BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. – The coronavirus pandemic had one silver lining this year: fewer shark attacks.With fewer people in the water to bite, shark attacks have dropped worldwide, likely because of all the closed beaches and widespread quarantines, experts at the University of Florida’s International Shark Attack File suspect.News 6 partner Florida Today reports that from Jan.
1 to June 18, there were only 18 unprovoked shark bites confirmed worldwide, down from 24 over the same time period in 2019 and 28 in 2018.
Seven of this year’s bites were in the United States, two in Florida waters. Three unprovoked attacks resulted in deaths — two in Australia and one in California, up from last year’s total of two deaths.