Experts Warn Influencer Behavior May Be Leading to More Shark Attacks

Yahoo

25-04-2025

Like tapping the glass on a fish tank, influencers are getting a little too bold with wild sharks—pushing boundaries in the predators' own territory. And despite Hollywood's killer-shark narrative, researchers say many so-called attacks are just defensive moves. The sharks didn't sign up to be part of anyone's viral stunt.
According to a new study in Frontiers in Conservation Science, French scientists say the spike in shark attacks isn't random—it's fueled by selfie-chasing influencers egging tourists on to pet the ocean's cold-blooded predators.
'I don't encourage, as many influencers do on social networks, [people] to cling to a shark's dorsal fin or stroke it, under the pretext of proving that they are harmless,' lead researcher Professor Eric Clua of PSL University in Paris, France, told The Times of London.
To examine the cause of recent shark attacks, Professor Clua and his team examined records of encounters off the coast of French Polynesia between 2009 and 2023. They found that of the 74 bites recorded during this period—most of which were from smaller and medium-sized sharks—around 5 percent were likely to have been the result of sharks acting out in defense.
Clua pointed out that these defensive bites often happened without warning and usually involved multiple quick bites, typically leaving only minor injuries, and superficial wounds. A deeper dive into the Shark Attack Files—a global database dating back to the 1800s—uncovered over 300 similar incidents driven by self-defense.
In the study researchers focused on bites linked to activities that might put people in proximity to sharks and were classified as 'provoked.' This showed that 322 bite events could have been motivated by self-defense, which coincides with the 5 percent of self-defense bites that were recorded in French Polynesia. Scientists believe that these observations might be transferable to the rest of the world.
While experts like Clua, work to prevent more attacks, sharing messages like "these are potentially dangerous animals, and not touching them is not only wise, but also a sign of the respect we owe them.' Influencers continue to produce content that encourages contact with sharks.
Popular Instagrammer Ocean Ramsey is an example of the behavior Clua and his team are discouraging. The influencer is one the more controversial figures in the shark encounter scene, and regularly posts close footage and offers tips on avoiding contact with tiger sharks—like minimizing splashing and staying upright in the water.
In a previous post Ramsey shared her deep admiration for sharks. "I want to help people to overcome their fear of sharks, so they will help protect them, but a high healthy level of respect while working in water with them should remain with a constant awareness of their behavior and proximity," she said to justify her close interaction with sharks.
Another influencer and wildlife photographer Taylor Cunningham is often pictured touching the nose of a tiger shark off of Hawaii. 'The sharks here feel like family,' the self-proclaimed 'crazy shark lady' and went on to say "It's an unrequited love. I know this is a one way relationship. But I can't help but be attached."
As mentioned in The New York Post, the study comes just two months after a Canadian tourist lost both her hands after getting bitten by a 6-foot shark that she was trying to take a photo with in Turks and Caicos. Earlier this month, Barak Tzach, 40, a father of four who was killed while trying to film sharks in the water off Hadera, Israel. However, it's unclear in either case if the victims touched or fed the predators.
For context, approximately 100 million sharks are killed annually. This translates to roughly 274,000 sharks per day. The primary drivers of this high mortality rate include shark finning, bycatch in fishing nets, and targeted fishing for sharks and other marine life, according to the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW). With that in mind, the odds are sharks are at higher risks of getting killed daily than humans are likely to encounter a shark attack.
During an interview with The Times, and in addition to reducing the number of such bites in the field, Clua made his message clear. "We hope that one of the major effects of our study will be to modify the vision and attitude of journalists by suggesting that they take a closer look at the conditions in which bites occur, without systematically blaming the animals, but rather making humans more responsible, Clua said.