shark attacks catamaran

How a 40cm cookiecutter shark deflated a 9-metre catamaran off the coast of Cairns

How can a 40-centimetre shark deflate a 9-metre catamaran?

On Wednesday at 1:30am three sailors attempting a round-the-world voyage activated their emergency beacon after their boat was attacked by sharks 800 kilometres off the coast of Cairns, and began to sink. 

The craft left St Petersburg on July 1, 2021, in a bid to break the world record for cruising distance in an inflatable sailing trimaran. 

The crew — Russians Evgeny Kovalevsky and Stanislav Beryozkin, and Vincent Thomas Garate from France — were rescued by a cargo ship and arrived at Mooloolaba Harbour, on the Sunshine Coast, today. 

It's suspected their craft was set upon by cookiecutter sharks. 

It's the second catamaran to be used in the attempt, after the first vessel — Russian Ocean Way — was punctured by sharks in Tahiti in June. 

The trio had also made an earlier attempt in March on a trimaran but the trip was abandoned for other reasons.

What are cookiecutter sharks?

Cookiecutter sharks are little, but their prey is not. 

"Cookiecutter sharks are unique in that they're very small, usually around 40 centimetres," Daryl McPhee, an associate professor of environmental science at Bond University, said. 

"They generally feed on large prey including whales and large fish."

The sharks have an "odd and somewhat frightening array of teeth they use to grab their prey and twist to bite a circular piece off," he said. 

They can do this to an animal several times, slowly eating their prey.

Are they a threat to humans?

It is very rare for a cookiecutter shark to attack a human, and of the small number of attacks recorded, none were fatal, Dr McPhee said. 

The first reported cookiecutter shark attack was in Hawaii in 2011, when the victim was swimming in deep water late at night.

The most recent attack was on a 7-year-old boy on Magnetic Island in 2017.

Why did the boat fall prey?

Cookiecutters are opportunistic feeders – they aren't fussy, Dr McPhee said. 

Unlike most other breeds of shark who feed at dusk and dawn, cookiecutter sharks are night-time feeders and prefer tropical waters.

It's not unheard of for them to attack inanimate objects, with reports of attacks on submarines and underwater cables, Dr McPhee said.

It is likely that the sharks mistook the inflatable catamaran for a whale or dolphin carcass, causing punctures to two out of its three hulls, he said. 

The small sharks can make "short work of inflatable boats", Dr McPhee said. 

Should we be worried?

Dr McPhee said this attack was likely an isolated one. 

"I don't suspect we're going to see a global spate of cookiecutter shark bites anytime soon," he said. 

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3 sailors rescued after sharks attack and partially destroy their inflatable boat off Australian coast

Updated on: September 6, 2023 / 8:30 PM EDT / CBS/AP

Three sailors from Russia and France were rescued on Wednesday after the inflatable catamaran they were trying to navigate from Vanuatu to Australia came under attack from sharks, authorities said.

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority said it responded to an alert from an emergency beacon at about 1:30 a.m. When rescuers arrived at the scene more than 500 miles east of the Australian coast in the Coral Sea, they found both hulls of the men's 9-meter boat had been damaged after several shark attacks.

The agency enlisted the help of a Panamanian-flagged ship, the vehicle-carrying "Dugong Ace," which was able to complete the rescue and take the two Russians and one Frenchman aboard. A rescue plane also flew to the scene.

"The three males were very happy to be rescued, and they're all healthy and well," said Joe Zeller , duty manager at the agency's Canberra response center.

Footage shot by a rescue helicopter shows the catamaran bobbing in calm seas as it is approached by the hulking Dugong Ace.

The men, aged between 28 and 64, are due to arrive in the Australian city of Brisbane on Thursday.

Zeller said a journey from the Pacific Island nation of Vanuatu to Australia on such a vessel would usually take two to three weeks.

Aerial photos showed major damage to the catamaran, with the front section of one hull completely missing.

Zeller said the GPS-encoded emergency beacon had saved the men's lives by allowing rescuers to quickly pinpoint their location and mount an appropriate rescue.

"This is a timely reminder to always carry a distress beacon while on the water," the Australian Maritime Safety Authority said.  "GPS-equipped EPIRBs and personal locater beacons (PLBs) can save your life in an emergency."

Zeller said there were many reasons why a shark may attack a boat.

"However, the motivations of these sharks is unclear," Zeller said.

The Coral Sea is brimming with reef sharks and other apex species such as tuna and marlin.

According to the Australian government, it is home to more sharks "than almost any other survey site in the world."

