Naturalist and shark enthusiast Steve Backshall on the latest shark attack information <\/p>
New data reinforces the idea of a recent downward trend for unprovoked shark attacks following decades of incremental rise. The International Shark Attack File (ISAF)<\/a>, collated by Florida Museum<\/a>, reveals 57 unprovoked bites in 2022, of which five were fatal. This is below the ten-year average of 74.<\/p>\n \u201cOver the past four or five years, the numbers do seem to be tilting downwards, but it\u2019s not enough to be statistically significant,\u201d says ISAF program director Gavin Naylor. \u201cIf it\u2019s correct, a very obvious reason is that there\u2019s fewer sharks in the water. We know from fishing and by-catch statistics that the number of most species of sharks has dropped precipitously over the last 40 or 50 years.\u201d<\/p>\n Please note external video may contain ads:\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n