The 2004 yearly total of 61 unprovoked attacks was
slightly higher than the 57 unprovoked attacks in 2003 but lower than totals
of 63 in 2002, 68 in 2001, and 78 in 2000. Despite the recent yearly
declines, the number of unprovoked shark attacks has grown at a steady rate
over the past century. Overall, the 1990's had the highest attack total
(481) of any decade, and the 2000-2004 totals indicate this decade likely
will continue that upward trend.
The number of shark-human interactions occurring in a given year is
directly correlated to the amount of time humans spent in the sea. As the
world population continues its upsurge and interest in aquatic recreation
concurrently rises, we realistically should expect increases in the number
of shark attacks and other aquatic recreation-related injuries. If shark
populations remain the same or increase in size, one might predict that
there should be more attacks each year than in the previous year because
more people are in the water. Shark populations, by contrast, actually are
declining at a serious rate or are holding at greatly reduced levels in many
areas of the world as a result of over-fishing and habitat loss,
theoretically reducing the opportunity for these shark-human interactions.
However, year-to-year variability in local economic, social, meteorological
and oceanographic conditions also significantly influences the local
abundance of sharks and humans in the water and, therefore, the odds of
encountering one another. As a result, short-term trends in the number of
shark attacks - up or down - must be viewed with caution. Thus, the ISAF
prefers to view trends over longer periods of time (e.g., by decade) rather
than trying to assign too much significance to often high year-to-year
variability.
As in recent years, the majority (44%: 27 attacks) of incidents occurred in
North American waters. The 30 attacks in United States territorial waters
(including Hawaii) were significantly fewer than totals recorded in 2003
(41), 2002 (47), 2001 (50), and 2000 (50). Elsewhere, attacks occurred in
Australia (12), Brazil (5), South Africa (5), and Reunion Island (3), with
single incidents reported from the Bahamas, Cuba, Egypt, Fiji,New Zealand,
and Venezuela.
There are approximately one
hundred reported cases of shark incidents and around five resulting
fatalities each year worldwide, though the true figure is likely to be
higher since such attacks are bad for tourism and records in third world
countries are unreliable. However, this figure is still far less than the
number of fatalities ascribed to other dangerous animals such as bee stings,
scorpions or crocodiles.
The bottom line is that these animals have an unfairly dangerous reputation
- thanks to Hollywood - and your chances of being whacked by a great white
are smaller than being killed in a household accident.
Following recent trends, Florida (12) had most of the unprovoked attacks
in the United States. However, this total was remarkably lower than the
2000-2003 average of 33.5 (based on 30 in 2003, 29 in 2002, 34 in 2001, and
37 in 2000). Additional U.S. attacks were recorded in California (6), Texas
(4), Hawaii (3), North Carolina (2), Alabama (1), Oregon (1), and South
Carolina (1). Within Florida, Volusia County had the most (3) incidents,
dramatically down from the 13 reported in 2003, 18 in 2002, and 22 in 2001.
This area normally has higher numbers of shark-human interactions as a
result of very high aquatic recreational utilization of its attractive
waters by both Florida residents and tourists, especially surfers. Other
Florida counties having attacks in 2003 were St. Johns (2), Brevard (1),
Duvall (1), Lee (1), Martin (1), Palm Beach (2), and Pinellas (1).
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