Given we are now in the full swing of summer, and everyone is enjoying the warm weather and beaches, I wanted to give a brief, easy-to-remember snippet of information regarding something you will hopefully never have to deal with. That is a shark bite.
The first piece of advice is to decrease the chances you will run into a shark or attract unwanted attention and become an “object of interest.” Time of day can play a factor as most sharks go into feeding mode at dawn and dusk so staying out of the water during these times would be my first piece of advice. Next, do not enter the water if you are bleeding (a wound, menstruation, etc.). Sharks have specialized, gel-filled sensory organs in their snout called the Ampullae of Lorenzini that detect the tiny electric changes that occur during a muscle contraction or struggling fish. It also acts as a compass where they can sense magnetic fields. They have an extensive olfactory(smell) system. This allows them to detect blood in 1 part per 10 billion. Another way to look at it is that sharks can detect a drop of blood in an Olympic-sized swimming pool. Along with not going in the water while actively bleeding, be aware of your surroundings as you don’t want to be swimming where people are fishing or cleaning fish as the blood will ring the dinner bell.
Keeping away from the mouths of rivers and inlets is important as the sharks frequent these areas as it is an easy way to pick up a snack such as dead animals that are washed downstream and into the ocean.
Another way to avoid attention is to know that sharks have another piece of sensory equipment known as “lateral lines” that run down the side of the body. These lateral lines detect pressure and vibrations. So, swimming erratically is just the sort of thing that the lateral lines would pick up as the chaotic swimming mimics the sound of struggling prey. Nice, smooth strokes with as little splashing as possible are the style I would recommend.
When we think of sharks, the top three predators are great whites, tiger sharks, and bull sharks. Cape Cod has recently received much attention over the past several years for a rise in the number of great whites. This happened as a result of a seal/sea lion population explosion after they were protected as an endangered species. If you see a seal swimming nearby, move away and exit the water as quickly as possible. Many shark attacks are thought to be due to mistaken identity where humans, especially when surfing and wearing wetsuits, resemble seals.
What if there is a shark attack? The first thing is to immediately get the person out of the water and have someone call 911 and alert the authorities of the attack so EMS is dispatched, and the beach authorities can take preventive measures to protect other bathers by closing the beach. Immediately have someone place their full body weight onto their hands over the area where the person is bleeding while you look for something that can be used as a tourniquet. A strip of clothing or towel can be used, and the goal is to make sure you apply the tourniquet about four inches above the wound towards the heart and make sure the tourniquet is not placed over any joints.
You will need a stick or something else that can be used to wrap the tourniquet tightly using a twisting motion. This should be done aggressively, and it should be done tight enough to be uncomfortable for the patient. You can judge how tightly to turn the tourniquet by watching for a decrease in blood loss. Make sure you keep the exact time you applied the tourniquet so that medical personnel will know how long blood is being restricted from that area.
While you are doing this, keep speaking to the patient to keep them awake and to decrease anxiety which will only exacerbate the blood loss with the increase in blood pressure and heart rate from the stress. The other reason to keep speaking to the patient is so you can detect if their mental status is changing (becoming confused, delirious, etc.) which would be an indicator of shock which would add an element of urgency to the situation.
If the patient stops breathing, start CPR immediately and keep note of the time you started and how many cycles you have done prior to the arrival of EMS. The goal at this point is to minimize blood loss and maintain circulation to all the organs as long as possible while you are waiting for EMS to arrive. Make sure you scan the patient for other areas where they may have been bit and intervene to minimize blood loss if indicated.
Hopefully, you will never run into this situation but as humans and sharks come into contact more often, there will be more attacks. I wanted to give you the basics which may not sound like much but those extra minutes you spend minimizing blood loss could save someone’s life.