Last year, three men whose fishing boat sank off the Louisiana coast were rescued "in the nick of time" by the U.S. Coast Guard after surviving for more than a day despite being attacked by sharks.

AFP contributed to this report.

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Sharks repeatedly attack yacht off Australian coast, forcing sailors to abandon damaged vessel

Nine-metre inflatable catamaran was part of round-the-world expedition, article bookmarked.

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Three people were rescued off the northeastern coast of Australia after multiple shark attacks inflicted damage to their catamaran.

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (Amsa) said on Wednesday that both the hulls of the vessel, located in the Coral Sea near Cairns , were damaged after several shark attacks.

Satellite images and a video available on the Amsa website showed a substantial portion of the yacht ’s stern being ripped apart.

“The vessel departed from Vanuatu and was bound for Cairns (Australia) when contact was established,” Amsa said in a statement.

The yacht was located about 835km (519 miles) southeast of Cairns in the Coral Sea when rescue teams responded to the emergency at about 1.30am on Wednesday.

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The nine-metre inflatable catamaran called Tion was reportedly a Russian-registered vessel. The Russian Geographic Society confirmed the catamaran was part of a round-the-world expedition, according to ABC News.

Amsa said in the statement that they sought help from a Panama-flagged vehicle carrier called Dugong Ace and tasked Cairns-based Challenger Rescue Aircraft to the scene, which effectively carried out the rescue operation.

The three passengers – comprising two Russians identified as Evgeny Kovalevsky and Stanislav Beryozkin, and French citizen Vincent Thomas Garate Etienne – are scheduled to reach Brisbane on Thursday.

The spokesperson for the Russian Geographic Society said their expedition commemorated two significant milestones: the 250th anniversary of the birth of explorer Adam Johann von Kruzenstern and the bicentennial celebration of the discovery of Antarctica by Russian explorers.

Catamaran, pictured in Tahiti in June, sailed under a Russian flag

It commenced its journey from St Petersburg on 1 July 2021, with the objective of setting a record for the longest cruising distance covered on a frame-inflatable sailing trimaran, according to local reports.

However, the sailors were rescued from the trimaran, named Russian Ocean Way, off the coast of Chile in March. The Tion-Russian Ocean Way is the second vessel of the expedition, and it was launched in April.

It was also punctured by sharks in Tahiti in June.

Joseph Zeller, an Amsa responder, was quoted as saying by ABC News that “the sailors were very lucky because they had an emergency distress beacon... which enabled us to tell the most appropriate and fastest response to rescue them”.

“They were very well prepared, they were calm, but of course, they were elated to be rescued.”

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Three sailors rescued from shark-bitten catamaran off Australia

Officials said sharks attacked the inflatable catamaran and tore off large chunks of the vessel’s hull.

Three men on board a catamaran off the northeastern coast of Australia have been rescued after sharks tore off sections from the hull of their inflatable vessel, according to officials.

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) said the three sailors – two Russian and one French citizen – were rescued early on Wednesday.

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They were picked up by a Panama-flagged vehicle carrier – the Dugong Ace – while floating in the Coral Sea, some 835km (519 miles) southeast of Cairns in Australia.

Satellite photos and a video on the AMSA website showed a large part of the stern of the nine-metre (30-foot) yacht torn away.

“Both hulls of the vessel have been damaged following several shark attacks,” AMSA said in a statement.

The authority said the sailors, aged between 28 and 64, had planned to sail from the Pacific Island nation of Vanuatu to Cairns, a distance of more than 2,000km (1,200 miles). They activated an emergency distress beacon in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

The three sailors are due to arrive in Brisbane on Thursday, AMSA said.

“There’s many reasons why vessels are attacked by sharks. However, the motivations of these sharks are unclear,” said Joe Zeller, the acting manager of the AMSA Response Centre. The three sailors “were very happy to be rescued and they are all healthy and well and aboard the Dugong Ace,” he added.

The Coral Sea where the men were found is brimming with reef sharks.

According to the Australian government, it is home to more sharks “than almost any other survey site in the world”.

Sailors rescued after several shark attacks damage inflatable catamaran in Coral Sea: Video

Under the cover of night Wednesday, maritime authorities in Australia recued a sailing party after several shark attacks damaged their sinking catamaran drifting in the Coral Sea, officials said.

An alert from a radio beacon led rescue crews to a 29-foot inflatable catamaran about 1:30 a.m. local time after someone on board the vessel sent a distress signal out, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority reported.

