Global shark bites return to average in 2025, with a smaller proportion in the United States

(Press-News.org) Gainesville, Fla — Global unprovoked shark bites returned to near-average levels in 2025, following a sharp reduction the year prior. There was a total of 65 unprovoked shark bites worldwide in 2025, slightly less than the most recent 10-year average of 72. Nine of last year’s bites resulted in fatalities, compared to the ten-year average of six.

“The International Shark Attack Files provide baseline data about shark attacks on people that are rigorously and scientifically investigated, evaluated and summarized on an annual basis. While a significant fraction of incidents likely go unreported, the temporal trends, and local and global patterns of incidents are used to evaluate the biology of the animals, their behavior and the risk they pose to humans,” said Gavin Naylor, director of the Florida Program for Shark Research at the Florida Museum of Natural History.

The museum’s International Shark Attack File was established in 1958 and includes records dating back to the 1500s. The annual reports are primarily focused on unprovoked bites, defined as incidents in which a person does not initiate contact with a shark, intentionally or otherwise. Activities that influence a shark’s behavior, such as spearfishing or releasing a shark from a hook or net, are not included in the report.

The number of unprovoked bites in the United States has decreased overall during the past five years, but it remains the region with the highest reported activity, accounting for 38% of incidents worldwide last year. This is also a marked decrease in the proportion of bites for the country. More than 50% of all bites took place in the United States each year since 2019.

Australia followed last year with 32% of the world’s unprovoked bites and 56% of shark-related fatalities.

Smaller percentage of bites reported in U.S. compared to recent years

Last year, 11 bites occurred in Florida, which consistently has more incidents than any other U.S. state. This is lower than the state’s most recent five-year annual average of 18 bites. Volusia County, often referred to as the shark bite capital of the world, accounted for more than half of Florida’s bites. But numbers there also declined in recent years. The county recorded six bites in 2025, below its recent 10-year average of nine and well under the recent spike of 17 bites in 2021.

A spate of shark bites along the U.S. east coast in June drew heightened attention.

A 9-year-old girl in Boca Grande, Florida, was snorkeling when she was bitten by a shark, severing her hand. She was flown to a hospital where surgeons repaired her wrist.

Later in the month and more than 400 hundred miles to the north, two swimmers at Hilton Head Island in South Carolina were bitten by sharks within a single week. One of the victims was a 12-year-old girl who was airlifted to a hospital.

Just days later, a woman wading at Jones Beach State Park on Long Island, New York, emerged from the water with a bite on her foot. This was the state’s only reported bite. Although witnesses did not see the shark, officials say it was likely a juvenile sand tiger (Carcharias taurus) shark. About a decade ago, researchers determined a population of sand tiger sharks had established a nursery south of Long Island, where juveniles spend the first few years of their lives before swimming further out. Sand tiger sharks are typically not aggressive, but juveniles are known to accidentally bite humans while pursuing fish. In some years, ocean conditions bring schools of baitfish closer to the shore where people are swimming. This pattern likely contributed to the jump in shark bites in 2022 and 2023, when there were eight and four bites, respectively.

The remaining unprovoked shark bites in the United States occurred in California, Hawaii, Texas and North Carolina.

Of the 25 shark bites reported in the United States, there was one fatality. In central California, a 55-year-old triathlete was attacked by a white shark (Carcharodon carcharias), also known as a great white shark, after entering Monterey Bay with members of the open-ocean swimming club she co-founded.

Shark bites fluctuate around the world

Australia followed closely behind the United States, with 21 of last year’s global shark bites, notably higher than the most recent five-year annual average of 13 incidents for the region. The country’s coasts are home to the so-called “big three” species responsible for most serious bites: the white shark, tiger shark (Galeocerdo cuvier) and bull shark (Carcharhinus leucas). Their serrated teeth, powerful jaws and large size – white sharks can reach nearly 20 feet in length – mean that even an exploratory bite can prove deadly.

Australia recorded 5 unprovoked shark bite fatalities in 2025.

“If these bites occurred anywhere other than Australia, they would probably have resulted in even more fatalities. Their beach safety is second to none. Within minutes of a bite, they’ve got helicopters airborne ready to respond,” Naylor said.

Remote areas, however, often lack the infrastructure for rapid response in the event of a shark bite. In an early morning incident in November, a Swiss couple in their 20s was attacked by a bull shark while swimming and filming dolphins. There is no lifeguard presence or patrolling in the area, but a quick-acting bystander on the beach stepped in with a makeshift tourniquet. The man survived after being flown to a local hospital, but the woman died before paramedics could reach the scene.

Several of the world’s unprovoked bites occurred off the coast of islands, often in tropical waters. In Samoa, a 13-year-old boy from Australia was bitten by a tiger shark while surfing one evening. His father, a paramedic, administered first aid before taking him to the nearest hospital. The next day, the boy was flown back to Australia for further medical treatment.

