JUST when you thought it was safe to go back in the water... shark attacks are on the up.
The number of worldwide shark attacks rose in 2007, experts have revealed.
However only one attack - in the South Pacific - was fatal, the University of Florida team said today.
The number of shark attacks increased from 63 in 2006 to 71 in 2007, continuing a gradual upswing during the past four years, said George Burgess, director of the university's International Shark Attack File.
About half the world's attacks typically occur in United States mainland and Hawaiian waters, but the number was greater last year at 50 US attacks, Burgess said.
Australia was No2, with 12 attacks.
Except for 1987, when there were no fatalities, the last year a single human death occurred from a shark attack was in 1985, Burgess said.
By comparison, there were four deaths each in 2005 and 2006, and seven in 2004.
Last year's September 30 fatal attack involved a 23-year-old woman from France who was snorkelling off New Caledonia and was separated from a friend, Burgess said.
"Sharks, like all predators, tend to go after solitary individuals, the weak and the infirm, and are less likely to attack people or fish in groups," he said.
Florida's Volusia County, where Daytona Beach is, continued its dubious distinction as the world's shark bite capital with 17 attacks, its highest yearly total since 2002, Burgess said.
http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,23206277-5013605,00.html
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