How To Survive A Shark Attack At The Jersey Shore

We've had A LOT of shark talk over the last week or so at the Jersey Shore and for good reason.  If you haven't heard, a Great White Shark was caught just one mile from Seaside Heights and another 800 pound Great White was recently tracked by Ocearch near our shorelines.  Experts have been saying that thousands of sharks are swimming though the Jersey Shore coast in an effort to get to warmer waters. While shark attacks are super-rare, it can happen. So, I dug in to find out exactly what to do if you need to survive one.

Accord to the people who know, a.k.a. David Angotti, founder of www.FloridaPanHandle.com here is what  you need to do to survive a shark attack:

1. DON'T PLAY DEAD!
This works for bears, but not sharks.

2. MAINTAIN EYE CONTACT
If shark circles or bumps you, it will attack.

3. FIGHT
Use hard objects (or your hands) and jab the nose, gills, and eyes.

4. ALL BITES ARE NOT EQUAL
Try to make sure the shark is not able to bite your neck or face.

5. GET OUT OF WATER
The shark may keep attacking you until you are out of water

6. GET HELP, APPLY PRESSURE & STAY WARM
Call an ambulance, stop the bleeding, and try to prevent shock.

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Not everyone is deathly afraid of sharks, in fact in a recent survey, 15% would volunteer to be attacked by a shark for the story if they knew they would survive! I'm not sure who those people are but they are savage.

David Angotti also let me know how rare facing a shark attack really is, “While commercial air travel is widely considered to be among the safest modes of transportation, the chances of dying in a plane crash is exponentially greater than being merely attacked by a shark. To put these numbers in perspective, there were 3,416 commercial airline deaths worldwide between 2011 and 2020. In the past thirty years, there have been less than 300 shark attack deaths and 3,000 total attacks.”

David finished our chat with this mic drop...“when you look at the aggregated data, it is quickly apparent that the chances of being attacked by a shark are nearly zero. For people that live in the United States, you are approximately 50 times more likely to die by a lightning strike and ten times more likely to die by a firework accident compared to a shark attack.”

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Make you feel better?  I hope so!  Look it's good to be ready but I feel like this prepping for a shark attack is a bit like lamaze when you are having a baby...when stuff if going down you're probably not remembering the rules anyway.  Most likely I'll just defer to my friend adrenaline to take over.