Professional shark researchers consider feeding a form of offensive action by humans that is classified a "provocation" for attack. Click Here to read full text passage.

"Kinds of Shark-Human Interactions"

Over the past half century science has taken a more clinical approach to these interactions in an effort to determine those factors which might precipitate a shark attack. To facilitate study, interactions between sharks and humans are classified into three primary categories; encounters, provoked, and unprovoked.

A shark encounter is the coming together of a shark and human without any physical contact or consequences to either. A shark encounter with a human typically consists of a shark leisurely circling and/or slowly swimming past the subject without any aggressive behavior being exhibited. Encounters are always non-violent and the shark's movements usually described as "smooth and methodical." Divers have referred to this shark behavior as 'being checked out by a shark.' It is somewhat compelling that there are more shark encounters annually off the Pacific Coast than provoked or unprovoked attacks combined. This fact becomes even more intriguing when proposed motivations for White Shark attacks on humans are considered. If you have encountered a shark along the Pacific Coast - especially if it did something you deem 'interesting' or unusual - the Shark Research Committee is interested in your report.

A provoked shark attack is the result of a human taking an offensive action that causes a shark to attack. These actions could be pulling a shark's tail, jabbing or poking a shark with a speargun or similar object, cornering or cutting off a shark's route to open water, attempting to feed a shark by hand, chumming or baiting a shark to your area, and/or making an aggressive gesture toward an approaching shark. These are just a few examples of the type of actions that might provoke a shark to strike out.

An unprovoked shark attack is the aggressive pursuit, biting or striking of a human, without any known provocative action by the victim. This is not to say that the victim might not have displayed a provocative gesture that triggered the attack, only that no provocative action was known to have occurred. Any physical contact between a shark and a human, or piece of equipment being utilized by the human, constitutes an unprovoked shark attack. For example, there are numerous cases - mostly involving surfers - of shark attack recorded along the Pacific Coast where only the equipment being used in the water activity was bitten by the attacking shark. If you have witnessed or been the object of an unprovoked shark attack, the Shark Research Committee is interested in your report." More information available at http://www.sharkresearchcommittee.com/

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