ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Celebrating the Fourth of July at the beach has become one of the peak times for shark bites, according to researchers.
Sharks are not counting down the days until Independence Day, though. July 4 is just a peak time for swimmers at the beach, and sharks are always in the water.
"It’s really because of the number of people that are in the water," Bob Hueter, Ocearch shark biologist, said. "It’s just people overlapping with sharks in the coastal zone and Fourth of July is just a peak, peak time at the beach."
Last year, there were 16 shark bites in Florida – more than anywhere else in the world, Florida Museum reports. Addison Bethea, 17, was impacted by one of those 16 attacks. The teen lost her leg to a shark while swimming in 5 feet of water off Keaton Beach.
"I'm still going to get in the ocean when I heal and get better," Bethea said. "Still going to do what I love, but don't just let fear overtake your life."
Just this month, a fisherman in the Everglades was washing his hands in the water when a shark pulled him off the boat. However, researchers say sharks are not looking to hunt people.
"They don’t generally bother people," Hueter said, "They’re not interested in us. They’re certainly not looking to prey on us."
Hueter is a shark biologist who has researched the behavior of sharks for nearly five decades.
"When we go in the Gulf, it’s not a swimming pool," he explained. "It’s a wild place and there will be sharks nearby."
He added, "This time of year is the time when we’ve got about half a dozen very common shark species in our waters. Everything from black tip sharks, to bull sharks, to even hammerheads,and it’s also obviously a time of year when people are getting in the water."
There are steps beachgoers can take to make themselves less attractive to a shark.
Hueter advises not swimming before dawn and getting out of the water before dusk from May to September.
"This is the time when sharks become more active," he said. "They actually feed more commonly, generally, during these twilight hours of both dawn and dusk. And why is that? Because they have sort of the advantage on their prey."
Other tips to follow include avoiding wearing brightly colored bathing suits or jewelry that a shark might mistake for fish scales. And not going swimming far out in the ocean.
"Stay in close," Hueter said. "Stay near people."
Although Florida is the Shark Bite Capital of the World, Hueter said the risk is incredibly low. Besides, Hueter said sharks are not the only dangers in the water. Beachgoers should also look out for lightning and rip currents. In fact, Ocearch researchers said your trip to the beach is 132 times more likely to end in drowning than it is with a shark bite.