Regardless of the circumstances, the dominant reaction when seeing a shark underwater should be one of ‘calm assertiveness.’ Calm in the sense of slowing down one’s movements and breathing deeply and slowly, and assertive in the sense of engaging the shark ‘head on’ and eye balling it firmly.

A diver underwater with fins appears as a large animal to a shark, and will command initial respect. It is then up to the diver to assume a position of dominance or perhaps better equivalence, to ensure that a safe equilibrium is established. Behave like prey and the shark may consider you as prey - behave as an aggressor or as an equal and the shark will afford you the same respect or caution as it would another shark.

In my experience, sharks are very sensitive to eye-contact. As soon as you lock eyes with a shark, they tend to move away or break their direction of travel. I would even go so far as to suggest that surfers, who are blind to sharks, should investigate putting large artificial eyes on the bottom of their boards to mimic eye contact with predating sharks below. 

Last updated on Jan 13, 2008 by Roger Horrocks