ISAF 2014 Worldwide Shark Attack Summary released

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ISAF 2014 Worldwide Shark Attack Summary released

February 23, 2015 - 15:27
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The 2014 yearly total of 72 unprovoked attacks was lower than the 75 recorded in 2013 and represents the lowest global total since 68 in 2009. In general, however, the number of worldwide unprovoked shark attacks has grown at a steady pace since 1900, with each decade having more attacks than the previous.

Most shark bites are equivalent of dog bites, says George Burgess

The International Shark Attack File investigated 130 incidents of alleged shark-human interaction occurring worldwide in 2014. Upon review, 72 of these incidents represented confirmed cases of unprovoked shark attacks on humans. "Unprovoked attacks" are defined as incidents where an attack on a live human by a shark occurs in its natural habitat without human provocation of the shark.

Florida again led the United States in shark attacks last year, with 28 incidents and no fatalities. The vast majority of the Florida incidents were minor ones in which a shark quickly bites an arm or leg in poor visibility water, releasing it as soon as the shark realizes its prey isn't a fish.

"Most of them are better called bites than attacks," said George Burgess, curator of the International Shark Attack File. "They're the equivalent of dog bites."

Geography and tourism

Florida's place at the top of the shark-bite chart owes more to geography and tourism than any particularly fondness of sharks for biting people off its shores. The state has the largest coastline in the United States after Alaska, where swimming in the ocean is not particularly popular, and attracts millions of tourists who splash in its coastal waters.

ISAF

The International Shark Attack File is a global database of shark attacks. It began as an attempt to catalogue shark attacks on servicemen during World War II. The file contains information on over 5,300 shark attacks and includes detailed, often privileged, information including autopsy reports and graphic photos. The file is accessible only to scientists whose access is permitted only by a review board. The ISAF, owned by the Smithsonian Institution, is housed at the Florida Museum of Natural History, and has been under the trustee and management of the American Elasmobranch Society (AES) since 1988