In just over 30 years, the French Island of La Réunion in the Western Indian Ocean has experienced over a 20-fold increase in the number of reported shark bites.
The study found that human development on the west side of the island, which led to a greater outflow of freshwater into the ocean had resulted in bull sharks altering their behavior. The native population of bull sharks had historically used the east side of the island for birthing pups. The rapid increase of agriculture and overall population increases, altered the natural flow of fresh water to the western side of the island, shifting the sharks’ preferred birthing grounds.
“With an increase in people and an increase in the population of bull sharks, we might have a deadly equation,” said FIU marine biologist Jeremy Kiszka, a co-author of the study.
Forty-three shark bites have occurred on Réunion since the 1980s—27 of the fatal. 90 percent of shark bites occurred along a 31-mile stretch of the island’s west coast.
