According to the annual report by the University of Florida International Shark Attack File, the state of Florida accounted for the majority of unprovoked shark attacks in the country, although the 31 verified incidents does not represent any major change over previous years.
Of those 31 attacks, nearly one-third of those (9) occurred in Volusia County.
“It really was just an average year, and significantly, the U.S. saw no shark attack fatalities for the second consecutive year” database manager Lindsay French said. “While we don’t put too much emphasis on year-to-year changes, a slight increase is expected as beach tourism and water sports gain in popularity.”
Other states that reported attacks include: South Carolina (10), Hawaii (6), California (2), Massachusetts, North Carolina, Texas and Virginia with one each. None of the reported attacks were fatal.
According to a report by the Shark Research Committee, the West Coast of the United States nearly doubled its reported number of shark encounters between humans and the apex predators in 2017 (9) however their tracking also includes shark bites on vessels such as paddle and surfboards. The UFISAF only counts encounters that could be verified, unprovoked and resulted in a bite on a human being.
An Average Year
According to the ISAF report, there were 88 documented shark attacks in 2017, a slight rise from 2016 (81) but well below a record-setting 98 instances in 2015. Australia was second on the list of countries with the most documented attacks with 15 — including one of the five total fatalities across the globe.
Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean had three unprovoked attacks and two fatalities. Ascension Island, the Bahamas, Costa Rica, Indonesia and South Africa each had two attacks. Brazil, the Canary Islands, Cuba, Egypt, England, Japan, the Maldives and New Zealand reported single attacks. Cuba and Costa Rica each accounted for a fatality.
“We need to remember we’re going into a shark’s natural habitat when we enter the water,” French said. “Water sport activities often unintentionally attract sharks because of splashing, paddling, kicking and wiping out. But the number of unprovoked attacks is remarkably low considering the billions of people who participate in water sports each year.”
