Records Show Drastic Increase in Shark Attacks Worldwide Over 2021

© AP Photo / Charles KrupaIn this May, 22, 2019, file photo, a woman walks with her dogs at Newcomb Hollow Beach in Wellfleet, Mass., where a boogie boarder was bitten by a shark in 2018 and later died of his injuries.
In this May, 22, 2019, file photo, a woman walks with her dogs at Newcomb Hollow Beach in Wellfleet, Mass., where a boogie boarder was bitten by a shark in 2018 and later died of his injuries. - Sputnik International, 1920, 25.01.2022
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The countries with the most frequent human encounters with the marine predators are the United States, Australia, Brazil, New Zealand and South Africa.
2021 saw 73 unprovoked shark bites across the world, exceeding the three-year average, according to an annual shark attack report from the International Shark Attack File, prepared at The Florida Museum of Natural History.
The attacks were differentiated between “provoked” and “unprovoked,” with the latter standing at 73, which is 21 more in comparison with data from 2020.
While the total number of attacks was said to be in line with the yearly average between 2016-2020, 72 confirmed bites, “there were 11 shark-related fatalities this year, 9 of which were assigned as unprovoked, this number is above the annual global average of five unprovoked fatalities per year,” according to The Florida Museum.
“Annual fluctuations in shark-human interactions are common. Despite 2020’s and 2021’s spike in fatalities, long-term trends show a decreasing number of annual fatalities. Year-to-year variability in oceanographic, socioeconomic and meteorological conditions significantly influences the local abundance of sharks and humans in the water,” the report says.
The International Shark Attack File manager, Tyler Bowling, told the Guardian that shark bites in 2020 decreased due to pandemic-related restrictions, and 2021 records, according to him, are “much more typical, with average bite numbers from an assortment of species and fatalities from white sharks, bull sharks and tiger sharks.”
salmon shark  - Sputnik International, 1920, 11.11.2021
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The US has seen more unprovoked shark bites than any other country (47), with 28 of them recorded in Florida alone, which “is consistent with Florida’s most recent five-year annual average of 25 attacks.” 17 Florida cases were observed in Volusia county, which includes Daytona Beach.
The one unprovoked fatal shark attack in the US occurred in California in December, when a man was killed while boogie boarding in Morro Bay. More deaths were seen in Australia (3) and New Caledonia (2).
Earlier research has indicated that climate change may be forcing dangerous tiger sharks to migrate towards the UK, as rising ocean temperatures have changed the timing and direction of their migration.
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