Are sharks getting hungrier for humans? Experts reveal whether you should be extra cautious in the water this summer

Vacationers may want to take extra care this summer following a spate of high-profile shark attacks, including the death of a young Russian man last month.

Yury Popov, 23, was mauled by a ‘meat grinder’ tiger shark in the Egyptian resort of Hurghada on June 9 as his father tragically watched on.

Earlier in the year, another man was decapitated by a great white shark near San Jose Beach in Tobari Bay on Mexico’s west coast.

But are sharks really getting hungrier for humans?

MailOnline spoke to the scientists to find out, following the series of deadly attacks that made headlines.

Surprisingly, they say the trend for shark attacks isn’t going up or down, and that the number of incidents is actually on track to be consistent with previous years.

Professor Gavin Naylor, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Florida, said shark attacks are not increasing, at least not in the short term.

“The trend for shark attacks is not up and down,” he said in a new BBC documentary.Why sharks attack‘.

In fact, as a scientist, it’s somewhat surprising to me how consistent they’ve been over time.

“We generally get between 80 and 110 – 110 is a bad year and 80 is a good year.”

So how many have been there this year?

According to trackingsharks.com, as of July 17, there will have been 38 “unprovoked” shark attacks worldwide in 2023, seven of which have been fatal.

In comparison, there were 57 unprovoked attacks in 2022, five of which were fatal, according to the latest annual report from the Florida Museum of Natural History’s International Shark Attack File (ISAF).

The combined number of provoked and unprovoked global attacks for last year, meanwhile, is 79.

Since 2013 there have been an average of 74 unprovoked bites per year, although 2020 brought the average down due to the Covid lockdowns.

Paul Cox, managing director of the UK organization Shark Trust, said the number of shark attacks is currently “generally quite stable, some years better than others”.

“Data suggests that 2022 showed a decline from the five-year average in unprovoked shark bites globally, but with some notable hot spots,” Cox told MailOnline.

Experts – including Cox, Professor Naylor and the World Wildlife Fund – agree that shark populations around the world are generally in decline.

But of the 500 or so different species of sharks worldwide, only a few are prone to attack humans, including the Oceanic whitetip and great white shark.

“A recent assessment classified a third of the species as endangered,” Cox told MailOnline.

“But only a few species will meet, let alone approach, humans.”

“So comparing global shark numbers to bite incidents is a bit like comparing apples to Bentleys.”

Looking at the longer term, the number of reported unprovoked shark attacks has increased worldwide since 1960, according to Florida Museum statistics.

There seems to be a peak from the late 1980s, in other words in the last 35 years there have been significantly more attacks compared to 1960-1990.

So why the long-term increase?

Cox said there could be more “contact opportunities” due to a growing human population and changes in behavior.

It’s also worth bearing in mind that databases recording numbers of shark attacks rely on reports, and these were probably less common than they are now.

‘More attention to reporting and research could explain the increase in reported incidents in the period 1960-1990,’ says Cox.

Professor Catherine Macdonald, program director of shark research and conservation at the University of Miami, said there are far more people in the water today than 50 years ago.

Any increase in reported shark attacks would most likely imply the “continued growth of human beach and ocean recreation,” she said.

Another reason for the somewhat slump in shark attacks in the 1970s and 1980s could be what’s known as the “Jaws Effect,” referring to the 1975 movie.

The term was coined by Christopher Neff, a professor of public policy at the University of Sydney.

The film is thought to have made people more aware of the dangers of the water, but since the 1990s, attack rates have been rising again.

“The film’s socio-psychological saturation as both a summer blockbuster and a psychological meme is widespread,” Neff said in a statement. Study from 2015.

“Importantly, many modern depictions of sharks reflect elements of Jaws in a way that suggests humans are on the menu.”

Professor Naylor said it is ‘not true’ that sharks are moving more towards the coast, so this is not a factor that should influence the number of shark attacks.

“They’ve always been in relatively shallow water,” he told MailOnline. “This shouldn’t be surprising, as people rarely venture far offshore.”

Professor Naylor also said that this summer we are no less safe in the water than before.

Shark attacks are very rare – you are more likely to be struck by lightning – but most of them take place in the US, especially in the waters around the state of Florida.

According to ISAF, Florida has topped world rankings for shark bites for decades, including in 2022.

After the US, Australia is next on the list of most unprovoked attacks, followed by Egypt and South Africa, last year’s data showed.