Shark attacks in Florida declined in 2009

Shark attacks were up worldwide last year, but the number of attacks in Florida was down.

University of Florida researchers said there were 28 unprovoked shark attacks in the United States last year. That’s down from 41 in 2008. Worldwide there were 61 attacks last year, that’s up from 60 in 2008.

Florida still leads the world in shark attacks, but the number of attacks in the Sunshine State was down substantially. There were 32 attacks in both 2007 and 2008 but that fell to 19 last year. 8 of the attacks happened in Volusia County, followed by 4 in Brevard, 3 in Palm Beach, 2 in Pinellas, and one each in Lee and Monroe counties.

After Florida, there were four attacks in California, three in Hawaii and one each in Texas and Georgia.

Worldwide, victims died in five attacks, compared with four the previous year.
The United States led the world with 28 attacks, followed by 20 in Australia and 6 in South Africa. There were also two attacks in Egypt and one each in Ecuador, Indonesia, Mozambique, New Caledonia and Vietnam.

More than half the attacks — 33 out of 61 — were surfers. Swimmers were the second largest group of victims, accounting for 10 of the attacks. The remaining incidents involved scuba diving, paddle boarding, body surfing, boogie boarding, kite surfing, snorkeling, spear fishing, and wading.


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