How common are shark encounters in California? New research uses drone video to find out

How common are encounters between sharks and humans off California’s coast? According to new research conducted by California State University, Long Beach’s Shark Lab, there’s a surprisingly high amount of overlap between the places people and sharks hang out. The research team — led by Chris Lowe, professor of marine biology at CSU Long Beach — used drones to document human water activity and shark distribution. Researchers conducted more than 1,500 drone surveys from 2019 to 2021 across 26 different southern California beaches — going as far north as Santa Barbara and as far south as San Die...