Are you headed to the shores of the Adriatic Sea but you’ve watched just one too many jaw-dropping shark movies? You can’t exactly see them but you just sense the fins nearing the beach? We’ll examine the shark situation in the Adriatic Sea in today’s post, just for you.
Are there sharks in the Adriatic Sea?
The Adriatic Sea is part of the Mediterranean Sea and is located between Italy, the Apennine peninsula and the Balkans. It separates six countries in total: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Italy, Montenegro and Slovenia. It’s a sizable basin full of rich flora and fauna – are sharks a part of that fauna?
Yes, they are. There are more than 30-40 species of sharks living in the Adriatic Sea, depending on the source. Present species include the great white shark, the blue shark, the shortfin mako and the basking shark.
Shark attacks in the Adriatic Sea
Let us assure you from the get-go that the probability of a shark attack is very, very low. Last shark attack happened in 2008, 15 years ago, and it was not fatal. In this case, the diver had caught fish tied to his belt, and so the shark smelled the fish, and was likely not particularly concerned with the human. There have been a total of 11 recorded deadly attacks in the Adriatic Sea since 1868. While it has to be underlined that these are still real tragedies, they are incredibly rare and the Adriatic Sea is, overall, a very safe place for swimming.
The fear of sharks is quite an interesting phenomenon if we look at statistics. Sharks kill about six people a year… worldwide. Simultaneously, humans kill 150,000,000 sharks a year. Sharks tend to be mostly concerned with smaller fish and humans aren’t much of an interest to them. Still, pop culture does its thing and we can’t blame you for being concerned about it, especially if you’re visiting Albania with children. But don’t fret – as long as you don’t stray too far from the designated zones, you’ll be just fine.
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