MSNBC shark expert Dr. Reese Halter said on Tuesday's edition of MSNBC program The Ed Show there has been an increase in shark attacks this year because the oceans are empty and the sharks are hungry.
Transcript below:
ED SCHULTZ: Well, Donald Trump's friend Brian is very concerned about surfers getting attacked by sharks. After this amazing scene played out with pro surfer Mick Fanning punching a shark to avoid being attacked, Brian wondered why the waters weren't cleared of sharks.
(Brian Kilmeade): I think the most shocking thing is when you hear the waters of South Carolina weren't cleared. But then these are surfers. And you would think they would have a way of clearing the waters for a competition at this level, but I guess they don't.
SCHULTZ: Bring in Dr. Reese Halter. Doctor, can you clear the water of sharks? Is that possible?
REESE HALTER: The first word that comes to mind is flummery. First of all, sharks are doctors of the sea. They keep their prey fit by culling the weak, old, and sick, and they prevent diseases from going global. We are in a 9-1-1 situation because over the last 15 years, humans have successfully removed 1.5 billion sharks from the oceans. The shark population is depleted. But if that isn't bad enough, we're missing boatloads of fish. You know, Ed, we've got—if you connect all of the fishing lines in our oceans right now, we've got 13 million miles of fishing lines with a couple of billion hooks. Which mean that the oceans are empty. That is 27 return trips to the moon and back.
SCHULTZ: OK. So is there a way that you could make sure that certain portions of the water will not be infested with the sharks? Because that is what's being suggested.
HALTER: Balls. But having said that, my friends I've just come back from Perth, Australia, where I worked on Bruce's boat with the sharks. And there are ways of—on a narrow beach—of using repurchased plastic for these shark ecobarriers to protect swimmers on the inside and have the sharks and the unintended consequences of dolphins and whales and sea turtles from getting ensnared and suffocating from hitting the guards and bouncing off. We can't do this in a surfing contest.
SCHULTZ: All right. So why are we seeing so many shark attacks this year? Is there something biologically happening that we haven't experienced before?
HALTER: Yeah there is. The oceans are empty of food. They are mostly empty of sharks but whatever few sharks are left the fish they eat are missing, Ed. We have overfished so hard that nine out of 10 commercial fisheries are in collapse. The sharks are hungry, and if that isn't bad enough the ocean currents are changing. So when the ocean currents change, for instance, and whatever of the prey is left, the sharks are following them. They are hungry.
SHULTZ: Dr. Reese Halter, thanks for being here tonight.