First of all, we should be aware that sharks are predatory animals and that we are in the sea in their habitat. It is therefore advisable to inform yourself, because many fears or accidents are mainly caused by ignorance and incorrect behavior.

One reason why sharks sometimes stray to bathing beaches could be direct or indirect feeding. According to expert Gerhard Wegner, direct food means schools of fish and indirect food, for example, waste. It has been proven that ship debris can attract sharks from long distances. They therefore often follow ocean-going ships and can also be found near moving or anchored safari boats. Animal transport ships also regularly throw injured and dead animals into the sea, which can also attract sharks.

How do individual cases of shark attacks occur? The experts from the book Blind Dates agree on this and name the following three motivations:

• Hunting Bite: Here, prey that is recognized as such is attacked immediately and quickly.
• Exploratory bite: This refers to the so-called test bite, in which potential prey is first examined. Incidentally, the secondary wounds of such a bite are the most common injuries in shark encounters.

Stress bite: The stressed animals defend themselves.

According to experts, hunting bites against humans do not occur - sharks do not hunt humans. However, some sharks are harassed by humans invading areas where the sharks are foraging. Stress bites can be the result. This can also happen in very rare cases with animals that get lost on beaches. However, most shark bite accidents are probing bites.

According to the Shark Project, the shark is definitely not a “man-eater”, otherwise it would not be possible to do so many water sports in the sea. There are many aerial photos of beaches where bathers have been filmed close to sharks - without the swimmers noticing the animals. Accidents caused by shark attacks are much rarer than accidents caused by water sports. There were only 73 accidents involving sharks last year, a fraction compared to accidents involving other species or injuries in the sea in general.

• Sharks are at the top of the food chain in the sea. They ensure the ecological balance in the oceans. Facts about the sharks:
• Sharks are older than dinosaurs, they have lived on this planet for 450 million years.
• Over 500 species are known worldwide.
• Most sharks eat fish, molluscs and crabs, while large predators such as great white sharks also eat seals, penguins or dolphins. Species such as the whale shark and basking shark feed on plankton.
• Sharks always swim forward, they can't go into reverse.
• Sharks sink to the bottom of the sea when they are not swimming.
• Sharks are the ocean's "health police".
• Humans kill a shark every three seconds worldwide.
• We need sharks to preserve life in our oceans, because if the ecological cycle in the oceans collapses, then the plankton in the sea will also perish. That would be the end of life on earth, because 72% of the world's oxygen is produced by phytoplankton.

In short: "Without sharks the sea dies and without sea we die because the oxygen we breathe is produced by the sea!" says VGT activist and marine conservationist Sandy P. Peng.

Recommendations for encounters with sharks:

• Important: stay calm! No panic reactions, such as frantic swimming movements.
• Do not swim away screaming and wriggling – this is how prey animals behave and you become interesting for the shark.
• Keep an eye on the animal or eye contact.
• Spin along when the shark starts circling. It is an advantage if you wear or have swimming goggles/diving mask with snorkel so that you can observe the shark, what it is doing and where it is.
• Slowly move back to shore.
• If the shark gets too close, be sure not to hit it. If the shark is extremely close, push the animal away if necessary. Only touch above the snout or on the side before or after the gill slits.
• There is advice to stand up vertically in the water to confuse the shark.
• Diving, swimming or snorkeling: not in areas where sharks are attracted by fish, estuaries, anglers or fishermen are nearby, liveaboard boats which may throw kitchen waste into the sea.