The vessel, named Tion, departed from Vanuatu in the South Pacific and was en route to Cairns in Queensland, Australia when contact was established, maritime officials wrote in a release. The Coral Sea, located in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, extends east of Australia and New Guinea and south of the Solomon Islands.

Watch the sailors get rescued after several sharks damaged their inflatable catamaran.

Australian surfer attacked by shark: Surfer attacked in Australia by suspected great white shark hospitalized, clinging to life

A ping and 'several shark attacks'

After reviving the distress alert, officials dispatched a Cairns-based Challenger Rescue Aircraft to the catamaran's location. A large vehicle carrier sailing under a Panama-flag also assisted in the mission.

Rescue crews said the vessel was damaged from several shark attacks and found three people on board − two Russians and one French citizen.

Crews rescued all three people, officials said.

Victims expected to arrive on land Thursday

No injuries were reported and the trio was expected to arrive in Brisbane, Australia Thursday morning.

Maritime officials reminded boaters to always bring a registered beacon when out on the water.

"It could help save your life," officials said in the release.

Natalie Neysa Alund is a senior correspondent for USA TODAY. Reach her at [email protected] and follow her on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter @nataliealund.

Three rescued after sharks attack inflatable yacht off Australian coast

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Reporting by Renju Jose in Sydney, additional reporting by Wang Jiawei and Mahezabin Sayed; Writing by Alasdair Pal; Editing by Michael Perry

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told U.S. Republican senators on Wednesday that Israel will continue its efforts to defeat Palestinian militant group Hamas in the Gaza Strip, senators told reporters after he addressed a party lunch.

World News | Fierce little cookiecutter sharks behind the…

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World news | measles exposure may have occurred at san leandro restaurant, world news | fierce little cookiecutter sharks behind the dramatic sinking of a boat at sea.

The dramatic ocean saga that led to three men being rescued this week from a sinking inflatable catamaran off the Australian coast has been pinned on an unusual culprit: a footlong shark that leaves such perfectly round wounds it’s called the cookiecutter.

The sailors, two Russians and one French national, were pulled from the sea on Wednesday on their way to the northeastern Australian city of Cairns from the remote Pacific nation Vanuatu, authorities said.

In an Instagram post after the rescue, the group said the attacks were by cookiecutter sharks, which damaged the rear left balloon of the boat on Monday and left it “completely submerged underwater.” The group lasted another day – until the cookiecutters attacked again late Tuesday, this time biting through the right balloon.

The attacks left their inflatable boat partly sunken, prompting them to issue a distress call to nearby vessels in the early hours of Wednesday. The crew and their belongings were rescued by cargo ship the Dugong Ace, and the sinking catamaran was abandoned in the ocean, the Instagram post said.

“They hunt inflatable boats, and (our vessel) just had many many holes and started to go down,” one of the sailors, Evgeny Kovalevskiy, told CNN affiliate Nine News in a video after the rescue.

The crew was attempting to become the first to circumnavigate the world on an inflatable boat and they’d assess how to continue that journey after arriving in Brisbane later Thursday, Kovalevskiy added.

Unlike great whites or hammerheads, cookiecutter sharks are not usually associated with attacks in the open ocean. The cookiecutter — also known as the cigar shark, for its tubular shape — is barely 18 inches long but it has an appetite for large prey – usually targeting seals, whales and dolphins, according to the Florida Museum of Natural History .

Its unique feeding method is how it got its name. First, the shark entices prey with its glowing underside, which can deceptively look like small fish in the deep ocean. When the prey is close, the shark then uses its sucking lips and sharp upper teeth to attach itself to the larger animal. Then, it spins its body around – using its larger serrated bottom teeth to cut a cookie-shaped chunk of flesh, leaving a circular wound in the prey’s body, according to the museum.

Even submarines have come under attack before, with round chunks torn off their sonar domes.

The museum added that because of its size and deep water habits, the cookiecutter is not considered a threat to humans. Cookiecutter sharks have only been involved in four confirmed, unprovoked bites, which all happened in Hawaii, it said, citing the International Shark Attack File.

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) said in a statement Wednesday that “a large section” of the inflatable vessel’s hull was missing when it was found.

“There’s many reasons that vessels are attacked by sharks. However, the motivations of these sharks is unclear,” said AMSA duty manager Joe Zeller.

The catamaran’s crew “were very happy to be rescued and they are all healthy and well,” he added.

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3 people had to be rescued from their 30-foot inflatable catamaran after sharks attacked the boat, officials say

• Three people were rescued from their inflatable vessel after sharks attacked its hull, officials said.
• The trio were around 510 miles off Australia's northeastern coast, according to rescue authorities.
• When found, the 30-foot catamaran was missing large portions of its hull, rescuers reported.

