The complete variety of worldwide shark bites dropped final 12 months, however a spike in localized incidents sparked considerations from residents and authorities officers in some areas, together with New York.
The rely of worldwide unprovoked shark assaults final 12 months tied with 2020 for the fewest variety of reported incidents within the final 10 years.
There have been a complete of 57 unprovoked bites in 2022, most of which occurred within the U.S. and Australia, in line with the University of Florida’s International Shark Attack File. Of the 57 shark bites, 5 assaults have been deadly — down from 9 deaths in 2021, and 10 deaths within the earlier 12 months.
Since 2013, there was a median of 74 unprovoked shark bites per 12 months. The general drop within the variety of final 12 months’s bites could mirror the worldwide decline of shark populations, in line with researchers.
“Generally speaking, the number of sharks in the world’s oceans has decreased, which may have contributed to recent lulls,” stated Gavin Naylor, director of the Florida Museum of Natural History’s Florida Program for Shark Research.
“It’s likely that fatalities are down because some areas have recently implemented rigorous beach safety protocols, especially in Australia,” Naylor added.
There have been 32 extra shark bites in 2022 that match the International Shark Attack File’s standards for having been deliberately or unintentionally provoked.
“Unprovoked bites give us significantly more insight into the biology and behavior of sharks,” Naylor stated. “Changing the environment such that sharks are drawn to the area in search of their natural food source might prompt them to bite humans when they otherwise wouldn’t.”
As in earlier years, the U.S. had the best variety of bites, and Florida once more had extra reported bites than anyplace else on the planet. None of Florida’s 16 unprovoked bites have been deadly, however two — possible from bull sharks — led to amputations.
The U.S. had a single unprovoked fatality, which occurred late within the 12 months when a snorkeler went lacking alongside Keawakapu Beach in Maui, Hawaii.
New York had a file eight bites in 2022, six of which have been confirmed. Before these assaults, the state had solely 12 reported unprovoked bites.
In 2016, researchers decided that juvenile sand tiger sharks had taken up residence in Great South Bay, between Long Island and Fire Island. The sharks proceed to make use of the sheltered bay as a nursery, the place they’re higher protected against predation than they’d in any other case be within the open ocean.
According to Naylor, the vast majority of bites in Long Island have been possible from sand tiger sharks that have been drawn into the surf zone by an inflow of baitfish.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”