's confirmed unprovoked shark attacks from the International Shark Attack File 1926-2006:
http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/sharks/statistics/GAttack/mapCA.htm

California Dept. of Fish and Game, white shark information page:
http://www.dfg.ca.gov/marine/whiteshark.asp

Tagging of Pacific Predators white shark page:
http://topp.org/species/white_shark

Summary of the census of white sharks:
http://sanctuarysimon.org/news/index.php/2011/06/first-census-of-white-sharks-finds-surprisingly-small-population-off-central-california/


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