Three men on board an inflatable catamaran were rescued off Australia's northeastern coast on Wednesday after their vessel was attacked several times by sharks.

The trio — two Russians and one French citizen — were about 510 miles from shore when Australian authorities picked up their distress alert in the early morning, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority said in a statement.

The Russian vessel had departed from the Pacific archipelago of Vanuatu and was heading to the city of Cairns in Queensland, the AMSA said.

Both hulls of their 30-foot catamaran "have been damaged following several shark attacks," authorities added.

Officials said they asked a nearby Panama-flagged ship, the Dugong Ace, to help rescue the three people. A Challenger rescue aircraft was also sent to assist from Cairns.

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When found, the catamaran had "large sections of its hull missing," AMSA Response Centre manager Joe Zeller said.

"There's many reasons that vessels are attacked by sharks. However, the motivations of these sharks is unclear," Zeller said. 

Footage shot by a Challenger rescue plane shows the state of the vessel when rescuers arrived.

—Matthew Loh (@ma2loh) September 6, 2023

The three sailors are aged between 28 and 64, in healthy condition, and on board the Dugong Ace on their way to Brisbane, Zeller said. Their full trip would likely have taken between two to three weeks, he said.

"The emergency beacon absolutely saved their lives," Zeller added. "It enabled the rescue coordination center to identify their precise location and empower the most appropriate and quickest response to rescue them."

The trio are expected to arrive in Brisbane on Thursday, the AMSA said in its statement.

Sharks and orcas have been making headlines this summer amid a rising number of reports documenting attacks on vessels . But it's still unclear what causes these encounters , or if they are related at all.

Watch: Deep-sea explorers discovered creatures at the bottom of the ocean feasting on decaying whales

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World News | Small sharks sank an inflatable catamaran off…

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World News | Small sharks with serrated teeth and sucking lips sank an inflatable catamaran off Australian coast

The crew was attempting to become the first to circumnavigate the world on an inflatable boat.

The dramatic ocean saga that led to three men being rescued this week from a sinking inflatable catamaran off the Australian coast has been pinned on an unusual culprit: a small, cigar-shaped shark that leaves such perfectly round wounds it’s called the cookiecutter.

The sailors, two Russians and one French national, were pulled from the sea on Wednesday on their way to the northeastern Australian city of Cairns from the remote Pacific nation Vanuatu, authorities said.

Also see: How to survive a shark attack — or better yet, avoid one entirely

In an Instagram post after the rescue, the group said the attacks were by cookiecutter sharks, which damaged the rear left balloon of the boat on Monday and left it “completely submerged underwater.” The group lasted another day – until the cookiecutters attacked again late Tuesday, this time biting through the right balloon.

The attacks left their inflatable boat partly sunken – prompting them to issue a distress call to nearby vessels in the early hours of Wednesday. The crew and their belongings were rescued by cargo ship the Dugong Ace – but the sinking catamaran was abandoned in the ocean, the Instagram post said.

“They hunt inflatable boats, and (our vessel) just had many many holes and started to go down,” one of the sailors, Evgeny Kovalevskiy, told CNN affiliate Nine News in a video after the rescue.

Also see: California swimmer describes her shark attack

The crew was attempting to become the first to circumnavigate the world on an inflatable boat and they’d assess how to continue that journey after arriving in Brisbane later Thursday, Kovalevskiy added.

Unlike great whites or hammerheads, cookiecutter sharks are not usually associated with attacks in the open ocean. The cookiecutter, also known as the cigar shark, is more than 10 times smaller than a great white, measuring between 1 to 1.4 feet (0.3 to 0.42 meters) on average.

Despite its small size, the cookiecutter ( Isistius brasiliensis ) has an appetite for large prey – usually targeting seals, whales and dolphins, according to the Florida Museum of Natural History .

Also see: How often are sharks near surfers, swimmers?

Its unique feeding method is how it got its name: first, the shark entices prey with its glowing underside, which can deceptively look like small fish in the deep ocean.

Even submarines have come under attack before, with round chunks torn off their sonar domes.

The museum added that because of its size and deep water habits, the cookiecutter is not considered a threat to humans. Cookiecutter sharks have only been involved in four confirmed, unprovoked bites, which all happened in Hawaii, it said, citing the International Shark Attack File.

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) said in a statement Wednesday that “a large section” of the inflatable vessel’s hull was missing when it was found.

