Shark attacks rose in 2025. Here's why Californians should take note

Shark attacks returned to near-average levels successful 2025 aft a dip the erstwhile year, according to the latest study from the Florida Museum of Natural History’s International Shark Attack File, published Wednesday.

Researchers recorded 65 unprovoked shark bites worldwide past year, somewhat beneath the 10-year mean of 72, but an summation from 2024. Nine of those bites were fatal, higher than the 10-year mean of six fatalities.

The United States erstwhile again had the highest fig of reported incidents, accounting for 38% of planetary unprovoked bites erstwhile assessed connected a state by state basis. That said, it’s really a diminution from caller years, including 2024, erstwhile much than fractional of each reported bites worldwide occurred disconnected the U.S. coast.

In 2025, Florida led each states with 11 recorded attacks. California, Hawaii, Texas and North Carolina accounted for the remaining U.S. incidents.

But California stood retired successful different way: It had the nation’s lone unprovoked fatal shark onslaught successful 2025.

A 55-year-old triathlete was attacked by a achromatic shark aft entering the h2o disconnected the seashore of Monterey Bay with members of the open-ocean swimming nine she co-founded. It was the sole U.S. fatality among 25 reported shark bites nationwide.

It’s not astonishing that the sole U.S. shark-related decease occurred successful California, said Steve Midway, an subordinate prof of fisheries astatine Louisiana State University. “In California, you thin to person year-to-year less attacks than different places successful the U.S. and successful the world,” Midway said. “But you thin to person much superior attacks, a higher proportionality of fatal attacks.”

The quality lies successful taxon and geography, Midway said. Along the East Coast, peculiarly successful Florida, galore bites impact smaller coastal sharks successful shallow water, which are much apt to effect successful nonfatal injuries. California’s deeper and colder waters are location to larger species, specified arsenic the large achromatic shark.

“Great whites conscionable hap to beryllium larger,” Midway said. “You’re little apt to beryllium attacked, but if you are, the outcomes thin to beryllium worse.”

Whether measured implicit 10, 20 oregon 30 years, mean yearly shark wound totals globally are really precise stable.

“The planetary patterns alteration lone somewhat from 1 twelvemonth to the other,” said Gavin Naylor, manager of the Florida Program for Shark Research.

Those yearly fluctuations are influenced by a operation of shark biology, water conditions and the fig of radical successful the h2o astatine immoderate fixed clip successful immoderate fixed place, researchers say.

At the aforesaid time, planetary shark populations stay acold beneath humanities levels. Naylor categorizes astir 30% of shark taxon arsenic endangered, mostly owed to overfishing. In immoderate countries, including the United States and Australia, stronger protections person allowed definite shark populations to recover.

Nevertheless, the hazard of being bitten by a shark remains highly low. The study notes that drowning is simply a acold much communal origin of decease worldwide — and, if it helps you slumber (or swim), the information amusement that you are overmuch much apt to beryllium killed by lightning than you are by a shark.