Is the Amount of Fatalities Resulting from Shark Attacks as High as You Think?

When people hear or read about a shark attack, they seem to think it is fatal and that once in a blue moon, there is a lucky survivor that comes out of it. Well, in fact, it is quite the opposite, there are a lot more survivor of shark attacks that there are fatalities.

For example, in 2002, there were 63 unprovoked shark attacks world wide that were officially reported to the ISAF (International Shark Attack File) and three fatalities. This means that 4.7% of the total amount of shark attacks reported in 2002.

If you look at several areas world wide from 1998 to 2002, you will be surprised by the statistics. For example, in United States of America (continental), there were 204 unprovoked shark attacks reported to the ISAF of which 5 resulted in fatalities. This represents 2.4% of the total amount reported during this period.

In Asia, there were 3 shark attacks, which all resulted in fatalities. If you look at the percentage, it gives you 100% which could scare just about anyone. Mexico also had the same percentage of fatalities as Asia with a total of 2 shark attacks. Let’s take a look at other areas. In Africa, there were 44 shark attacks for 11 fatalities (25%). South America had 17 unprovoked shark attacks and 4 fatalities (23.5%).

Although the Bahamas counted 11 shark attacks and the Antilles had 3, none were fatal, which looks very promising with 0% of fatalities resulting from the total of unprovoked shark attacks. Hawaii also had the same percentage as the two of them although it had 17 reported shark attacks. New Zealand also had no fatalities despite the 3 shark attacks that were reported during this period.

The Pacific Islands had a total of 6 reported unprovoked shark attacks that resulted in 2 fatalities (33.3%). Australia had 20 shark attacks reported during that time of which 7 resulted in fatalities (35%).

As you can see, altogether, the number of fatalities actually resulting from shark attacks is far from being equal to the total amount of shark attacks. To the people thinking that most if not all shark attacks result in fatalities, I say: “You have watched “Jaws” too many times!”

My name is Sylvie Leochko. I am quite intrigued by everything about sharks but as I soon discovered, knowledge makes them a lot less scary and a lot more interesting than most people think. For this reason, I enjoy sharing the results of my research with others. If you wish to learn more about shark attacks, I encourage you to visit the following site: http://sharks.findoutnow.org/shark-attack-video-clips.html .

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