Is there such a thing as a ‘problem shark’? Plan to catch repeat biters divides scientists

Some experts think a few sharks may be responsible for a disproportionate number of attacks. Should they be hunted down?

First was the French tourist, killed while swimming off Saint-Martin in December 2020. The manager of a nearby water sports club raced out in a dinghy to help, only to find her lifeless body floating face down, a gaping wound where part of her right thigh should have been. Then, a month later, another victim. Several Caribbean islands away, a woman snorkelling off St Kitts and Nevis was badly bitten on her left leg by a shark. Fortunately, she survived.

Soon after the fatal incident in December, Eric Clua, a marine biologist at the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes in Paris, got a phone call. Island nations often ask for his help after a shark bite, he says, because I am actually presenting a new vision ... I say, You don't have a problem with sharks, you have a problem with one shark.'"