Annals of Inanity–Kill a Shark, Any Shark: Strange footnote to the Bethany Hamilton shark attack story. The LA Times reports that Hamilton is recovering well from losing an arm to a tiger shark off Kauai, which is good to hear. The attack predictably led to a public outcry in favor of slaughtering any sharks that could be found in the area. That didn’t happen, which is also good to hear, because the National Marine Fisheries Service has adopted a shrewd preemptive strategy to placate all the idiots:

“In the past, after a serious incident, we have selectively removed an animal or two mostly to reassure the public, but also to keep fishermen from going out and killing a lot more,” said John Naughton, a biologist for the National Marine Fisheries Service. “But we have known all along that this is not the way to go. It’s an archaic way of managing fishery resources.”

I guess you could say it’s a good deal: kill a few to save a lot. But you could also say that public emotion is an ugly, unreasoning beast. Hawaii averages only about 4 shark attacks a year. More people probably die falling off bar stools, and shark populations are still trying to recover from the sharkocide sparked by “Jaws”…..



Tiger Shark: “It wasn’t me, I swear…. And if it was I thought I was eating a seal……”