NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Fla. – Volusia County is known for many things: NASCAR, surfing, ‘The World’s Most Famous Beach’ and once again, the shark bite capital of the world.
Researchers’ numbers for 2023 are in and Volusia County had eight bites.
“We’ve never had any life-threatening injuries, but we do have a lot of bites, mainly in the New Smyrna Beach area,” said Volusia Beach Safety Deputy Chief Tammy Malphurs.
Spotting a shark is almost a daily occurrence for lifeguards and surfers.
[EXCLUSIVE: Become a News 6 Insider (it’s FREE) | PINIT! Share your photos]
“A lot of your locals that live here interact with sharks on a daily basis and never have any issues. The bites here are a case of mistaken identity,” said Malphurs.
The University of Florida data for 2023 showed there were 69 unprovoked shark bites in the world, 36 of those were in the U.S. and 16 of those in Florida. Volusia county took the lead in Florida with eight, crowning it the shark bite capital for the 30th year.
“All shark bites on people are a consequence of sharks being in the water at the same time as people,” said Gavin Naylor with U.F.’s Program for Shark Research.
With New Smyrna Beach and Ponce Inlet being hot spots for east coast surfers, Naylor said it becomes the perfect storm with the bait fish also in the inlet.
“Volusia County is largely black tip sharks and occasionally spinners and they’re highly piscivorous, they’re looking for bait fish,” he said, “The surfers are kicking and splashing and sometimes the soles of their feet or their arms will look like mullet or menhaden. The sharks are in there feeding, they’ll quickly turn, bite first, think afterwards, bite somebody’s ankle, get terrified and think ‘that’s not what I thought it was’.”
That means when the sharks here mistake an ankle for a fish, the bite is minor.
Following the U.S. was Australia, which had 15 bites in 2023 but also had the highest amount of fatalities with four bites there leading to death last year.
“In Australia you have a lot of white sharks closer to shore and they’re looking for seals,” he said.
Navin said all of these numbers are on track for the global five-year average, and to keep in mind: getting bit is still very rare.
“We have something older than the T-Rex swimming off the Florida coast and so if you get a chance to see one of these things and it’s in a safe environment, you should do so because it’s a real privilege to see something so ancient,” he said.
The data showed that 42% of the bites were surfers.
If you’re not surfing and still worried about getting in the water, the experts told News 6 avoid wearing shiny jewelry, don’t swim at dawn or dusk and if you see schools of bait fish jumping and swimming quickly, it may be a good idea to take a break from the water for a little bit. That usually means something bigger is chasing them.
Get today’s headlines in minutes with Your Florida Daily: