Sharks are apex predators that have long prowled the Gulf and Atlantic waters.

But the largest and most feared of the fish were once victims of overfishing. Depleted in numbers, sharks were rarely spotted by beach visitors during the 1960s and 70s – or about the time when the movie “Jaws” influenced the public perception about the species, mostly bad.

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“Shark numbers are recovering in the Gulf and Atlantic after 30 years of measures to rebuild their depleted populations,” said Robert Hueter, a shark researcher based in Sarasota, Fla. “Beginning in the 1960s, shark numbers began dropping drastically due to overfishing, either intentional or incidental, to about 25% or less of what they were. Now that sharks are returning, we are seeing more of them.”

Harvest restrictions

The rise of video footage of shark sightings, often captured on people’s cell phones or other technology like drones, is also altering the perception.

Many of the images capture sharks swimming close to shore. A drone video captured in June depicted a shark-infested water above Alabama Point.

Just last weekend, a large hammerhead shark was seen zipping around the shallow waters of Perdido Key, Fla. – just east of Orange Beach. The video was captured through a beach-goer’s cell phone and went viral as part of national news stories about a rise of shark sightings throughout the country.

“Everyone having a phone with a camera now … what was once just a fish story, is now broadcast through social media, inflating public perspective,” said Hueter.

Sean Powers, director of the University of South Alabama’s School of Marine & Environmental Sciences, credits the National Marine Fisheries Services – the federal government authority charged with the management of fish and other marine life – for implementing an aggressive rebuilding program of several shark species.

“There is a severe restriction on the harvest,” said Powers, noting that fishing for great white sharks is federally protected, meaning any species caught in the U.S. must be set free. Also, there are prohibitions on “bloodbaiting” aimed at tossing fish carcasses into the water in hopes of luring sharks near shorelines.

Over time, sharks have rebounded and it has raised alarms with the rise of sightings near crowded beaches.

“I’m 50 and most people live their life or have experienced the ocean during a time when sharks were not very common particularly the larger and most noteworthy sharks,” said Powers. “People base their views on the environment through life experiences. It’s a shifting baseline, and we are going into a phase where there are more sharks in the ocean. That’s by design. It’s a good thing. It’s a sign of a healthy ocean.”

Shark assessments and attacks

And a healthy ocean is filled with sharks and are becoming a nuisance to anglers.

“If you talk to fishermen, sharks are biting off their snapper,” said Powers. “Commercial fishermen have to fend them off and move into (other) locations. Some fishermen are saying that shark populations are recovered, and we should start harvesting them more.”

Powers said that will inevitably mean more shark encounters with humans, or “user conflicts.”

And while shark-on-human attacks are rare, there has been reports of bites occurring in the New York area. National news reports indicate there were at least four shark bites off the coast of Long Island during the Fourth of July weekend.

There have been no bite reports in Alabama this summer. According to the International Shark Attack File, kept by the University of Florida, there have only been 10 shark-on-human attacks in Alabama since 1837. Alabama ranks No. 11 among the states for shark attacks, and far behind neighboring Florida, which leads the country with 912. Other Southern states ahead of Alabama include Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Texas.

Powers said that in Alabama, there is a shark monitoring program to get a better sense on their population in the Gulf. He said the effort is similar to red snapper, a federally protected fish whose population count is the subject of constant dispute between state and federal officials affecting a popular tourism activity in coastal Alabama.

“Like snapper, it’s not perfect,” Powers said. “It’s based on catch and scientific and independent information we have. But I doubt it becomes a big enough thing like (retired) Senator (Richard) Shelby putting in $10 million of federal funds to figure out the shark populations like he did with red snapper. But we know shark assessments show the species is recovering. We have to now answer the question, ‘do we want to recover to a spot where kind of allow harvest and try to minimize user conflict?’”

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He said that great white sharks still need to be protected, but species like sand sharks that swim off the Gulf Coast are still considered protected species and are to blame for the “negative interactions” with red snapper fishermen.

But officials, Powers said, will need to get a better handle on the data.

“The big missing point is we don’t have enough data and studies to figure out how many sharks we need for a healthy ecosystem,” he said. “It’s not about how many of the species we can harvest. It’s about ‘what does a healthy ocean look like?’ And then we try to figure out what is the overall shark population species should be.”

He added, “We’ll get there with the data. We are just not there yet.”