Scuba Choice

By Nikka BS

There is a Decline of Shark Attacks as Reported

Based on the scary news headlines, there has been a lot of instances that a shark attacks divers or swimmers in the past years.

However, it declined worldwide in 2018 as most reports show.

The number of unprovoked shark attacks around the world significantly dropped last year for almost 70% based on the survey for 2017 compared to 2018.

In the latest International Shark Attack File by the University of Florida they found 130 incidents of shark-human interactions around the world in 2018. 66 were unprovoked attacks while in 34 cases people were found to have provoked the animals before getting attacked. There were five fatalities recorded as a result of all the attacks.

Some involved shark bites to marine vessels, post-mortem bites known as scavenging and one involved a diver in an aquarium.

These are place surveyed to have unprovoked shark attacks:
  • USA
  • Australia
  • Bahama Islands
  • Brazil
  • Costa Rica
  • Egypt
  • Galapagos Islands
  • New Caledonia
  • New Zealand
  • Republic of South Africa
  • Thailand


USA, Australia, Brazil and Egypt are the countries that has maximum of 1 fatal incident only. While Bahama Island, Costa Rica, Galapagos Islands, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Republic of South Africa and Thailand has reported with no fatal incidents.

USA was reported to have the highest unprovoked shark attacks but they only recorded 1 fatal incident worldwide since last year. Florida has the greatest number of unprovoked shark attacks in USA. While California, Georgia and Texas being the lesser incidents.

Most of the victim's activity according to surveys is surfing or when they participate in any board sports, swimming or wading, snorkeling and free diving activities, body surfing or horseplaying, scuba diving and other shallow water activities.

The worldwide total number of unprovoked shark attacks is low given the number of people participating in aquatic recreation each year. Worldwide fatality rates have continued to decline reflecting advances in beach safety, medical treatment and public awareness. This pertains the importance of global efforts to improve ocean rescue, medical care and shark education.

Nonetheless, sharks aren’t really enemies, they are important predators in their own environment. They play an important role in making our aquamarine life sustainable.

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