Florida is the shark attack capital of the world, according to a report by the International Shark Attack File (ISAF) at the Florida Museum of Natural History. The Sunshine State accounted for 44 percent of all recorded U.S attacks in 2023, with Volusia County seeing the most attacks at 50 percent.
The United States had 36 confirmed cases of unprovoked shark bites in 2023, representing 52% of the worldwide total. This is slightly lower than the 41 incidents recorded in 2022. Ten of the attacks in the past year were fatal, up from five the year before, and Australia accounted for a disproportionate number of fatalities at 40%.
There were two confirmed deaths in the U.S., as well as one each in the Bahamas, Egypt, Mexico, and New Caledonia. Other confirmed non-fatal bites occurred in various countries around the world. The director of the museum’s shark research program, Gavin Naylor, mentioned that while the number of bites falls within the normal range,
