An Alabama House committee Wednesday approved a bill to create a public warning system along the state coast in the event of a shark attack.
House Bill 437, sponsored by Rep. David Faulkner, R-Mountain Brook, would require the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources to develop a system to send wireless alerts about unprovoked shark attacks or after a “credible report” of shark activity that may pose an “imminent threat” to beachgoers in Mobile or Baldwin counties.
“It will set up a system, like an Amber Alert, that will be geofenced, when there has been a previous shark attack, an unprovoked shark attack near a coastline,” Faulkner told members of the House Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee on Wednesday. “And it will allow professionals, emergency management, people who are in the business of doing this, for them to be able to send a notice. It puts a tool in the toolbox.”
(READ MORE: Shark attack victims are recovering from life-altering injuries in Florida panhandle)
The bill is named for Lulu Gribbin, a 16-year-old from Mountain Brook who was attacked by a shark last year while swimming off a beach in Florida, losing an arm and a leg in the process.
Gribbin underwent months of intensive care and rehabilitation and founded a foundation called “Lulu Strong” to advocate for prosthetic technologies for people with amputated limbs.
“Since then, I have had so many opportunities and my life has changed completely,” Gribbin told the committee on Wednesday. “With this bill in place, we can prevent further accidents in the future, and I am so excited to be able to pass it.”
The system will be activated in case of a triggering event, such as “a confirmed report of an unprovoked shark attacking an individual.” It may also be activated if the conservation department receives a report of the presence of a shark in the area posing a danger to potential swimmers nearby. The Legislative Services Agency did not have an estimate of the cost of the system.
Shark attacks are generally rare. According to the Georgia Aquarium, there are only 60 to 65 unprovoked shark attacks around the world each year, with only about six of those being fatal. By comparison, the National Safety Council said 1,039 Alabamians died in automobile accidents in 2022. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that 1,278 Alabamians died by firearms in 2022.
Faulkner’s bill follows a congressional bill filed by U.S. Sen. Katie Britt of Alabama in honor of Gribbin that would alert people at a beach to their phones if a shark attack had taken place recently.
The bill moves to the House of Representatives for further consideration.
Read more at AlabamaReflector.com.
