Sunday, June 1, 2008

La Nina might be causing shark attacks-Bah!

One of the biggest media events to hit Mexico in the past 3 years has not been narco trafficking or political zoo.

It has been the sudden rash of shark attacks in and around the coastal town of Zihuatanejo.

A host of experts are "divining a cause" for these unprecedented Man vs Shark encounters. The latest in a string of theories-La Nina.

The only thing wrong with this particular theory, is that there have been 3-5 recorded La Nina events since the last rash of attacks in 1972-3 off the coastlines of Zihuatanejo. Of course with a deadline to find a cause and media literally camping on beaches...anything sounds good right about now:

By Mariano Castillo in Zihuatanejo, Mexico

COOLER than normal sea-surface temperatures due to the La Nina phenomenon may be partly responsible for a spate of fatal shark attacks off Mexico's Pacific coast, a US shark expert said.

At least two people - a surfer and a US tourist - have been killed by sharks in the last few weeks around the coastal town of Zihuatanejo in the state of Guerrero.

La Nina, which usually results in cooler than normal water in the Pacific, has moved the boundary between cold and warm water closer to the shore, and along with it, fish and their shark predators, George Burgess, director of the Florida Program for Shark Research told Reuters.

The last time Mexico's Pacific coast suffered a series of fatal shark attacks was in 1972-1973, when four people were killed.