Le Morne in Mauritius, a popular tourist destination, is safe from shark attacks. The truth involves a complicated array of factors, including underwater geography, effluent runoff, a global reduction in fish stocks, and the fact that hunting sharks in Mauritius and selling their meat and fins continues to be legal. Besides, many of the water activities on offer at the Lux* or by any tour operator on the island take place on or beyond the coral ring, which runs from 30 feet to a mile from the shoreline.īut if the pat answer of an all-protecting coral reef is woefully incomplete, what can explain why La Réunion has become one of the world’s most active shark attack zones while Mauritius continues to enjoy safe waters? Fishers, scientists, government officials and most everyone else knows that sharks easily traverse the coral ring. However, the coral reef is just a ready explanation to reassure those who pay top dollar to stay at luxury resorts. Since 2011 there have been 18 shark attacks resulting in 7 deaths in La Réunion, where citizens, fishers and politicians have begun discussing the relative merits of a large-scale shark cull. Meanwhile, the last unprovoked human-shark confrontation recorded in Mauritius took place in the 1980s, and the island is now joining the ranks of those calling for tighter shark conservation rules.Īny concerns about sharks raised by tourists on Mauritius are invariably answered by a version of this: “The ring of coral reefs protects these waters.” Swimming and surfing are banned on La Réunion in all but a few places because of a fear of shark attacks. Meanwhile, in Mauritius's nearest island neighbor La Réunion, very few people do more than dip a toe in the water. Besides the simple joy of basking in 77-degree water, the program offered by the posh resort included snorkeling, scuba diving, kitesurfing and swimming with the dolphins. On a tropically warm day in November, French, South African and German tourists took to the aquamarine waves at the Lux* resort in the southwest of Mauritius, a booming Indian Ocean tourist destination.
Though environmental conditions are much the same in Mauritius and neighboring La Réunion, the latter is one of the most dangerous shark-attack spots in the world. Divers approach a bull shark in the water off Mauritius.
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