Overview
- President Donald Trump signed Lulu's Law last week, a federal measure prompted by survivor advocacy that formally authorizes emergency cellphone alerts for nearby shark attacks.
- The law requires the Federal Communications Commission to permit shark attacks as an alertable event in the national Wireless Emergency Alerts program and sets a 180-day deadline for the FCC to integrate the category.
- States and local authorities will determine operational rules and whether to issue geofenced alerts, and Alabama — the sponsor state of the effort — already has its own warning system in place.
- Marine scientists say unprovoked shark bites are rare, with roughly 60 to 80 worldwide each year, and they point to factors like baitfish, murky water, and shoreward movement of sharks as reasons bites sometimes cluster.
- Survivors and beach communities back the change as a way to warn people after an attack and possibly prevent secondary incidents, but implementation details and alert thresholds will shape how often phones receive warnings.