It’s a question we get a lot from shark divers looking to book our white shark cage diving adventures at Guadalupe island. Great white sharks are amazing and powerful animals and we have been encountering them at Guadalupe island since 2000. Although white sharks are carnivorous, they do not preferentially prey on scuba divers or even humans in general. Unless divers are in the sharks playpen when they should not be, white sharks belong in the ocean, we’re just visiting on life support gear.
As a general rule white sharks sometimes do attack humans, but such attacks are extremely rare. Since 2000 (2000-2017), there was an average of 65 shark attacks each year worldwide, and only 5 of them were fatal. These numbers include attacks on scuba divers, swimmers, surfers, etc. None of these attacks have happened to white shark cage divers, for reasons that are obvious, shark cage diving is safe.
Toaster Killers vs Great White Sharks
Scuba divers engage in far more dangerous activities than cage diving with the white sharks – such as sleeping in bed. In a single year, 1616 people died by falling out of their beds, a few of them were scuba divers.This means that 323 times more people are killed from sleeping in a bed than from shark attacks each year. As another example, a person is more likely to die using a toaster than to die of a shark attack. An apparently benign piece of everyday equipment, toasters are responsible for killing far more people than sharks each year.
Killer Cars vs Great White Sharks
Most divers either drive a car or take a boat to a dive site. These activities are both more dangerous than anything else a diver does on a typical diving day. In fact, driving and boating are exponentially more dangerous than cage diving with a great white shark. In 2017, boating accidents caused 989 deaths. 42,636 people were killed in automobile accidents in the US, which approximately equates to one death every 13 minutes. Annually, it is estimated that 1.2 million people are killed in automobile accidents around the world. In comparison, sharks fatally attack approximately 5 people each year globally, which on average equates to one death every 73 days. Still think cage diving with white sharks is dangerous?
So, Is Cage Diving Safe?
The stats are in, next to living an ordinary life in America, cage diving with great white sharks is as safe as you get statistically speaking. So gather up your gear and get online for unique opportunities to cage diving with great white sharks. Great white sharks at Guadalupe Island in Baja are a beautiful but threatened shark species. Over the past 17 years we have come to know and love quite a few animals that have simply disappeared. A shark we first named in 2002 called Shredder thrilled shark divers at Guadalupe island until 2011, we have never seen him since. Instead of fearing sharks, scuba divers should cherish cage diving in presence of these amazing and increasingly rare animals. Each year, up to 100 million sharks are killed for their fins, jaws, teeth, meat, or by accident. On average, for every human killed by sharks up to 20 million sharks are killed by people. Divers, and people in general should stop fearing sharks and start protecting them.
