Attack Statistics
Worldwide estimates state...
. . .that 30 to 100 people a year are attacked. Analysis of over 1,000 case histories world wide, from the International Shark Attack File suggests an average of 30% are fatal.
This is consistent with Australian figures.
The earliest Australian recorded attack...
. . . was in 1791, an indigenous female on the North Coast of NSW (fatal).
The following statistics are the compilation of reported shark/human interactions over a 200 year period.
Last fatal attack in Sydney Harbour - Marcia Hathaway (1963).
|
NSW
|
224
|
70 |
1993 |
Byron Bay |
QLD
|
215
|
68
|
1992
|
Moreton Island
|
VIC
|
31
|
7
|
1977
|
Mornington Peninsula
|
SA
|
44
|
20
|
2000
|
Black’s Point
|
WA
|
55
|
11
|
2000
|
Cottesloe Beach
|
NT
|
9
|
3
|
1938
|
Bathurst Island
|
TAS
|
21
|
5
|
1993
|
Tenth Is, Georgetown
|
Total
|
599
|
184
|
(as of 6.5.2002)
|
|
For all Australian States combined:
In the last 20 years, . . .
. . . 24 RECORDED FATALITIES have occurred due to shark attack.
(QLD = 7, SA = 8, NSW = 3, TAS = 2, VIC = 0, WA = 4, NT = none)
In the last 30 years, . . .
. . . 35 RECORDED FATALITIES have occurred due to shark attack.
(QLD = 12, SA = 12, NSW = 3, TAS = 3, VIC = 1, WA = 4, NT = 0)
In the last 40 years, . . .
. . . 43 RECORDED FATALITIES have occurred due to shark attack.
(QLD = 15, SA = 13, NSW = 5, TAS = 3, VIC = 2, WA = 5, NT = 0)
In the last 50 years, . . .
. . . 59 RECORDED FATALITIES have occurred due to shark attack.
(QLD = 21, SA = 14, NSW = 11, TAS = 4, VIC = 3, WA = 6, NT = 0)
SHARK ATTACKS IN PERSPECTIVE:
There is an element of risk in any activity we undertake. To put the risk of being killed by a shark attack into perspective the following statistics illustrate the number of deaths associ-ated with water related activities in Australia.
Australian Bureau of Statistics
Total Accidental
Drowning & Submersion
|
Surfboard
Riding
|
Rock
Fishing
|
Skin
Diving
|
Drowned while swimming
at an ocean beach,
a river, lake,
& SCUBA harbour,
estuary, bay, or lagoon.
|
1994
419
of which
|
3
|
14
|
27
|
79 of which
were fatal
|
1995
441
of which
|
2
|
13
|
14
|
68
were fatal
|
There were no recorded fatalities from shark attack in Australia in 1994 and 1 in 1995.
Compared to fatalities from any other form of water related activity the number of fatal shark attacks, from all reported shark encounters in Australia, is extremely low.
During the period 1968-91, in NSW alone, 121 rock fishermen were swept off the rocks and drowned and 37 surfboard riders drowned. In that same period 32 shark encounters were recorded with only 1 fatality reported.
Diving related deaths in Australia 1945 - 1987 = 292 (quote from Diving Accident Management in Australia, 1988). “Eleven Australi-ans were killed by lightning in the years 1983 to 1986”, (John Sedgwick, Lightning Natures Terrible Swift Sword, Readers Digest, January 1990).
On average there are 2-3 deaths per year from Bee stings in Australia (Dr van Nunen Royal North Shore Hospital Allergy Unit. Feb 3rd 1989. Manly Daily). Three people died from bee stings in 1995 (Aust. Bureau of Statistics). On average, there is less than one person per year killed by shark attack in Austra-lia over the last 200 years.
* Note: reduction in Tasmanian fatalities related to new evidence in 3 cases from the early 1800’s.
Although initially recorded as fatal they were actually related to:
1) a drowning not a shark attack,
2) a recovery not a fatality, and
3) the initial report was later dismissed as a shark attack by shark experts. The new evidence has been added to the ASAF data resulting in 3 less fatalities in Tasmanian waters as of 28.12.2000.
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