Shark attack deaths surge above decade average in 2025

08 Mar 2026 By foxnews

Unprovoked shark bites worldwide increased in 2025, and fatalities rose above the recent decade average, according to the International Shark Attack File (ISAF).

The Florida Museum of Natural History's International Shark Attack File confirmed 65 unprovoked shark bites globally in 2025, up from a lower-than-usual total in 2024 and closer to the 10-year average of 72 incidents annually. Twelve of the 2025 incidents were fatal, double the decade average of six unprovoked deaths per year.

Gavin Naylor, director of the Florida Program for Shark Research and curator at the Florida Museum of Natural History, said it is too early to determine whether the increase signals a shift.

"Hard to tell," Naylor told Fox News Digital. "Most of the fatalities are in Australia, which may be experiencing both an uptick in some species of sharks and an uptick in surfers exploring new breaks, some of which are quite remote and hard to get to, and an uptick in new ways that humans enjoy water-sports, like foiling."

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He said additional years of data will be needed to determine whether 2025 represents the start of a trend.

"We will be able to say more if the trend continues in subsequent years," he said. "For now we cannot exclude the notion that it is a statistical 'blip.'"

ISAF investigated 105 alleged shark-human interactions worldwide in 2025.

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Of those, 65 were confirmed as unprovoked. Twenty-nine were classified as provoked, including incidents involving fishing, handling sharks or attempting to touch them. Other cases involved boat strikes or could not be definitively categorized.

The United States recorded the largest share of unprovoked bites, accounting for about 38% of the global total. Florida continued to lead the nation with 11 unprovoked attacks, more than twice as many as any other state.

The sole fatality in the US was triathlete Erica Fox, 55, whose body was found near Santa Cruz, California, on December 21 after she vanished during a group training swim.

The coroner ruled the cause of death as "sharp and blunt force injuries and submersion in water."

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Florida reported more incidents than any other U.S. state, though most cases were nonfatal.

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Australia ranked second in total unprovoked bites, representing roughly 32% of incidents worldwide.

While the number of unprovoked bites rose in 2025 compared with the previous year, the total remains within the range observed over the past decade, according to the group's annual summary.

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An unprovoked bite is defined as an incident in which a person is bitten in a shark's natural habitat without prior human interaction. Provoked incidents are tracked separately to maintain consistency in reporting and long-term comparisons.