FAIRHOPE — Sharks may carry a chilling reputation, but marine researcher Glenn R. Parsons explained to his Fairhope Public Library audience on Thursday that the animals are vital to ocean ecosystems, are local to the area in some cases and pose little threat to the millions of people visiting the water every year.

Parsons, who retired in 2022 after 36 years as a biology professor at the University of Mississippi, gave a shark talk for all ages, taking from his years of research in the Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf and the waters surrounding Dauphin Island and Mobile Bay.

"Sharks are a valuable resource to human beings," Parsons said.

He explained how in different cultures people sometimes use sharks as a protein source, their potential use for medical research, their role in ecotourism and also their importance in the animal food chain.

"If you remove predators like sharks from the ocean, you can negatively alter the numbers of more desirable species," he said.

Throughout his career, Parsons has encountered more sharks up close than most beachgoers ever will. Working alongside his students to research and record data, Parsons has used methods like longlines and gill nets to catch sharks and attach tags for identification before releasing them back into the water.

That work also led Parsons to study ways of reducing shark deaths caused by bycatch, the accidental capture of sharks by fisheries aiming for other species.

Some of this work focused on developing "entangling leaders," or specialized fishing lines designed to allow sharks to free themselves before being hauled to the boat. When a shark takes the bait, its sharp teeth become caught in loops near the hook, causing the leader to break and allowing the shark to swim away. Tuna and swordfish, which have different teeth, are less likely to break the line, allowing fishermen to keep their intended catch.

Much of the presentation focused on shark species found in the Gulf, such as blacktips, hammerheads and bull sharks, among others.

The Gulf is also home to many species of shark that people might not often associate with the area. Parsons talked about whale sharks, the largest fish in the ocean, cookie-cutter sharks, whose bite allows them to pierce and cut through other fish in perfect bite-sized circles, and small, bioluminescent sharks that shine in the dark.

Parsons also talked about the adaptations that make sharks effective predators. Hammerheads, for example, have sensory organs that allow them to detect weak electrical fields produced by living animals, helping them find prey hidden beneath the seafloor.

"They can detect them by that electric sense," Parsons said of buried prey. "Every time their heart beats, they throw an electric signal, electromagnetic signal, out into the water."

While their sensory abilities make sharks highly effective hunters, Parsons said that does not make humans their routine prey.

Despite the public attention given to shark attacks, Parsons emphasized that bites are rare. He said his research on shark attacks in Florida found about 35 bites during a very high year, and usually the number is half of that for most years. Fatal attacks were rarer still.

"To deprive yourself of one of the really great pleasures in life of swimming in the ocean because you fear shark attack — you're a lot more likely to be injured in a car accident driving to the beach than being in the water," Parsons said.

Nevertheless, Parsons said swimmers can take simple precautions to further reduce their chances of encountering a shark. He advised avoiding murky water in areas where sharks are known to be present, not swimming with an open wound and avoiding the water around dawn, dusk and after dark, when sharks can be more active.

"Don't swim alone. … Don't swim early morning, late evening or after dark. Don't swim with an open wound. Don't swim in low visibility waters. Don't swim where there's a bunch of sharks swimming around," Parsons said. "Just common sense stuff."

Gabriella Chavez is a Report for America corps member who writes about growth and development in Baldwin County and our natural spaces for Gulf Coast Media. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep her writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today.