Lulu Gribbin made an emotional plea for the creation of a shark warning system, and the Alabama House of Representatives responded. On April 17, lawmakers voted unanimously to support legislation that would create the first shark alert system along the Gulf Coast.

The measure has gained momentum and attention beyond state lines. Alabama House Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter even placed a call to lawmakers in Florida, encouraging them to adopt a similar approach. Gribbin appeared the next day on the Today Show, giving rare national spotlight to a bill from the Alabama Legislature

Now, with HB437 heading to the Alabama Senate and an expected signature from Gov. Kay Ivey shortly after, a pressing question remains: how will a shark alert system function without triggering a Jaws-like panic among tourists—whose presence fuels the state’s multibillion-dollar beach economy?

If passed, the bill would make Alabama the first state along the Gulf Coast to implement a shark alert system. It could also serve as a model for other coastal states like Florida, which face an even higher risk due to their expansive shorelines.

Few areas of the country have any kind of system for alerting the public about sharks. Hawaii state officials maintain a real-time shark incident map. In Cape Cod, Mass., there are beach warning flags that warn of shark sightings.

“We had concerns that the system would go off all the time, and people would be desensitized to it and that it would have no impact,” said Chris Blankenship, commissioner of the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources that is responsible for implementing and administering the system. “The way the legislation is now is that it would be a system that (would send an alert out) after an unprovoked shark attack occurs.”

Integrated system

Under HB437, the shark alert system would serve the state’s beaches in Mobile and Baldwin counties. It would be established through the Integrated Public Alert & Warning System (IPAWS) through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

IPAWS is an integrated gateway through which an authorized public safety entity— a local emergency management agency —may alert the public to emergencies such as a wildfire or an AMBER alert for a missing child.

The alerts can be “geofenced,” which means the alerts will be confined to a restricted geographic area such as the beaches.

Blankenship admits there are some things that need to be worked out on the bill. Even the bill itself says the development and implementation of the alert system would be through a committee of experts and agencies. They include: the Alabama Emergency Management Agency, the EMAs in Mobile and Baldwin counties, the Alabama State Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA), the Office of Emergency Medical Services of the Alabama Department of Public Health, the Alabama Gulf Emergency Medical Services System, and all first responder organizations including the police overseeing beaches and coastal areas and the sheriffs of Mobile and Baldwin counties.

“We’ve had initial conversations with the EMAs in Mobile and Baldwin counties and Jeff Smitherman (the director of the state EMA),” Blankenship said. “I think we can make it work with (the IPAWS) app that deals with emergency alerts and geofence that. If there is a confirmed shark attack, we can send it out via cell phone to let (the public) know there is some kind of attack.”

Legislation changes

Indeed, the biggest change in the bill versus one introduced earlier this year is that the alert system will only activate during an unprovoked shark attack of someone within “close proximity to a shoreline or coastline.”

The previous legislation was HB198, and it would have set off the alert whenever there was a report of a shark spotted close to a shoreline, or if one was believed to be posing an “imminent danger” to anyone.

The concern with the original bill is that sharks could be misidentified or their proximity to a shoreline miscalculated, triggering unnecessary alerts.

“We’re not talking about dolphin sightings anymore,” said state Sen. Chris Elliott, R-Josephine, who represents the Baldwin County beaches and who is now supportive of the legislation. “There has to be another shark attack that has occurred.”

Proponents of HB437 believe the use of a shark alert system will be rare. As Elliott noted, news of a shark attack would likely spread on social media before an emergency alert could be issued.

“They are incredibly rare,” he said.

Statistics back that up. According to the International Shark Attack file administered by the Florida Museum of Natural History, there have only been 10 confirmed shark attacks in Alabama waters along the state’s 53 coast miles over the past 187 years. Florida, with over 1,350 miles of coastline, has the most at 942.

Inspired by Gribbin

The bill was sponsored in the Alabama House by Rep. David Faulkner, R-Mountain Brook, and is named after Gribbin, who was bitten by a shark on June 7, 2024, and lost her right leg and left hand. Gribbin’s family lives in Faulkner’s House district.

Gribbin’s near-fatal encounter with a shark occurred off Rosemary Beach in Florida, about 100 miles east of the Alabama state line. The attack happened less than two hours after another shark attack happened a few miles away.

Gribbin’s story has sparked action in Congress, where Republican U.S. Sen. Katie Britt of Alabama is pushing for a nationwide system. Gribbin’s parents have also supported the alert systems, thanking Britt last year for taking the lead on congressional legislation.

Blankenship said he is uncertain how far the Alabama shark alert system will reach, and whether an alert would go off if there is a shark attack along the coastline of the Florida Panhandle.

“We’d take that into consideration,” he said, adding that Britt’s legislation in Congress would take away those concerns.

“We know there are sharks in the water all the time and that it’s rare to have an incident like what happened to Lulu,” Blankenship said.

Coastal action

In coastal Alabama, officials are waiting to see how the particulars roll out with Blankenship’s lead and with the support from marine scientists, including Sean Powers, director of the University of South Alabama’s Stokes School of Marine and Environmental Sciences and a senior marine scientist at the Dauphin Island Sea Lab.

Jessica Waters, spokesperson with the Baldwin County EMA, said her agency is well-positioned to integrate and support a shark alert system. Doug Cooper, deputy director of the Mobile County EMA, said their agency is waiting to see how the system emerges once the legislation is adopted.

Powers, who expressed skepticism about HB198, said the current version in HB437 is an improvement, and he applauded Faulkner for working with Blankenship’s agency to improve it.

“It will provide an appropriate level of warning in the unfortunate but still very rare event of an unprovoked shark attack,” he said. “I hope it never has to go off.”

Some officials still have questions about the logistics of the system, sharing similar skepticism that existed earlier this year.

“I’m always on the side of if we can make things better and safer and all of that stuff, and if we can prevent folks from getting hurt, I’m all for that,” said Dauphin Island Mayor Jeff Collier. “But I’ve always had the same questions about this as everyone else and that is how do you track this stuff? How is it site specific? Sharks are always moving. It strikes me as a challenge for whoever is keeping up with this.”

He added, “We know that we live in the shark’s world. We know they are there. We’re in a wait and see that if, after the dust settles, if there is a role for us to play on this or not.”