HONOLULU (KHON2) -- The tragic shark related incident killing Hawaii lifeguard Tamayo Perry Sunday has many asking why. One shark expert weighs in on the history of Hawaii shark attacks.
Surrounded by the ocean on an island chain, shark expert Dr. Kim Holland with the University of Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology, said sharks, particularly tiger sharks, can be found everywhere in Hawaii from shallow water, to harbors, bays and the deep blue.
"We know from our tracking work that they go hundreds of miles offshore, turn around and come back again," Holland said. "We know that they can be on Oahu one day and Molokai the next day. So there's no place where there are no tiger sharks."
Yet, interactions between sharks and humans are uncommon, considering the number of people who enjoy ocean recreations on a daily basis, and he said fatal attacks are extremely rare.
"It's very uncommon," he explained. "Of course, that doesn't make it any better for the person that got attacked or their family. So all the good science and statistics in the world doesn't assuage the tragedy."
The last fatal shark incident on Oahu happened in 1992.
According to the Division of Aquatics Resources (DAR), since 1995, there have been eight other fatal shark incidents on Maui.
"Whether or not there are places where they're more common, that's hard to assess," Holland added. "But Maui might be one of the places, just because it's got so much habitat of the right depth that tiger sharks, we now know prefer."
And despite all the research Holland said they do not know how many sharks there are. And he said what many consider aggressive behavior for sharks is normal behavior for a shark.
"That's a human term when they're feeding," he said. "We don't know why sometimes that behavior gets transferred and aimed at humans, even though it's very rare."
From 1959 to 1976, the state spent more than $300,000 in a shark control program culling 4,668 sharks.
"There were lots of sharks killed with the thinking that if a shark attacked somebody on beach X, we'll go fishing on beach X, and we'll catch the bad guys. And then beach X will be safer," Holland said. "But we now know that that was false logic."
After a series of fatal shark attacks in the early 90s, Holland was involved with a shark task force that proved tiger sharks traveled further than previously suspected, which ended culling practices after fatal incidents.
In 2022, the state banned the deliberate killing of sharks in Hawaiian waters.
"Sharks are a natural part of our environment, and they're here, and they've always been here," Holland said.