Danger in the water: Fatal attacks, bites from sharks rose in 2023. Surfers bitten the most.
It has been 50 years this month since Peter Benchley's novel "Jaws" hit the bookshelves, spawning the blockbuster movie of the same name.
It remains a classic, but its famous villain isn't keeping people away from the beach. Shark bites and fatal shark attacks increased worldwide last year, according to the University of Florida’s International Shark Attack File.
Sixty-nine unprovoked shark bites were reported last year, up six over the five-year average, reported the shark attack file, which investigates shark bites globally.
The bites are still within the normal range, said Gavin Naylor, director of the Florida Museum of Natural History’s shark research program. But the fatalities "are a bit unnerving this year."
Worldwide there were 14 confirmed shark-related fatalities last year, including 10 classified as unprovoked, double the number from the year before. Two of those were in the United States.
As always, the United States led in unprovoked bites with 36. Though the 16 bites in Florida were slightly below average, the state still led the nation in shark bites, but that's never a surprise because of the state's extended coastline and tourism industry, Naylor said.
Surfers suffered 42% of the bites worldwide, and swimmers and waders were a close second at 39%.
Where were the fatal shark attacks?
- In the U.S., one person died in California and another in Hawaii.
- One death each was confirmed in the Bahamas, Egypt, Mexico and New Caledonia.
- Australia saw 40% of the 10 fatalities.
- Three of the four people who died in the attacks in Australia were surfers, and all three of their deaths occurred in one remote surfing spot, the Eyre Peninsula, off the coast of southern Australia, known for its untamed beaches and surf breaks.
What’s a provoked shark attack?
A provoked shark attack bite occurs when a shark is either intentionally or unintentionally confronted. The shark attack file's records include 22 attacks listed as provoked last year.
Researchers prefer to focus on the unprovoked attacks, Naylor said.
“We’re biologists, and we want to understand the natural behavior of the animals, not the unnatural behavior," Naylor said. "We want to understand if the animals' behavior is modified by people throwing stuff into the water, or fishing or trying to have a selfie taken."
Spearfishing was the most common activity for provoked bites last year.
Where were the other shark attacks?
The 36 bites in the U.S. were about 52% of the worldwide total.
In Florida, eight of those bites were in Volusia County, home of Daytona Beach and New Smyrna Beach, which has long been dubbed "the shark bite capital of the world." The area consistently leads in bites, although local surfers joke that most of the bites are just "nibbles."
Elsewhere among Florida counties, there were two bites each in Brevard and St. Lucie and one each in Miami-Dade, Palm Beach, Escambia and Pinellas.
In addition to the fatality in Hawaii, there were seven other bites. Three bites were reported in North Carolina, two in South Carolina and two in California, including the fatality.
Four bites occurred in New York, including one in New York City. Naylor attributes that activity to improving water quality and growing fish populations. “It causes a lot of fear, but the reality is you’re putting a lot of people in the water on a hot day with bait fish in the water,” he said. One bite was reported in New Jersey.
Elsewhere, bites were reported in Costa Rica, Colombia, Brazil, New Zealand, Seychelles, Turks and Caicos, Ecuador’s Galápagos Islands and South Africa.
Remembering 'Jaws'
Bites by white sharks have gradually increased since "Jaws" was released, the researchers said. But that's not because of aggression on the part of the sharks. Researchers say it's a combination of more people being in the water and a stronger emphasis on reporting bites and fatalities.
The movie and the film also spawned a generation of shark scientists, Naylor wrote in a piece for the independent news organization The Conversation.
"Shark research quickly went mainstream," Naylor wrote. "The American Elasmobranch Society was founded in 1982. Graduate students lined up to study shark behavior, and the number of published shark studies sharply increased."
Why so many bites in Australia?
Fifteen bites were reported in Australia, including the four fatalities. Naylor surmises the attacks happen in part because the country has taken action to protect its seals,as well as sharks.
The seal populations are getting healthier, he said. "So more seals, more white sharks. And if those aggregation areas with a lot of white sharks happen to be near good surf breaks, then you know when're you're flopping around on a surfboard, you look a little bit like a seal."
Joe Miguez, a doctoral student in the shark research program, said beach safety in Australia "is second to none. However, if you go to remote regions where beach safety isn’t in place, there is a higher risk of a fatal shark attack.”
That’s in part because when an attack happens near lifeguards and beach rescue, “you can get a tourniquet on sooner and save the person's life,” Miguez said.
Australia, in addition to its white shark populations on the coast, also has bull sharks in and around its estuarine rivers. A fatality from a bull shark attack occurred in early 2023 in a brackish river near the coast.
What about the sharks?
Despite the slight increase in bites, Naylor said concerns remain over shark species, even though some local areas appear to be experiencing an increase in shark sightings.
Shark fishing mortality is still on the rise despite regulations intended to reverse that decline. A study published in the journal Science in January by a group of researchers in Canada and the U.S. estimated the number of sharks killed each year increased from 2012 to 2019, from at least 76 million a year to 80 million.
Roughly 25 million of those sharks were threatened species, concluded the study, led by Boris Worm, a marine ecologist at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Widespread legislation designed to prevent shark finning − the practice of cutting off a shark's fin, often while the shark is still alive −was successful but didn't reduce shark deaths overall, the researchers said. Regional shark fishing or retention bans did produce some success, according to the study.
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How can you avoid a shark bite?
You're more likely to win the lottery than to be bitten by a shark, the shark attack program observed, but if you're going into the water, here's a few tips to remember.
- Stay out of the water at dusk, dawn or after dark.
- Wear brightly colored swim clothing and jewelry.
- Swim in front of a lifeguard and stay close to shore.
- Watch for birds diving into the water or fish jumping out of the water because it might be a signal that sharks are in the area.
- If you're in Australia, do your best not to look like a seal.