Worldwide Decline in Shark Attacks

Ever since I saw the movie JAWS, I have been a little nervous every time I jump into the water each year. If you feel the same way as me, this article may calm your nerves a little bit. Thanks to some University of Florida research you will be happy to know that shark attacks worldwide have barely risen and are on a downward trend. In 2005 there were 61 attacks and that number has gone up only one. In 2006 there were 62 attacks and only 4 of those were fatalities. This is a great improvement in comparison to the statistics of 2000. In that one year alone there were 79 attacks, 11 of which were deadly.

Scientists are having trouble explaining the overall decline in the attacks. Some attribute this lull in shark attacks to the fact that there is a decrease in the population of sharks located near the shore due to overfishing. Another cause could be changes in weather patterns or variations in the proximity of currents to the shoreline. Also there has been a lot more water safety precautions taken globally and swimmers are more cautious about where they are swimming. Of those attacked in 2006, surfers were the most prevalent and swimmers were a close second. Snorkelers and divers were at a distant third with only 5 attacked.

Of the four fatalities that occurred in 2006, none happened in the United States. In 2005 there were 40 U.S. attacks and that dropped slightly to 38 this past year. Florida still remains the world’s shark attack capital, but the number of attacks has lowered there as well. George Burgess, director of the International Shark Attack File at the University of Florida seemed to be happy with the results of this year’s census. He said, “It's really quite remarkable when you have only four people a year die in the mouth of a shark. The reality is, as a biologist, this is a non-problem. It's a minor, minor thing."

The four fatalities this year occurred in Australia, Brazil, Reunion Island, and the South Pacific island Tonga. The Australian attack was a woman swimming off the coast with her dog. According to Burgess, the attack may have been provoked by bloody fish parts being thrown into the water by fisherman. In Brazil, a man was fatally attacked swimming off of the northeast coast. The death on Reunion Island happened to a man who was surfing in waters that are forbidden for swimming. In Tonga a young woman from the American Peace Corps was attacked while swimming.

Let’s hope that the trend of violent interaction between sharks and humans stays on a downward spiral. Remember the next time you enter the water at the beach, that you are not in a swimming pool in your backyard, but in fact you are in another environment. An environment where sharks and tons of other aquatic life are living and interacting with one another. Also if there is warning in area to not swim, don’t try and swim there.