Man-Eating Sharks in Primorye: How to Stay Safe

On July 7, fishermen recorded a large shark circling in Paris Bay near the Primorsky Oceanarium on Russky Island. The predator, sensing tuna in the boat, long pursued the vessel while swimmers relaxed in the same bay. Since early June, more than a dozen shark encounters have been recorded in the region, including at popular tourist spots — Triozerye Bay and Cape Tobizina.

Scientists count 12 shark species in Primorye waters. However, only three can attack humans: the mako (grey-blue), great white, and hammerhead. Most often in the last three years, fishermen encounter mako. These predators often pursue boats hoping for easy prey near the islands of the Empress Eugenie Archipelago, including the tourist-popular Zheltukhin and Reineke islands.

The mako is one of the fastest sharks, capable of leaping high out of the water. Average length is 2.5–3.5 meters (8.2–11.5 ft), some individuals reach 4 meters (13.1 ft), and the record size is about 4.45 meters (14.6 ft). It lives in the open ocean but sometimes approaches the shores of Primorye, including Peter the Great Bay. It feeds on fish (mackerel, tuna, sardines, and more) and occasionally attacks dolphins and other sharks. There are known cases of attacks on humans.

The great white shark (man-eater) averages 5–6 meters (16.4–19.7 ft). It lives at depths up to 250 meters (820 ft), but during migration can appear near shore. In Primorye it is rare, mainly in warm years. The hammerhead shark with its characteristic hammer-shaped head grows up to 4 meters (13.1 ft), feeds on crabs, shrimp, and fish. It migrates in summer from the southern part of the Sea of Japan into Peter the Great Bay and the Tatar Strait. Attacks on humans have been recorded.

Candidate of Biological Sciences Alexander Olifirenko noted that the mako mostly hunts fish, but sometimes chooses larger prey. «It likes to feed on carcasses of cetaceans floating dead on the surface. So mako sometimes attack boats, try to bite them — they mistake them for the carcass of a whale, seal, or dolphin. That»s typical for them — to try everything on their teeth. A shark attack on a human is more of a great rarity, at least in our waters certainly. It does not attack a human on purpose, but by mistake. But its teeth are very sharp, so it can cause serious harm,« the biologist explained.

The expert urged not to panic: in his words, in Primorye the cross-jellyfish (крестовичок, a venomous species) is much more dangerous, having killed far more people than sharks, as well as swimming while intoxicated.

Here is where sharks have been seen this year: On June 2, a mako was caught off Putyatin Island (about 50 km or 31 miles from Vladivostok). A couple of weeks later — near the Avangard settlement outside Nakhodka. An eyewitness filmed as «a shark is coming at us, huge!» Then a shark jumped out of the water at Cape Tobizina. Predators were also encountered in Tikhaya and Kaplunova bays, near the village of Amgu, next to the pier of the Nakhodka Base for Active Marine Fishing. Specialists from TINRO (Pacific Research Fisheries Center) note a high probability of sharks appearing in Ussuri Bay, off islands south of Russky, near the Empress Eugenie Archipelago, in Sobol and Tikhaya bays, as well as off Cape Tobizina and Putyatin Island.

The main reason for the invasion, according to scientists, is the food base. A huge amount of sardine (ivasi) entered the waters of Peter the Great and Amur bays, followed by bluefin tuna, and then sharks. «Two processes have coincided: natural long-term cycles in the abundance of species like ivasi, and major climatic fluctuations such as El Niño in the Pacific Ocean. They cause the forage fish to concentrate massively off our shores for several years, and large predators follow,» Alexander Olifirenko explained.

The director of the organization «Green Cross» Konstantin Drozdov added that the number of reports of shark catches has also increased due to the sharply growing number of fishermen who went for tuna. «We record so many catches of these sharks for one simple reason: tuna came — and everyone massively went to fish for it. The gear for tuna and for shark is the same. Accordingly, if we didn»t have so many fishermen with large gear capable of catching a shark, they would be caught much less often,« Drozdov noted. At the same time, he confirmed that there are indeed noticeably more sharks this year, but they do not pose a primary danger: »First of all, sharks that hunt seals are dangerous to humans, that is, larger species such as the great white. All sharks have their own specialization, and the mako, spiny dogfish, and herring shark are primarily fish predators.«

As the sea warms, fish schools will move northward, followed by tuna and sharks.

Statistics say the probability of a shark attack on a human is only 1 in 11.5 million (the chance of dying from a lightning strike is higher — 1 in 79,700). Nevertheless, safety rules should be followed:

If you encounter a shark, the main thing is to remain calm. Do not make noise, do not make sudden movements, do not strike the predator first. Look the shark in the eyes, slowly swim to shore or boat. If other people are nearby, stay together, you can stand back to back to track the predator«s movements. In case of a bite, try to hit the shark on the gills — this is the most sensitive area.