“There’s many reasons that vessels are attacked by sharks. However, the motivations of these sharks is unclear,” said AMSA duty manager Joe Zeller.

The catamaran’s crew “were very happy to be rescued and they are all healthy and well,” he added.

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3 Men Rescued from Coral Sea After ‘Several Shark Attacks’ Damage Their Inflatable Catamaran

The trio were rescued in the early hours of Wednesday morning, over 500 miles off the coast of Australia

Three men have been rescued from the Coral Sea after "several shark attacks" damaged their inflatable catamaran.

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority confirmed in a media release that both hulls of the 30-foot catamaran had been damaged following the attacks more than 500 miles off the Australian coast.

The three men, who were traveling to the Cairns in the far north of Queensland, were rescued in the early hours of Wednesday morning. The boat’s emergency distress beacon sent out a call at 1:30 a.m. local time. 

russian.ocean.way Instagram

A video posted on the AMSA’s official Twitter, now known as X, shared footage of the search and rescue effort. “Remember to always bring a registered beacon with you when you're out on the water - it could help save your life,” the tweet accompanying the clip read. 

“AMSA requested the assistance of Panama-flagged vehicle carrier Dugong Ace and tasked the Cairns-based Challenger Rescue Aircraft to the scene. Dugong Ace successfully conducted the rescue and collected three people,” the release added.

Australian Maritime Safety Authority via AP

According to NBC News , the men had set off from the Pacific island nation of Vanuatu on Aug. 28 on the latest stage of an around-the-world trip.

Per the outlet, the sailors, aged between 28 and 64, are said to be unharmed. Their belongings were also saved, but the catamaran was lost.

The trio, two Russians and one Frenchman, are due to arrive in Brisbane, Australia on Thursday morning, the release said. 

Joe Zeller, a senior manager at AMSA, said in a video statement that the catamaran had “large sections of its hull missing,” reported CNN ,  

"An emergency beacon absolutely saved their lives," he continued. “There are many reasons vessels are attacked by sharks but the motivations of these sharks is unclear.”

Zeller added that the men were “very happy” to be rescued. 

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

Per the voyage’s Instagram account @russian.ocean.way , the three men onboard were Evgeny Kovalevsky, Stanislav Berezkin and Vincent Thomas Etienne.

According to one post, their vessel was first attacked by sharks on Monday and began to sink on Tuesday.

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Three Sailors Rescued After Multiple Shark Attacks Sank Their Catamaran

A three-man crew was attempting to set a distance record but a school of sharks sank their vessel off the coast of australia..

Three sailors were rescued off the coast of Australia after repeated shark attacks sank their nine meter (30-foot) catamaran. On Monday morning, the sailors sent out a distress signal , and the Australian Maritime Safety Authority managed to coordinate a rescue of the crew with the assistance of a vehicle carrier that happened to be nearby at the time of the attack that sank the catamaran.

The sailors say that sharks had already assailed their vessel, the Tion , along their round-the-world expedition, but repairs allowed the catamaran to keep going. The Tion was bound for Cairns after having departed from Vanuatu, according to the Independent . And the catamaran was 835 kilometers (519 miles) southeast of Cairns in the Coral sea when the crew was rescued at 1:30 a.m. All three sailors made it safely onto the Panama-flagged vehicle carrier, the Dugong Ace, but the Tion was reportedly left behind to sink.

By the sailors’ own account, a school of sharks attacked the Tion, damaging the catamaran’s inflatable hulls past the point of repair. The sailors tell 7 News that there may have been over 30 sharks in the water, though the species of shark and their size remains unclear. The shark attack was enough to sink the Tion once for all, as the sharks bit into the balloons on either side of the catamaran.

The balloon s were unable to keep the vessel safely above the shark-infested waters; the sailors say sharks were jumping out of the water and biting chunks off the inflatable hulls. The sailors believe the sharks mistook the Tion for a whale — given that the ship’s route followed the migratory patterns of whales the sharks prey upon. The sailors add that while they were prepared for the possibility of punctures, they weren’t expecting sharks to attack the Tion repeatedly and in such high numbers.

The catamaran had reportedly suffered shark attacks off the coast of Tahiti in June, but the sailors managed to patch her up and keep her afloat. The Tion is the second vessel ferrying the crew on their attempt to sail around the world, having first embarked on the journey aboard a trimaran on July 1, 2021.

The crew, comprising two Russian and one French sailor, were trying to set a record for “the longest cruising distance covered on a frame-inflatable sailing trimaran,” but they abandoned their original vessel off the coast of Chile in March, as the Independent   reports. The Tion was their replacement craft, but it’s both unclear and unlikely that it will be recovered.

