Jaws wasn’t a documentary – why do shark sightings provoke such panic? | Hannah Rudd

You're more likely to die taking a selfie than in a shark attack: as oceans warm, we need to get used to close encounters

Silly season is upon us and sharks are dominating the headlines again. As a marine conservationist, if I see another headline along the lines of Menacing man-eating shark lurking off the coast of Britain" accompanied by a photo of a basking shark - a species that exclusively consumes plankton - I think I might scream.

It seems all a shark needs to do these days is push its dorsal fin above the ocean waves and panic immediately ensues. Just this week, that's exactly what happened off the French coast. A blue shark - a species typically found in the open ocean with an extremely low record of unprovoked attacks on humans - was spotted close to the shoreline. Instant drama ensued, with lifeguards closing the beach and swimmers watching on from the water's edge. What is it about sharks that makes us lose our minds?

Hannah Rudd is the author of Britain's Living Seas: Our Coastal Wildlife and How We Save It, a marine scientist at Shark Hub UK, and policy and advocacy manager at the Angling Trust