This coming Sunday (July 28, 2019) marks the official beginning of Shark Week on the Discovery Channel. Billed by the network as “television’s longest-running, and most anticipated summer event,” the series reached an astounding 35 million people across its various platforms last year.
While viewers prepare to tune in this year, the website Safewise has compiled updated data revealing “which states had the most shark attacks over the last two decades.”
Using the global shark attack file, the group “analyzed data from all shark attacks, both fatal and nonfatal … from 2000 to 2019.”
“Shark attacks in South Carolina have gone up over the last two decades!” Safewise’s Krystal Rogers noted.
Take a look …
(Click to view)
(Via: Safewise)
Before anyone gets too alarmed, though, Safewise’s findings make it abundantly clear that “we’re more of a threat to sharks than they are to us.”
“Because of overfishing, the populations of large shark species have declined (by) over 90 percent,” noted Safewise’s Katie McEntire, citing a recent report from the University of Miami.
All told, out of 91 million recreational swimmers only 44 get attacked by sharks each year. Over the past two decades, there have only been 17 fatal shark attacks in the United States – less than one per year.
South Carolina ranked fourth nationally (behind Florida, Hawai’i and California) between 2000-2009 with 28 reported shark attacks. From 2010-2019, though, the Palmetto State ranked third nationally (behind Florida and Hawai’i) with 38 reported attacks.
Given its warm waters, Florida is the nation’s runaway leader in shark attacks – experiencing 486 total attacks over the past two decades. Hawai’i ranks second with 117 shark attacks over the same period.
-FITSNews
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(VIA: GETTY IMAGES)