Sharks, lightning, rough surf: The most dangerous beaches in Florida, by the numbers

Heading to the beach? Have a great time! Just watch for sharks. And lightning. And rip currents. And hurricanes.

In 2023, seven of the 10 most dangerous beaches in the U.S., according to the online travel site  Travel Lens , were in Florida based on shark bites, surf fatalities, hurricane frequency and more.

Keep in mind, part of that is surely because 825 miles of our 1,350 miles of coast are sandy beaches , some of the most beautiful in the country. Only Alaska has more coastline and we're a lot warmer. Florida has the third-largest population in the U.S. and every year millions of people visit just to head to the beach (or to see Disney World, but many of them hit the beach, too). More people means better odds of someone getting hurt.

But just so you're aware of the potential threats, these may be the most dangerous beaches in Florida.

What is the most dangerous beach in Florida for shark bites?

New Smyrna Beach, the "shark bite capital of the world," hands down, is the most dangerous beach in Florida for shark bites.

Florida had 16 reported unprovoked shark bites in 2023 , according to a study released by the Florida Program for Shark Research . That's the most of any state and twice that of the next closest one (Hawaii, with 8). Half of those 16 bites were in Volusia County, and five were in New Smyrna Beach just south of Daytona Beach.

Volusia County in total has reported 351 unprovoked shark bites since 1882, according to the program's International Shark Attack File , twice the next closest county of Brevard with 158.

Why? Lots of people, lots of swimmers, lots of fishing (which means lots of bait fish), lots of surfers. The Ponce Inlet/New Smyrna Beach area is popular with surfers and that churns up the water and lowers visibility.

The locals are fully aware of this, of course. You can buy  Shark Bite Capital T-shirts , for a while there was a  Shark Park attraction  (now closed), and in 2022  decorative shark statues designed by local artists and high school students  were installed around town.

How to avoid danger or shark attacks in Florida:

• Swim in a group, sharks are more likely to attack a single person.
• Swim only near lifeguards.
• Don't go in at dawn or dusk, when sharks are most active.
• Avoid shiny jewelry, which can resemble fish scales.
• Don't go in the water if you're bleeding.
• Be careful around sandbars and near steep drop-offs, these are favorite hangouts for sharks.
• Use extra caution when waters are murky.
• Avoid excess splashing, which can draw a shark's attention.
• Don't swim where fishermen are fishing or a lot of baitfish are swimming around.
• Get out of the water if sharks are sighted.

Duuuunnnnn dunn: Florida leads US again in number of shark attacks. See what 2023 report had to say

What is the most dangerous beach in Florida for lightning strikes?

Florida gets a lot of lightning, more than anywhere else in the country. A 10-year study found that on average, the Sunshine State gets 3,500 cloud-to-ground lightning flashes per day and 1.2 million per year. And sometimes it hits people. Sometimes it kills them .

USA TODAY reported in 2023 that Florida also lead the U.S. in deaths by lightning strikes with 85 since 2006. From 1959 to 2017, Florida saw 498 fatal lightning strikes , more than twice as many as the next state (Texas, with 226).

Since 2000, 17 people in Panama City Beach have been killed by lightning.

Studies have found that over 70% of the lightning deaths happened in June, July and August, with slightly more happening on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays (likely due to more people outdoors, on beaches and golf courses and in parks).

(It's not a beach, but the single most lightning-dense area in the United States is an unincorporated community in Florida just west of Disney World called Four Corners. A study from environmental technology company  Vaisala found that in 2022, Four Corners saw 474 lightning events per square kilometer, or 1,229 lightning events per square mile.)

How to avoid danger from thunder and lightning in Florida:

• Go indoors or get in your vehicle when storms approach.
• Avoid trees and open-sided shelters.
• Avoid contact with running water.
• Avoid contact with electrical systems such as computers or game systems.

What is the most dangerous beach in Florida for surfers?

According to TravelLens, the popular spring break destination Panama City Beach won that dubious title due to the 24 surf zone deaths that occurred between 2010 and 2023.

The second-most dangerous beach for surfers was Daytona Beach, which had 16 in the same period.

How to avoid danger:

• Don't surf alone.
• Use the right equipment.
• Know the area and read forecasts.
• Pay attention to everything.
• Don't stand up too fast.
• Avoid surfing before or during a hurricane or tropical storm, which Panama City Beach officials attributed to several of their incidents.

In 2023, Panama City Beach made several most-dangerous-beach lists for another reason.

