"Shark attacks returned to near-average levels in 2025 after a dip the previous year, according to the latest report from the Florida Museum of Natural History's International Shark Attack File, published Wednesday. Researchers recorded 65 unprovoked shark bites worldwide last year, slightly below the 10-year average of 72, but an increase from 2024. Nine of those bites were fatal, higher than the 10-year average of six fatalities."
"California stood out in another way: It had the nation's only unprovoked fatal shark attack in 2025. A 55-year-old triathlete was attacked by a white shark after entering the water off the coast of Monterey Bay with members of the open-ocean swimming club she co-founded. It was the sole U.S. fatality among 25 reported shark bites nationwide. It's not surprising that the sole U.S. shark-related death occurred in California, said Steve Midway, an associate professor of fisheries at Louisiana State University."
Sixty-five unprovoked shark bites occurred worldwide in 2025, slightly below the ten-year average of 72 but higher than 2024. Nine bites were fatal, above the ten-year average of six fatalities. The United States accounted for 38% of global unprovoked bites, a decline from more than half in 2024. Florida led U.S. states with 11 recorded attacks; California, Hawaii, Texas and North Carolina accounted for the remaining U.S. incidents. California experienced the nation's only unprovoked fatality: a 55-year-old triathlete attacked by a white shark off Monterey Bay. California's deeper, colder waters host larger species like great whites, producing proportionally more serious and fatal attacks than shallower East Coast waters where smaller coastal sharks more often cause nonfatal injuries.
Read at Los Angeles Times
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