US state declared global capital of shark attacks

The latest headlines from our reporters in the USA are sent directly to your inbox every weekday

Your briefing on the latest headlines from the USA

A county in Florida ranks first in the world in the number of recorded shark attacks and will continue to top the shark attack list in 2023.

Experts found in the International Shark Attack File published by the Florida Museum of Natural History that there have been 351 unprovoked attacks in Volusia County since records began in 1882.

Brevard County follows with less than half, at 158 ​​attacks, while Palm Beach was third with 83 attacks.

Florida is considered the shark attack capital of the USA, where there have been a total of 928 attacks on the coast since 1837. But the state is also a contender for this place worldwide.

The International Shark Attack File for 2023 examined 120 suspected shark-human interactions worldwide last year and concluded that 69 of them were unprovoked.

The United States is the country with the highest number of these contagions, with 36 cases, which is 52 percent of the global total.

16 of the 36 unprovoked attacks in the United States last year occurred in Florida, making the state once again a hotspot for shark attacks.

Volusia County, which also topped the overall list, had the most shark bites in Florida with eight, or 50 percent of the state’s total. According to the museum’s research, the county was the world capital of shark attacks in 2023.

A South Carolina man made headlines last September when he was surfing at New Smyrna Beach in Volusia County and was bitten in the face by a shark.

“I felt this pressure on my face,” Mark Summerset, 38, told NBC News last year. “It felt like a bear trap. I think he just yanked down a little bit. But sharks have five rows of teeth, so he pretty much tore me up and then let go.”

The bite extended from Mr. Summerset’s forehead to his jaw and required 18 stitches.

Although Florida is still the leading region, this number is below the recent five-year average of 19 incidents in Florida.

Florida was followed by Hawaii with eight unprovoked attacks, one of which was fatal, and New York with four.

There have been two unprovoked bites in California, one of which was fatal, three in North Carolina, two in South Carolina and one in New Jersey.

According to the museum, for an attack to be considered unprovoked, the shark must bite a living person in its natural habitat without being provoked by a human.

Provoked bites occur when a human has initiated an interaction with a shark in some way, such as when divers attempt to harass or touch a shark, when a spearfisher is bitten, when people are bitten while attempting to feed sharks, or when bites occur when unhooking or removing a fishing rod from a fishing net.

The global total of 69 unprovoked cases recorded by the museum in 2023 was slightly higher than the average over the past five years, which averaged 63 incidents annually between 2018 and 2022.

This year, 14 of these cases unfortunately ended in death, 10 of which were classified in the museum’s records as unprovoked deaths. Again, this is more than the average of the last five years, when there are usually six unprovoked deaths per year.

Australia followed the United States with 15 unprovoked shark attacks during the global summer of 2023.

However, the museum’s experts say that despite these figures, the total number of unprovoked shark bites worldwide is still “extremely low.”

In a press release about its findings, the museum explained that there are consistently fewer than 100 unprovoked bites each year, making it more likely that someone will win the lottery than be attacked by a shark.

“When there are more attacks, it often means that more people are spending time in the water – not that the sharks have become more dangerous,” the museum added.