SHARK ATTACKS DECLINE

With only 47 unprovoked shark attacks reported worldwide, scientists are worried.

This sharp decline is because the number of incidents has decreased by 22 from the previous year.

This means, 2024 was significantly below the 10-year average of 70.

Even though the United States had the highest number of attacks with one of them being fatal, 28 is still almost a third lower than in 2023.

According to Joe Miguez from the Shark Attack File, there are several reasons why shark attacks have declined so sharply in 2024.

They include fluctuations in the number of people in the water in certain areas, oceanic currents, and even something as peculiar as shifts in the popularity of water activities like snorkelling and surfing.

One of the sports attributed to keeping people out of the ocean and onto dry land is pickleball, a sport that mixes different types of bat and ball sports.

CNN reports that the Shark Attack File was established in 1958. Staff working on shark attack surveillance have launched 6,800 investigations covering a period from the early 1500s to the present.

Image credit: National Geographic