Chip Chick
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.”
Sign up for Chip Chick’s newsletter and get stories like this delivered to your inbox.
