What to Do if You Encounter a Shark While Swimming

I’ve got a bone to pick with Steven Spielberg.

His 1975 blockbuster “Jaws” made sharks out to be crazed, maneating monsters, tapping into a near-universal fear of what lies beneath the vast ocean. With one film, Spielberg put so many people off swimming in open water forever, that it’s a wonder that anyone still does it.

In fact, Spielberg has acknowledged that his film has had a remarkably negative impact not only on viewers’ relationship to the open ocean, but to the health and safety of shark populations the world over.

In a 2022 interview with BBC Radio 4’s “Desert Island Discs” podcast, Spielberg said, “one of the things I still fear [is] not to get eaten by a shark, but that sharks are somehow mad at me for the feeding frenzy of crazy sports fishermen that happened after 1975." 

He continued, "I truly and to this day regret the decimation of the shark population because of the ['Jaws'] book and the film. I really, truly regret that." 

He should.

According to Jon Dodd, CEO of the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy, 100 million sharks are killed annually by humans. That number far dwarfs the average of just five fatal interactions humans have with sharks per year.

And yet, seeing the stark imbalance of those numbers in black and white does little to assuage the unease many swimmers feel about venturing into marine environments because of the vanishingly rare chance they might become one of those five unlucky people.

So, what should you do if you encounter a shark while swimming? There’s a lot you can and should do before you even enter the water to reduce the chances you’ll ever have to answer that question.

• Pick a safe swimming spot. First off, you should be taking care to select the right swim spot before you venture out. Dodd recommends avoiding locations where seals and sealions—the preferred food of most predatory sharks—tend to congregate and nursery areas where sharks may be breeding or raising pups. He also recommends swimming along the shore, as most sharks tend to launch attacks on prey from below in deeper water. “Stay away from sandbars. Sharks love big drop-offs because they can ambush prey.”
• Choose your time. It’s best to avoid dawn and dusk, as those are common feeding times for many shark species.
• Leave your jewels at home. Shiny jewelry can mimic how fish scales catch light and shimmer, so it’s best to leave anything shiny that could be mistaken as bait on shore.
• Avoid other sea life. It’s not just seals and sealions you need to keep an eye out for. Dodd says that if you see lots of birds, dolphins, porpoises, or other predators congregating in a certain area, that likely means there’s a bait ball—lots of yummy fish—swirling in the area. That’s likely to attract sharks, too.
• Avoid murky water. Sharks use their sense of sight to target prey, and the more turbid the water, the more likely they are to mistake you for lunch. Stick to clearer waterways where you can be more easily seen and identified as the not-tasty human you are.
• Swim in a group. Dodd notes that swimming alone is also a bad idea. “When you’re with more than one person, your risks decrease.” As all schooling fish know, there’s safety in numbers.

If after doing all those things, you still cross paths with a shark while swimming, it’s generally best to stay calm and slowly back away from the animal. Don’t splash or scream, simply keep an eye on the shark while quietly swimming towards the shore. If the shark is blocking your access to the beach, give the animal as wide a berth as possible so it can go about its business undisturbed. Don’t turn your back on it and keep as calm and splash-less as you can.

If you encounter a shark that’s in full-on attack mode and lunging toward you, you’re probably going to experience its teeth; there may not be a lot you can do to avoid that bite. But do your best to punch or kick the shark in sensitive spots such as the eyes or the gills. The shark wants the easiest meal possible, so fighting back may make it change its mind and veer away.

After any bite, it’s imperative to seek emergency medical care as quickly as possible. This is another good reason to always swim with a group, as another swimmer can call 911 (you have your cell phone in your tow float, right?) while someone else helps you put pressure on the wound (tow float belts can double as tourniquets in a pinch) to attempt to slow the bleeding while helping you get out of the water as quickly as possible.