From Alan Samagalski, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia
Your report on shark attacks at Recife, Brazil, swims by without taking so much as a nip at Fabio Hazin’s research (This Week, 19 August). As the article points out, a spate of shark attacks prompted the state government to ban surfing and bolstered Hazin’s shark research efforts – that is, killing 200 of them in order to study their behaviour and life cycle. His efforts reward us with the startling finding that local sharks had swallowed an onion, a pineapple and a can of beer. The hungry children of Brazil are also rewarded: Hazin gives them the shark meat to eat. Tsk, tsk. My heart bleeds like the shredded torso of a surfer bitten by a Tiger Shark.
No doubt Hazin’s research will end when there are no more sharks left to study, with the added bonus that the tourist area will once again be safe for surfers and swimmers.
New Scientist would do its readers and the conservation movement a service by investigating the type of “research” that Hazin is doing. In the meantime, as someone who comes from an area where shark attacks can occur, may I just say: if you don’t like sharks, then stay out of the water.