What Florida beach had the most drownings?

From June 15-24, 2023, seven people died after swimming in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Panama City Beach (one was outside the city limits on an unincorporated Bay County beach). That's the most drownings in one location in the U.S. that year, according to a National Weather Service database.

That's not the fault of the beach, though. Officials say six of them happened under double red flags, which means the ocean was closed to the public due to dangerous rip currents and the swimmers, all tourists, apparently went in anyway. Only surfers tethered to a surfboard are allowed to enter the Gulf during double red flags.

The other drowning was a tourist who went swimming under a single red flag, which designates high surf and strong currents.

"Any and every loss of life is a tragedy," the city said in a release. "The city considers these drownings heart-wrenching, unnecessary and preventable.”

Rip currents are river-like underwater currents in the surf zone (from the beach to past the breaking waves) that are moving away from the beach. Powerful rip currents can pull people out into the ocean or just wear them out as they try to swim to shore.

• Check out the surf zone forecast before you go.
• Know how to swim and swim near a lifeguard.
• Bring flotation devices or a United States Coast Guard-approved life jacket.
• Swim near friends.
• Know the beach's address should you need to call for help.
• Know the location of life stations on the beach equipped with life rings that could be thrown to someone in trouble.
• Pay attention to any hazard flags posted at the beach or at lifeguard stations and chairs.

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3 sailors rescued from inflatable catamaran after shark attack.

Three sailors on an around-the-world journey were rescued from a sinking inflatable catamaran after it came under repeated attack by sharks more than 500 miles off the Australian coast. Sept. 6, 2023

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‘Very lucky’: teenage girl survives suspected shark attack at Queensland beach

Girl, 13, taken to hospital with minor injuries after suspected shark attack at Bargara beach in Bundaberg

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A teenage girl has been taken to hospital after being injured in a suspected shark attack in central Queensland .

Paramedics were called to Bargara beach near Bundaberg on Friday afternoon after reports of a shark attack.

A 13-year-old girl was treated for minor soft tissue injuries to her back, legs and abdomen.

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The Queensland ambulance service said her injuries were not life-threatening and she was taken to Bundaberg hospital in a stable condition.

#Bargara - One patient is being treated for non-life-threatening minor wounds after a reported shark bite in the water off Fred Courtice Avenue at 4.02pm. — Queensland Ambulance (@QldAmbulance) March 15, 2024

“[She] is very lucky with the injuries she could have sustained,” QAS operations supervisor, Matthew Davenport, told reporters on Friday.

He said the girl was very calm during treatment but both she and her parents were shocked by the incident.

The beach, almost 400km north of Brisbane in the Wide Bay region, was not known for sharks, Davenport said.

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March 1, 2024

A Lone Orca Killed a Great White Shark in First Attack of Its Kind to Be Documented in Detail

For the first time, scientists make detailed observations of a single killer whale killing a great white shark and then eating its liver

By Stephanie Pappas

A killer whale breaches the sea surface.

blickwinkel/Alamy Stock Photo

An infamous orca killed a great white shark by itself last year in South Africa and devoured the shark’s nutritious liver. It’s the first time researchers have made detailed observations of a killer whale preying on a great white shark alone, and the entire attack took less than two minutes.

“While killer whales can hunt large prey individually, this is the first documented instance in South Africa involving white sharks as prey,” says Alison Towner, a senior white shark biologist at the conservation and ecotourism organization Marine Dynamics.* “The surprising element was how quickly the killer whale immobilized and consumed the liver of the shark.”

The killer whale involved is well known in Mossel Bay, South Africa. Dubbed “Starboard” for his bent-to-the-right dorsal fin, this orca has been observed preying on white sharks in the area with its travel partner, “Port,” for years. (Port, another male, has a dorsal fin that bends to the left.)

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The researchers aren’t sure why Starboard went after the shark on his own or how frequently this behavior occurs, they report today in the African Journal of Marine Science . Before now Port and Starboard had always been observed working together in attacking white sharks, sometimes leading groups of up to six total orcas in drawn-out pack hunts. Towner and her colleagues previously reported that these hunts usually end in a feast of shark liver for the predatory whales .

But on the afternoon of June 18, 2023, when onshore observers spotted the two orcas, that wasn’t the case. The researchers studying the pair launched a small vessel and followed them. In the killer whales’ wake, they discovered a slick of gore on the ocean surface, accompanied by the smell of shark liver. “Shark liver has a unique and recognizable scent—oily,” Towner says. “Once you’ve encountered it, you won’t mistake it for anything else.”

