Last Year The Pandemic Caused The Number Of People Attacked By Sharks To Go On The Rise
Ever wondered about recent shark attack stats, but it’s not time for Animal Planet’s iconic summer “Shark Week?”
Well, the Florida Museum recently reported numbers on recent attacks, and it turns out the Floridians are facing more considerable risks than just about any beachside region in the US, a lead which it’s held for decades.
Though there was a downturn in shark-related incidents during the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic, the international community saw an increase last year.
Experts attribute this to human activity returning to former levels, in and out of the water. Still, shark attacks are relatively infrequent and have low mortality rates.
But fatalities have risen in the last year’s attacks; scientists describe this as a natural and random phenomenon.
The museum’s website reported some of the global statistics from the last year: “The 2021 worldwide total of 73 confirmed unprovoked cases was in line with the most recent five-year (2016-2020) average of 72 incidents annually.
However, unprovoked case numbers were significantly down in 2020, which we attribute to lockdowns associated with the pandemic.”
In 2021, Florida made up 60% of total cases of “unprovoked bites.” They’ve also had a 5-year annual average of 25 attacks.
The site defines these as “incidents in which a bite on a live human occurs in the shark’s natural habitat with no human provocation of the shark.”
wildestanimal – stock.adobe.com
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Other categories include “Provoked bites,” which happen when humans interact with the shark before the attack, such as “divers harassing or trying to touch sharks” or when folks attempt to feed or release sharks from fishing nets.
They also survey incidents called “boat bites” in which a water-based vehicle is attacked, or shark interactions occur after a person’s death. Some are also misattributed to sharks but might have involved other marine life.
They also collected stats on what activities victims were engaged in at the time of the attacks. For example, 51% included “surfing” or “board sports,” while 39% happened when folks were “swimming” or “wading.”
The rest of the attacks involved snorkelers or free-divers at 4% and body surfers, etc., coming in at 6%.
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