Are there more shark attacks this year? Jaws the sequel!

OMG, another man bites shark story. Talk about stupid reporting. I can't tell if the number of shark attacks is going up or not. Carl and Aylin should go back to journalism school.

Fortunately for you I'm a professional. I've written over 53 articles about shark attacks in the last decade. Here's some data I pulled from Claude(US shark attacks below). I guess the carnage isn't getting that much worse. Shocker!

I know what you're thinking. Am I more likely to be bitten by a shark (lightning strike fatalities below for the US) or struck by lightning. Honestly, I'd worry more about the shark. Even if you live in the midwest.

BTW, I made up that stuff about my having written previously on this subject.

Where Sharks Are Encountering People Along the East Coast

As summer approaches, beachgoers face the reality of human-shark interactions. But scientists say there are reasons attacks happen.

By Carl Churchill and Aylin Woodward

June 20, 2026

Back-to-back shark attacks in the Florida Panhandle have left at least one swimmer in critical condition this month. But despite the clips inundating your Instagram feed, your chance of getting bitten is still small—less than one in four million, said Gavin Naylor, director of the University of Florida’s shark-research program.

Shark populations have rebounded since the 1990s thanks to conservation efforts, for both sharks and their prey. Today some 130 species patrol the East Coast, Naylor added. Most stay at depths where they’re unlikely to encounter people, but some are more likely to stray into waters with swimmers and surfers—especially at coastal hot spots. More people in the waves plus more sharks means more encounters.

Warmer ocean temperatures and increasing prey have drawn more great white sharks to feed in the waters around Maine, according to Gregory Skomal, a fisheries biologist with the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries.

The number of great white sharks coming near shore to hunt seals around Cape Cod is also increasing. “They spend as much as 50% of their time in water less than 15 feet deep,” Skomal said. “It wasn’t like that in the ’80s and ’90s.”

More shark species are appearing off Connecticut and Rhode Island, said Jon Dodd, executive director of the Atlantic Shark Institute. The dusky shark, which can be found in the Long Island Sound, has been recently documented eating seals near Nantucket.

Sharks swimming north after overwintering near Florida often stop to feed and rest near the Outer Banks and Cape Hatteras, said John Tyminski, a senior data scientist at OCEARCH, a nonprofit shark-tracking organization.

Florida is a hot spot because of the sheer number of people and sharks. New Smyrna Beach is a surf break near a fish-rich inlet that attracts sharks, leading to bites, said Naylor.

Multiple human-shark interactions have been reported near the Florida Panhandle recently. More tropical species are coming further into the northern Gulf, said Dean Grubbs, a shark expert and research professor at Florida State University.

Throughout the year, sharks follow prey and ocean temperatures. Most great whites, for instance, go south for the winter to warmer waters near Florida. Warming sea surface temperatures mean scientists are seeing more sharks and species in places compared with a couple of decades ago, said Grubbs.

Young sharks tend to remain in the refuge of shallower areas near the shore where larger predators are less common. As sharks age, they can pursue a wider range of prey and expand their range. Naylor suspects that younger great whites are more likely to mistakenly bite humans as they start to mature and focus on new prey like seals.

This is a map of where an individual young great white shark was recorded over a 3 year period. Each recording is a dot, colored by the time of year. Blue dots mean the shark was in the area in winter, while orange dots are in summer. The shark was further south, around Florida in the winter, while in summer it goes up to Atlantic Canada. It hugs the coast year-round.

You can reduce your risk by not swimming at dawn or dusk when sharks are most active, staying close to shore and swimming in groups, said Dodd.