Shark Bites Significantly Dropped for 2018

Turns out that fear of sharks you have is pretty illogical, you're more likely to die from a falling coconut. Still, give them their space, they're apex predators after all! Reddit Photo .  

Good news for both us and our sharky friends, 2018 saw a significant drop in shark bites worldwide. High fins all around! According to the University of Florida’s shark attack file, there were 66 bites reported in 2018. Not only is that 26 percent lower than the five year average of 84 bites, but it's also a drop from 2017's 88 bites.

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Four of those 66 bites were fatal, which aligns with the yearly average of six fatalities worldwide. Researchers are uncertain to what exactly led to the drop. Their best guess is people are either more attentive to beach safety warnings or that shark populations are overall declining.

If anything, this illustrates that shark attacks are pretty rare. Despite the misconception that sharks are bloodthirsty killing machines, your chances of being chomped on are just 1 in 3,748,067 . If anything, you should be more concerned about your commute to work. Meanwhile, 100 million sharks are killed by humans each year. If you have a hard time picturing that, Joe Chernov & Ripetungi created this infographic to put that in perspective:

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stash member Katie Lozancich

TGR Staff Writer and photographer. Fond of bikes, pow, and dogs. Originally from Northern CA, home for me has ranged from the PNW to a teepee in Grand Teton National Park.