Sharks prefer to roam around populated cities according to study, here's why

Sharks are both fascinating and terrifying creatures. Like many animals, there are so many different species, each is different and not all of them pose the same threat. Scientists studied three different species and came to an unusual conclusion.

Moving to the coast

The United Nations (UN) predicted that 66% of the world’s population will live in urban areas by 2050. In their study published in 2017, they believe that most of these cities will be near the coast.

As the population is nearing the coast, it is important to understand the impact we will have on marine life and how well they’ll be able to adapt.

Sharks like coastal cities

To figure this out, scientists at the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science studied three different types of sharks. In this study, they tracked 14 great hammerheads, 13 bullsharks and 25 nurse sharks.

These sharks were off the greater Miami coast in an effort to study their behaviour. As reported by CBS News, it turns out that sharksprefer to stay closer to urban populations. This came as a surprise to scientists as they thought that sharks would rather avoid people.

Why do sharks prefer coastal cities?

Scientists believe there are two reasons why sharks would rather stay closer to cities.

Firstly, the nutrients that come from the sewage that goes into the oceans attracts these marine beasts. They create a type of ‘bottom-up food web’.

Secondly, marine food waste makes for easy meals. Fish carcasses for example are being dumped into the bay. Leftover fish is also being tossed into the ocean from the Miami Seaquarium according to CBS News.

However, experts like Neil Hammerschlag, one of the study's authors, are worried that if sharks start to roam around coastal cities they could be exposed to ‘toxic pollutants as well as fishing, which could impact their health and survival.’

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