Economic Recession Means Fewer Shark Attacks

[Fis_Hunter]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/...ersharkattacks

[patrick]

well, ill be damned....

[sciencemike]

Wow I totally was predicting it would go the other way. I figured more people would be taking cheapo vacations to their local beaches instead of far away destinations like Disney World etc.

[Fis_Hunter]

Originally Posted by sciencemike

Wow I totally was predicting it would go the other way. I figured more people would be taking cheapo vacations to their local beaches instead of far away destinations like Disney World etc.

But the population of any city near the water would spend less time in the water than someone who came for the purpos of spending time in the water I guess.

[sciencemike]

Originally Posted by Fis_Hunter

But the population of any city near the water would spend less time in the water than someone who came for the purpos of spending time in the water I guess.

Yeah the last few holiday weekends have made me wonder about this. I live right on the boardwalk at a local Surf beach. On these weekends there are a lot of people down here already. Seemingly more than last year. So i was just wondering if this was due to my bad memory, the good weather we have had, or the recession? I do see your point about non locals really getting in the water. It seems that whenever i live on the beach i get in the water a lot less than if i live even 20 minutes away. Its like im satisfied just being at the beach.

[halibutmike]

interpret stats however you want.......... but - I'm just back from 2 weeks in "vacation headquarters USA"..... and folks it's not CA, it's FL... and ..

"The number of shark attacks in the United States, .............. Thirty-two of those attacks were in Florida - the same number as the previous year - followed by North Carolina and South Carolina, with three each; Hawaii had two; and California, one. "

I suspect any variation is just "normal"..............

[apneanaut]

There must be a better way to gauge how the economy affects numbers at the beach. This is just another article with a snappy title abusing statistics.

And the whole point of the article is that shark attacks are correlated with the number of people in the water. Then they go and drop this bomb: "A lot less attacks occur off Long Island, New York, than Florida simply because there are fewer sharks up there," he said. It's like nails on a chalkboard. Sorry I couldn't resist.