2015 sets record for most shark attacks, with 98 worldwide

Shark attacks hit an all-time world-wide record in 2015, with Florida – as always – leading the world in the number of times sharks bit surfers, swimmers and beachfront splashers, according to researchers at the University of Florida.

The number of shark attacks broke a new record in 2015 while the previous biggest number of shark attacks was registered in 2000 – 88 cases. All of the attacks were unprovoked. Also, the increase in attacks was likely due to a growing human population, not a growing hunger amongst sharks for human flesh. With shark populations rebounding and more and more people in the ocean, bites are inevitable, he says.

The six attacks, which made up 6.1-percent of all attacks in 2015, matched the annual average of the previous ten years.

2015 further saw double the number of deaths from shark attacks versus 2014. Australia, Egypt, New Caledonia and the United States each had single fatalities.

Six people died in last year’s shark attacks.

Worldwide the USA saw the most shark attacks, followed by Australia and South Africa.

North and SC had eight attacks each. Although there were more attacks in 2015, fatality rate was half that of 2000. In a rare incident, a New Yorker was attacked while boogie boarding off Long Island, he said. Ocean temperatures that spike earlier in the season and warm a larger range of coastline draw both sharks and humans to the same waters, Burgess said.

The ISAF recommends a “proactive response” if attacked by a shark by hitting on the nose ideally with an inanimate object which usually temporarily curtails an attack.

To avoid adding to the yearly tally, Burgess and his team advise not to swim at dusk, dawn or night.

The museum’s International Shark Attack Files were first compiled in 1958 and represent the only scientifically documented database of information on all known shark attacks from the mid-1500s.