A great white shark carcass.

Credit: Christiaan Stopforth, Drone Fanatics SA ( CC BY )

The slick suggested that the orcas had attacked and killed something. The boat followed the animals, which were swimming apart from each other. Suddenly a great white shark appeared at the surface, with Starboard in hot pursuit. As researchers watched, the orca grabbed the shark’s left fin and thrust forward with its mouth, eviscerating the shark. Several minutes later, observers aboard a nearby shark-diving boat watched as Starboard swam a victory lap by their vessel, holding a bloody piece of shark liver in his mouth.

The shark killed in the attack was also known to biologists. “After 24 years of working with the great white, to see an orca—that, before [this], I loved a lot—killing my preferred shark, I was really stressed, is the minimum that I can say,” says Primo Micarelli, a marine biologist at the University of Siena in Italy who was on the shark-diving vessel. At the same time, he said, he knew the solo attack was unusual and important.

The vanquished shark was a juvenile about 2.5 meters (8.2 feet) long. The next day a slightly larger great white shark measuring 3.55 meters (11.6 feet) long washed ashore nearby, also liverless. This shark may have been the one killed in the first, unobserved attack that left the gory slick, the researchers wrote in their paper.

Port and Starboard are a “gift that keeps on giving,” says Isabella Reeves, a doctoral candidate in marine biology at Flinders University in Australia, who has collaborated with Towner but was not involved in the current research. The whales are rewriting some of what biologists thought they knew about orcas, she says. “I think perhaps what surprises me most is that there seems to be some degree of ‘leadership’ from these two male killer whales during these hunts, which is unusual and not recorded much in the wild,” she says. “Females generally take the lead while hunting.”

Orcas in South Africa are not unique in their shark-hunting tendencies, says Jennifer Tennessen, a senior research scientist at the Center for Ecosystem Sentinels at the University of Washington. In the Pacific Northwest, offshore bands of orcas include a variety of sharks in their diets, she says. But these animals are found far off the coast of Oregon, Washington and British Columbia, so their behaviors are hard to observe, she says.

“There’s much to learn still about how many individuals are involved in these shark predations in South Africa and the frequency of these occurrences,” Towner says. “In fact, there is a whole lot we need to learn about killer whales in this part of the world in general. Most of them are difficult to access as they move at high speed and spend a lot of time away from the coasts. Citizen scientists and drones are contributing such valuable information.”

Editor’s Note (3/20/24): This article was edited after posting to correct the description of the killer whale’s attack being the first of its kind to be observed in detail. The text was previously amended on March 4 to correct the description of Alison Towner’s current position.

Global shark attack trends in 2023: Consistent pattern with increased fatalities, new report states

T he University of Florida’s International Shark Attack File (ISAF) released its annual report , highlighting a noteworthy increase in unprovoked shark attacks worldwide in 2023, accompanied by a small spike in fatalities compared to the previous year.

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According to the ISAF’s data, 69 unprovoked bites were confirmed in 2023, slightly surpassing the most recent five-year average of 63 attacks.

“Although the number of bites remains within the normal range, the increase in fatalities this year is a bit unnerving,” remarked Gavin Naylor, director of the Florida Museum of Natural History’s shark research program.

Of particular concern were the ten fatalities recorded in 2023, compared to five in the preceding year.

Australia witnessed a disproportionate number of these fatalities, accounting for 40% despite constituting only 22% of all attacks.

Additionally, the United States experienced two fatal shark attacks, with Florida leading the nation with 16 attacks.

“Surfers experienced 42% of bites worldwide, with Australia being a hotspot due to its diverse shark populations,” stated Joe Miguez, a doctoral student in the Florida Program for Shark Research, emphasizing the importance of beach safety programs in mitigating the risk of fatal shark attacks.

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ISAF’s records also documented an additional 22 attacks last year that were intentionally or unintentionally provoked, with spearfishing being the most common victim activity at the time of provoked attacks.

The report highlighted the prevalence of test bites, indicating instances where a shark misidentifies a human as their preferred prey. However, fatalities resulting from single bites were noted, specifically involving white, bull, and tiger sharks.

Despite the increase in incidents, ISAF highlighted that the number of bites and fatalities in 2023 remained within the average for the past decade. Factors such as increased human activity in shark habitats and temperature fluctuations were cited as contributing factors to variations in shark bite incidents.

“While the odds of being bitten by a shark are incredibly low, ISAF provides recommendations for further precautions people can take, including staying close to shore and avoiding swimming during dawn or dusk,” the report concluded.

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