At last count, 266 adult Great White sharks currently exist in what is known as the Red Triangle: that piece of Pacific Ocean centered in San Francisco between Monterey Bay, Bodega Bay and the Farallon Islands. Although Great Whites often enter the San Francisco Bay, swimming along the water front and circling Alcatraz before leaving again through the Golden Gate, there has only been one recorded shark attack. On May 7, 1959 18-year old Albert Kogler was treading water with a friend just off Baker Beach when he was attacked by a shark and died from his injuries. A second San Francisco shark attack happened in 1962 when a visitor jumped into the shark tank at the Stynhart Aquarium at the the California Academy of Science[1]: he survived.
The Farallon Islands, prime feeding grounds for Great Whites, are located 28 miles off the San Francisco coast. They are considered part of the Richmond District and managed by the US Fish and Wildlife Service. There are four groups of islands: Southeast Farallon Island (SEFI), North Farallons, Middle Farallons and Noonday Rock. Ironically, for having grown up in the Bay Area, I always assumed that the Farallon Islands were similar in size to Seal Rocks just offshore from the Cliff House[2]. But, in fact, SEFI, the largest of the islands, is 95 acres – half the size of Alcatraz[3]. I have only seen them once despite my numerous walks along the edges of the Presidio[3A], Lands End[3B] and Ocean Beach[3C]. Mariners called these islands “The Devil’s Teeth” because of their steep rocky terrain and treacherous currents and yet, despite the treacherous conditions, adventurous San Franciscans formed the Farallon Egg Company in 1849 and routinely went to the islands to collect murre (a seabird the size of a seagull) eggs. As many as 500,000 eggs were collected each month and sold at City markets. Competitors began fighting for Farallon turf, culminating in the 1863 Egg War where two men died and four were wounded. The US Government, which operated a lighthouse on SEFI, ultimately banned egg collection on the islands in 1881. The lighthouse, built in 1855, was the second lighthouse on the West Coast. Four keepers and their families lived on the island. There was even a schoolhouse that operated for two years. Two of the four 3-bedroom houses remain.
During World War II[4] the Navy installed a high-frequency direction finding station on SEFI to track Japanese warships. 78 military personnel lived on the island during this time. After the war, the buildings were torn down and the islands were used as a radioactive dump site. 47,500 containers of radioactive waste were weighted with concrete and sunk off the islands including the hull of the USS Independence (used in Operation Crossroads).
In 1909 President Theodore Roosevelt designated everything but SEFI as a national wildlife refuge called the Gulf of Farallons National Maritime Sanctuary. After the lighthouse became automated, SEFI became part of the refuge in 1969. The Farallon Islands are closed to the public, though a handful of researchers and scientists are allowed to live there.
The Farallon Islands are home to the largest seabird nesting colony in the United States. Over 400 species of birds have been identified. The smell emanating from the islands is apparently unbearable: guano can be detected half a mile away. And the noice of screeching birds is so loud that it drowns out the noise of boat engines. There are also elephant seals, seals and sharks, which come to feed around the islands from September – December. Over the years mice, hares and cats disrupted the natural harmony before being eradicated in the 1970s.
Three people have successfully swum from the Farallons to the Golden Gate. For those seeking a thrill, Shark Dive Adventures[5] offers boat rides to the islands where underwater cages give you an up-close and personal experience with a shark. For the rest of us, there is a live webcam that is managed by the California Academy of Sciences[6].
[1] California Academy of Science: story coming September 27th [2] Cliff House: https://thesanfranciscophoenix.com/?p=3811 [3] Alcatraz: https://thesanfranciscophoenix.com/?p=3344 [3A] Presidio: https://thesanfranciscophoenix.com/?p=5121 [3B] Lands End: story coming March 20th [3C] Ocean Beach: https://thesanfranciscophoenix.com/?p=5243 [4] World War II: https://thesanfranciscophoenix.com/?p=4222 [5] Visit them at www.sharkdiveadventures.com [6] Visit them at www.calacademy.org, search ”animal webcams”
