Every day at the Oregon Coast Aquarium our divers take a significant, but calculated risk. Yes, we dive with sharks. But, guess what?  That’s not it! The odds are much greater that we will be involved in a car crash on our way to work than be injured by any of our animals, including our sharks.

The recent media attention to shark bites has increased the questions we get about diving with our sharks. Being involved in a car crash is so common an occurrence that we accept it as part of our day-to-day lives. A shark bite is not common, and somehow a wild animal “attack” is far more frightening to the human psyche than the crunching metal of inanimate machines. So, in terms of risk, most of us would rather take our chances with the sharks!

Does this mean diving with sharks is risk free? Of course not. Any time we place wild animals in a captive environment and then add humans, we certainly do create the potential for problems. Add to this the features of teeth, strength, size, and an underwater environment and we begin to see the disadvantage that humans have. 

Yet, each day at the Aquarium, we must enter their living space to ensure that their environment is safe, healthy and clean. So, we must take some precautions. We use a variety of tools and techniques to keep our divers safe. These include providing our sharks with an adequate amount of high-quality food; not mixing diving and shark feeding; avoiding dives when sharks are hungry or aroused; positioning ourselves to avoid “traffic patterns” of the sharks; using a safety diver, and providing training to all of our divers and tenders. 

Perhaps our most significant safety strategy is observation of behavior. By carefully watching our sharks, we learn their typical patterns and territories in the exhibit. We know what is “normal” and what is not. Obviously, they can be unpredictable animals, so we must also be prepared for the unexpected. If we see anything unusual, we simply end the dive and exit the water. 

“Sticking With It”

One of the tools we use is a safety system designed some years ago by our Director of Husbandry, Les Thomas. This system is employed by a number of facilities, and has been successful in reducing and dealing with interactions between divers and sharks. Its beauty is its simplicity.

A 4-6 foot long white stick is candy-cane striped with duct tape to be used as a visual and sensory cue. A “safety diver” maintains vigilant observation of the sharks and holds the stick where sharks can easily see and sense it. This works because sharks have the ability to sense electromagnetic fields, and duct tape has just enough metal to emit such a field. 
If a shark is approaching the divers, the safety diver simply moves the stick where the shark can more easily see and sense it. It creates a simple but effective barrier and vastly reduces the likelihood that the diver and the shark will have an “interaction”. 

Downloadable images from the Oregon Coast Aquarium are available at
ftp://ftp.teleport.com/users/aquarium/images/.