3 people attacked by sharks in Florida and Texas

Authorities said three people were attacked by sharks on beaches in Texas and Florida on Thursday as the Independence Day weekend began, adding to a long list of such incidents in the United States this summer.

A 21-year-old Ohio man was bitten on the foot while standing in knee-deep water at New Smyrna Beach in Florida, said Tamra Malphurs, interim director of Volusia County Beach Safety Ocean Rescue. He was treated at the hospital for non-life-threatening injuries.

That same day, four people encountered a shark on South Padre Island on the Texas Gulf Coast and two were bitten, according to a news release from Texas Parks and Wildlife. The two victims were taken to a hospital, but their conditions are unknown.

There have been 28 reported shark attacks in the U.S. so far this year, according to the website Tracking Sharks. In addition to Thursday’s attacks, at least three more have occurred since June 2, including a California man who was injured by a great white shark and a man in Hawaii who was killed by a shark.

Three women were injured by a shark that authorities believed was a bull shark. Walton County, Florida, has the highest number of shark attacks, according to the Florida Museum of Natural History’s International Shark Attack File.

The museum found that the number of unprovoked shark attacks and deaths worldwide increased slightly in 2023 – there were 69 attacks in total, 10 of which were fatal.

The United States had the most incidents last year, with 36 attacks and two deaths. The number of shark attacks has been declining since peaking in 2021 with 47 attacks, the highest number ever recorded by the museum.

Gavin Naylor, director of the Florida Museum of Natural History’s shark research program, said that while numbers may fluctuate from year to year, the number of reported shark bites has declined slightly from decade to decade. He attributes the trend to commercial fishing, which is decimating global shark populations.

“But the number of people on the beaches is constantly increasing. And as some shark populations slowly recover, I think we’ll see an increase in incidents over the next decade,” Naylor said.