Unprovoked shark attacks for World (Yellow) and United States (Blue) from 1960 through 2008. The drop in recorded attacks in 1969 (dashed-dotted line) is a result of a loss of funding to support the ISAF, and hence less effort reporting and organizing of attacks (see The History of the International Shark Attack File). The apparent increase in attacks after 1987 (dotted line) is in part an artifact of the ISAF moving to the Florida Museum of Natural History, resulting in an increased scope of coverage and reporting of attacks. The apparent increase in attacks after 1993 (dashed line) is in part an artifact of a breakthrough in communication with Volusia County (FL) emergency responders and lifeguards, resulting in the reporting of a greater number of minor attacks that had previously gone unreported.
Data current as of: June 5, 2009



Unprovoked shark attacks for Florida (Orange) and Volusia County, Florida (Green) from 1960 through 2008. The drop in recorded attacks in 1969 (dashed-dotted line) is a result of a loss of funding to support the ISAF, and hence less effort reporting and organizing of attacks (see The History of the International Shark Attack File). The apparent increase in attacks after 1987 (dotted line) is in part an artifact of the ISAF moving to the Florida Museum of Natural History, resulting in an increased scope of coverage and reporting of attacks. The apparent increase in attacks after 1993 (dashed line) is in part an artifact of a breakthrough in communication with Volusia County (FL) emergency responders and lifeguards, resulting in the reporting of a greater number of minor attacks that had previously gone unreported. Volusia County, Florida has a high number of shark-human interactions as a result of extremely high aquatic recreational utilization of its waters by residents and tourists, especially surfers. Most of these interactions result in minor bites or abrasions from small sharks.
Data current as of: June 5, 2009



Unprovoked shark attacks for Florida not including Volusia County from 1960 through 2008. See above captions for details about Volusia County.
Data current as of: June 5, 2009.

NOTICE: Use these data with caution, remembering that scientific and media coverage of shark attack during the early part of this century was far less inclusive than that today. The apparent drop in number of attacks in the 1970's and 1980's is in part reflective of the largely inactive state of the ISAF during those decades. The ISAF welcomes unsolicited documentation of attacks from this time period.

The graphs above show trends in the reported numbers of shark attacks over various geographic localities. These trends were influenced by the effort of the reporting which has varied over the history of the ISAF, i.e. an increase in reporting effort results in an increase in the number of reported shark attacks. Major changes in reporting effort are indicated on the graphs and described in the captions above.

© International Shark Attack File Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida