Sharks from species once thought harmless kill and eat snorkeler in feeding frenzy

[maxsolomon]

10. Apparently, this happened in April. Humans are feeding them scraps.

https://www.iflscience.com/first-fatality-involving-a-dusky-shark-caused-by-begging-behavior-as-humans-feed-them-scraps-80504

The first documented case of a person being killed by a dusky shark occurrred in April 2025. Now, new research has raised concerns that the extremely rare attack may have been motivated by a kind of “begging behavior” that’s been encouraged by years of humans feeding the sharks in the region scraps.

“Artificial feeding, when it is regulated and monitored by authorities, can have massive benefits for ecotourism and local economies as well as improve the perception of sharks in terms of people being able to see them and spend time in the water with them,” said Kristian Parton, a marine biologist and shark scientist from the University of Exeter, in a release. “There are lots of places around the world where there are provisioning sites that work well, but there are others where there’s just no enforcement, no regulations – where people are able to get into the water with their own food.”

“Sadly, in Hadera it wasn’t being done in the right way.”

On April 21, a man was snorkeling in the waters off Hadera Beach in Israel when the attack took place. He had a GoPro camera, which may have contributed to the first shark biting him as it would have been emitting a slight electromagnetic signal that the researchers say could have been misidentified as potential prey.

It’s possible that the bite aimed at the camera instead bit the snorkeler, wounding him. The resulting sound and olfactory stimuli as he began bleeding then triggered a feeding frenzy, resulting in several sharks engaging in predation bites.