ST. TERESA -- Dean Grubbs has a story or two about sharks.
He hooked his first juvenile sharpnose as a 7-year-old along the coast of Taylor County, Florida.
"I just remember how strong that little fish was and how cool it was," the Florida State University marine ecologist said about his first encounter with a shark. "And when we let it go, it just took off. I thought that was the coolest thing."
Three years later, while scalloping in waist-deep water with his family in an area known as Big Grassy Island, a great hammerhead charged him -- dorsal fin sticking out of the water and all -- like a 7,000-horsepower Top Fuel dragster, only to deploy its parachute at the last second to stop. The fish's wake pushed the catatonic 10-year-old backwards.
"That solidified it for me," Grubbs said while reminiscing from his research office at the university's Coastal & Marine Laboratory here. "I want to study that animal."
And so it's been -- sharks: A 40+ year love affair.
When asked about the two separate shark attacks that happened along the Florida Panhandle on June 7, the coastal and deep-sea shark expert said bites are still "incredibly rare." But acknowledged that such incidents are dreadful for the families involved, and that such incidents can affect seaside economies.
The International Shark Attack File, administered by the University of Florida's Museum of Natural History, reports that since 1882, the Panhandle counties of Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa, Walton, Bay, Gulf and Franklin have had 26 confirmed, and unprovoked, shark attacks.
Those are getting-struck-by-lighting odds. Maybe even winning-the-Powerball odds.
There are only a handful of reasons why sharks swim closer to shore, Grubbs continued. The first is food: Sharks are following bait fish and other prey. Second: Sharks are avoiding predators; Third: Sharks are mating, or looking for a safe place to rear their offspring. Fourth: abiotic factors such as water temperature, salinity and dissolved oxygen.
And with ocean waters warming, this predator-prey dynamic is evolving faster, as are the behaviors, and frequencies, of people visiting the beach.
"This area right here at the lab where we're sitting, our (water) temperature has warmed over 2 degrees in the last 15, 16 years," Grubbs said. "And the winter (water) temperatures warmed over 3 degrees in that same time frame."
To cool off, sharks migrate north or go into deeper water. The temperature equilibrium between swimming north or going deeper is not yet fully understood, Grubbs said.
The issue about migrating north in the Gulf of Mexico is that there's ... well, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. And people. Nice, happy people.
Grubbs does offer tips to avoid shark encounters:
1. Don't swim during sunrise and sunset; sharks are looking for food.
2. Stay away from sandbars; sandbars are edge habitats for food.
3. Don't swim where people are fishing or cleaning fish.
4. Stay away from river mouths; sharks use these areas to rear their young.
5. Don't wear sparkly jewelry into the water; it can confuse a shark for bait fish.
6. Don't wear bathing suits with a lot of color contrast; they can confuse a shark for prey.
Gavin Naylor, program director of the International Shark Attack File at the University of Florida, and colleague of Grubbs', says that in the past, copper acetate, nets, electrical shock and wrist magnets were used to try and stop shark attacks. They didn't work.
"An animal that's hungry doesn't care about a little shock," Naylor said.
The best way forward to keep swimmers safe from shark attacks are public information campaigns by local governments, Naylor added. And drones. "(Cities can) hire drone pilots to fly once an hour, up and down the beach during daylight hours, to look for sharks."
Grubbs agrees.
"We were doing a shark survey right off the beach in Destin, and you know, they have this big ship that comes out, cruises back and forth with a giant electronic billboard on it," Grubbs paused, reflecting on how the times have changed since he was a scalloping and spear fishing 10-year-old. "And this billboard is advertising restaurants and tourist attractions. Why not advertise for shark safety?"
For more information about shark attack statistics, locations and safety advice, go to the International Shark Attack File website administered by the University of Florida's Museum of Natural History. https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/shark-attacks/