With summer fast approaching that means more time at the beach. More time at the beach means more time in the great, blue ocean. While the ocean offers respite from the heat, it also is home to some deadly creatures. One of the most feared of them being sharks. While shark attacks are not a common occurrence of death, they are something that most people want to avoid. Now, because of a 16-year-old's shark attack, there is a push for a new shark alarm system that may be able to help us avoid future attacks.
Crazy Shark Attack Inspires Push For New Shark Alarm System
What if shark alarms came to your phone in the same way an amber alert did? Picture this...you are sitting on the beach enjoying a good book when your phone makes a shrill sound. You pick it up and see a shark alarm going off. Something along the lines of shark attack happened x amount of miles from here 5 minutes ago. You are able to rush to the water and call your family members out before that ominous dorsal fin appears on your beach.
While that may seem unrealistic, that is exactly what is being pushed for at this moment. ABC 3 shares that there is currently "a new bill working its way through the Alabama legislature called the Lulu Gribbin Shark Alert System Act."
Lulu Giribbin, a 16-year-old girl, was attacked by a shark in Walton County, Florida last summer. As she was enjoying her day at the beach a large shadow crossed her path. From there she felt a sharp pain in her hand, and when she raised it out of the water she was shocked. She recalls, "I was stunned because there was no hand there." However her hand didn't appear to be enough for the shark.
From there, Ms. Gribbin shared that the shark then latched onto her leg. She shared the details of the harrowing attack with the news station. "Then, the shark latched onto my leg and a hero ran to save me. I blacked out in his arms and woke up on the shore." What Ms. Gribbin didn't know at the time was that just 90 minutes earlier someone else had suffered a shark attack just a few miles down the road.
How This Shark Alarm System Could Help
Ms. Lulu Gribbin's survival is now the basis of the bill. Additionally she argues that this bill she is trying to pass is a "common sense law." The news outlet reports that if the bill passes it would allow "emergency officials to send out something like an amber alert after a shark attack. Warning others who may be in nearby waters of the potential danger."
Furthermore, the notifications would only be sent out after a confirmed attack. Therefore, if you received an alert you would know without a doubt that a shark was in the waters near you. An alert system like that could most definitely save lives and prevent attacks. Even Ms. Gribbin herself admitted, "most likely I would not have been in the water if I had known."
