You are not alone if your fear of sharks prevents you from enjoying the ocean. It’s a phobia shared by millions, ingrained in the public mind with the 1975 debut of Jaws and maintained ever since by films like Open Water and The Shallows.

It is, however, a concern that is generally unwarranted. Shark-related incidents are uncommon; according to the International Shark Attack File, there were 81 unprovoked attacks globally in 2016, with only four fatalities. Sharks are not the mindless murderers that they are frequently depicted to be.

Instead, they are extraordinarily advanced animals with seven separate senses and cartilage-only skeletons. Some sharks can precisely navigate across oceans, while others can reproduce without the use of sex.

Above all, sharks play an important role as top predators. They are in charge of keeping the marine ecology in balance, and without them, the planet’s reefs would quickly become barren. Here are some of the reasons why sharks should be revered and maintained rather than frightened.

1. The Vast Majority of Sharks Are Not Dangerous

Most people associate the word “shark” with thrashing great whites, their open jaws lined with serrated teeth and covered with blood. In actuality, there are over 400 shark species, ranging from the dwarf lantern shark (a species smaller than a human hand) to the whale shark, an ocean giant that can grow to be over 40 feet/ 12 meters long. The vast majority of shark species are thought to be harmless. In reality, most are smaller than humans and will avoid touch with them intuitively.

Three of the largest shark species (the whale shark, the basking shark, and the megamouth shark) are filter feeders that eat mostly plankton. Only a few species have been linked in shark-related accidents, and only three of these are deemed dangerous to people.

These include the great white, bull shark, and tiger shark. All three are huge, predatory creatures that live in locations shared by human water users, increasing the chancHumans Are Not Natural Shark Foodes of an encounter.

Tourists dive safely with these species every day in locations such as Fiji and South Africa, frequently without the protection of a cage.

2. Humans Are Not Natural Shark Food

Sharks have been around for 400-450 million years. During that time, several species evolved to hunt certain prey, and none of them has been conditioned to respond to humans as a source of food. Sharks normally avoid attacking larger animals because the risk of injury is too considerable.

Humans are automatically off the menu for the majority of creatures. According to research, even larger sharks such as great whites and bull sharks do not purposefully hunt humans for sustenance. Instead, they prefer high-fat prey such as seals or tuna.

Some scientists believe the attacks are the result of a misidentification. Great whites, tiger sharks, and bull sharks all hunt from below and may misidentify a person on the surface as a seal or turtle (especially if the person is lying on a surfboard). Other experts disagree with this notion, claiming that sharks are too sophisticated to mistake humans for prey. Sharks, after all, have an incredibly developed sense of smell, and humans smell nothing like seals.

Instead, most attacks are most likely motivated by curiosity. Sharks don’t have hands, thus they utilize their teeth to inspect an unknown object. This notion is reinforced by the fact that only a small percentage of shark attack victims are eaten. Most people, however, are only bitten once before the shark loses interest and swims away. Unfortunately, the injuries are frequently so serious that the person dies from stress and blood loss before receiving sufficient medical assistance.

3. Sharks Are the Least of Your Worries

According to an article released by the International Shark Attack File, people have a one in 3.7 million risk of being killed by a shark. Your beach vacation is 132 times more likely to result in drowning and 290 times more likely to result in a deadly boat mishap. Consider that you’re 1,000 times more likely to die while cycling than you are when swimming. Coconuts, vending machines, and toilets are among the unusual goods deemed more deadly than sharks.

Of course, humans are the most hazardous of all animals. Aside from murder, 6,339 persons reported being bitten by another human in New York City between 1984 and 1987. In comparison, only 45 individuals were harmed (not killed) by sharks in the United States over the same time period. So, if you live in New York, you have more to fear from your fellow subway users than a dip in the sea.

4. Minimizing the Risk of Attack is Easy

If you’re still worried, consider that there are some simple precautions you may take to reduce your chances of being attacked by a shark. The first is to avoid swimming at dawn and dusk, when most large shark species hunt. The second step is to remove any gleaming jewelry, as the glare of silver and gold can easily be confused with the shimmering scales of a prey fish. There’s also the belief that yellow attracts sharks.

In truth, the contrast of the lighter colour against the dark blue of the sea is more likely to spark a shark’s interest. As a result, if you intend to spend a lot of time in the water, avoid pale colors when selecting fins or bathing suits — and cover up pale skin with a wetsuit, gloves, or booties. How you spend your time in the water is also an important consideration. Surfers and surface swimmers are more at risk than scuba divers because sharks prowl from below.

Sharks are naturally drawn to the scent and movement of dying fish, so spearfishers must exercise extra caution. Sharks can detect vibrations in the water and may be drawn to surface splashing. As a result, if you’re diving with sharks, it’s best to make as little noise as possible when entering and departing the water. There is no proof that sharks are drawn to the scent of menstrual blood or human urine, contrary to common belief.

5. Sharks Have More to Fear From People

It is estimated that 90% of the world’s sharks have vanished in the previous 100 years. This is due to human activities like as climate change, habitat loss, and, most crucially, overfishing. Humans kill an estimated 100 million sharks each year, or 11,417 per hour. The vast majority of these are bound for Asian markets, where shark fin soup is regarded as a delicacy and a symbol of riches.

Shark finning is an inhumane technique in which sharks are finned at sea and then thrown back into the ocean to drown. It is also extremely wasteful because fins account for less than 5% of an average shark’s total weight.

Sharks are intentionally culled in some countries, including as South Africa and Australia, to lessen the possibility of human attacks. The tactics used to target so-called killer sharks are frequently indiscriminate, killing harmless shark species as well as other animals such as whales, dolphins, and turtles. Sharks are also victims of unintentional bycatch.

Perhaps most concerning, the combination of pollution and existing fishing practices endangers all marine animals. Together, these two effects are expected to result in more plastic in the ocean than fish by 2050.