Global Shark Bite Incidents Rise in 2025, Fatalities Above Decade Average
By Space Coast Daily // March 8, 2026
researchers confirmed 65 unprovoked shark bites globally in 2025
BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA – Newly released data shows that unprovoked shark bites increased worldwide in 2025, with the number of deaths exceeding the average recorded over the past decade.
According to the International Shark Attack File (ISAF), maintained by the Florida Museum of Natural History, researchers confirmed 65 unprovoked shark bites globally in 2025. The total is higher than the unusually low number reported in 2024 and is closer to the 10-year annual average of 72 incidents.
Twelve of the incidents recorded in 2025 were fatal, double the decade average of six deaths per year linked to unprovoked shark encounters.
Gavin Naylor, director of the Florida Program for Shark Research and curator at the Florida Museum of Natural History, said it is too soon to determine whether the increase signals a developing trend.
“Hard to tell,” Naylor said, explaining that many of the fatalities occurred in Australia. He noted that the region may be experiencing a rise in certain shark populations as well as increased activity from surfers exploring remote breaks and new water sports such as foiling.
Researchers say more years of data will be needed before determining whether the 2025 numbers represent a long-term pattern.
“We will be able to say more if the trend continues in subsequent years,” Naylor said. “For now, we cannot exclude the notion that it is a statistical ‘blip.’”
ISAF investigators reviewed 105 reported shark-human interactions worldwide in 2025. Of those cases, 65 were determined to be unprovoked.
Twenty-nine incidents were categorized as provoked, including cases involving fishing activities, attempts to handle sharks or efforts to touch them. Other reports involved boat strikes or lacked enough information to determine the circumstances.
The United States recorded the highest share of unprovoked shark bites, accounting for about 38 percent of the global total. Florida reported the most incidents in the country, with 11 unprovoked bites—more than twice the number reported by any other state.
Most of the U.S. cases were nonfatal. The only fatality occurred in California, where triathlete Erica Fox, 55, was found dead near Santa Cruz on Dec. 21 after she disappeared during a group training swim.
The coroner ruled Fox’s cause of death as “sharp and blunt force injuries and submersion in water.”