In an incident off the coast of the Canary Islands, a shark attacked a British surfer’s hydrofoil surfboard before biting his leg. With a deep wound in his thigh, the man managed to get back to shore and receive medical attention. Surfers consistently have some of the highest rates of unprovoked bites, making up 32% of the bites this year.

An unprovoked shark bite in Canada marked the country’s first since 2021. The paddle boarder escaped uninjured after a white shark took a bite out of his board. This came days after the St. Lawrence Shark Observatory issued an advisory about a broader trend of more white sharks observed in the region. This recent recovery in the Northwest Atlantic white shark population follows a steep decline that began in the 1960s, when the population of white sharks in the Northwest Atlantic dropped by about 70%. The species is still listed as endangered in the country, but it has increased in recent years.

Dusky shark linked to fatal attack

Last year also saw the first confirmed fatality from a dusky shark (Carcharhinus obscurus) bite. One unprovoked incident occurred in South Africa during the annual sardine run, in which a massive population of South African sardine (Sardinops sagax) migrates from the south to the cooler currents along the eastern coast. It is a feast for predators, with dusky sharks being among the most common. During the 2025 run, a free diver in the area diving for crayfish (Jasus lalandii) was fatally bitten by a dusky shark.

This bite came after a fatal attack by a dusky shark in Hadera, Israel, made headlines in April. Although this incident is considered provoked and therefore not included in the report, the unusual circumstances make it noteworthy. The incident occurred about 30 miles north of Tel Aviv, near a power plant that discharges warm water into the sea as it generates electricity. The warm water attracts large numbers of dusky and sandbar sharks (Carcharhinus plumbeus) in the winter months when sea surface temperatures are lower.

People also gather for the spectacle, sometimes feeding dead fish to the sharks or attempting to take photos of themselves with the sharks. In response, some sharks there have developed a “begging” behavior, learning to associate humans with the fish they are often fed. Last April, a 40-year-old man swam out beyond the shallows to film the sharks with his GoPro. According to scientists, what may have been a shark investigating the camera with a curious bite likely attracted more sharks to the “feeding frenzy,” a rare example of sharks showing predatory behavior toward humans.

These are the first reported cases of fatalities related to dusky sharks, but there has been a total of six dusky shark bites reported in the past. Their large size and tendency to swim in shallow coastal waters means it is possible that some unidentified bites can likely be attributed to this species.

“The majority of the bites in the database involve unidentified species,” said International Shark Attack File manager Joe Miguez. “In the moment of the attack, witnesses are often unable to identify the shark, and several species of closely related sharks are hard to distinguish from one another without a thorough analysis.”

The Bahamas had five unprovoked bites and New Zealand had three in 2025. Five other countries reported single incidents, including Mozambique, where an individual was killed upon surfacing after diving with seven other individuals. Other countries with unprovoked bites in 2025 are Vanuatu, Maldives and the Marshall Islands. Single bites also took place in the Spanish Canary Islands and Puerto Rico (U.S.).

There are fewer sharks than there used to be

Overall, the global statistics on the number of unprovoked shark bites show a remarkable level of regularity: the 10-, 20- and 30-year averages for unprovoked bites only differ by four, and the average number of fatalities for the same time intervals has remained unchanged, with an average of six fatalities each year.

At the same time, global shark populations remain far below historical levels.

“Out of the 1200 species, 30% of them are categorized as endangered,” said Naylor. “That’s a lot, especially because these animals have managed to persist for about 330 million years. They've been through the Permian Extinction and Cretaceous Extinction. Clearly, they’re resilient, yet here we are.”

The decline in shark numbers is largely due to overfishing. In some countries, such as the United States and Australia, stronger protections have allowed certain populations to recover. Elsewhere, changes in water temperature and conditions are shifting shark distributions, which can create the appearance of sudden population spikes locally even though overall population numbers remain steady or decrease. Scientists have found that even with additional protection, global shark mortality due to fishing has increased.

“Shark bites are the consequence of the biology of the animals, the climatic conditions and the number of people in the water, at the time of the incident,” Naylor said. “These global patterns change only slightly from one year to the other. But the regional incidents do oscillate a lot, and these local trends are interesting.”

The chances of being bitten by a shark remain extremely low. Drowning and being struck by lightning are far more common. According to the World Health Organization, drowning is the third leading cause of death from unintentional injury worldwide. In the United States alone, the CDC reports over 4,000 drowning deaths annually. Globally, lightning causes an estimated 24,000 fatalities each year, with about ten times as many injuries.

The International Shark Attack File has suggestions for further decreasing your chances of shark bites, including swimming with other people nearby, avoiding swimming at dawn and dusk and staying away from where people are fishing. If participating in shark tourism activities, avoid baited shark tours, which are illegal in Florida but commonplace in some areas around the world. Feeding sharks may train them to link human activity with food, potentially increasing the risk of negative encounters.

For more resources, including the full 2025 report, you can visit the International Shark Attack File’s website.

Link to full report.

Link to full infographic.

Link to map.

Link to pie chart.

Link to bar chart.

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