Florida Leads The World In Shark Bites
Florida has made its way to the top of the list. Not for food or top places to live or anything like that but for something that’s not uncommon. Shark bites. The state is the world leader in shark bites that were unprovoked. This is all according to The University of Florida’s Florida Museum.
Last year, the amount of shark bites that occurred in Florida was 16 and right behind them was a whole other continent, Australia to be exact, they had 15 shark bites last year. Now, Florida is a huge state and the county where a lot of these shark bites occurred was Volusia County, right around where Daytona Beach is located. Volusia County is responsible for 8, and the other counties that were right behind it was St. Lucie County and Brevard County, with each having two, and Palm Beach County had one.
Pinellas County even made the list, with one shark bite being reported there last year so be careful around those waters. Knowing that there has been a case of an unprovoked shark bite in the Tampa Bay area, I decided to google how to avoid a shark attack. Here’s what I found from Florida Fish and Wildlife:
- Sharks are most active during night and twilight hours, so avoid the waters around those times.
- NEVER go in the water with an open wound. Not only can you attract sharks, but you can also catch some nasty bacteria’s in a healing wound.
- Wearing shiny jewelry in the water can resemble fish scales, so be sure to leave all the jewelry on the shore.
- Excess splashing and bright colors may attract sharks.
- Be extremely careful in areas between sandbars or deep drop-off points, this is where sharks like to hang out.
Hopefully this helps you avoid any unwanted shark encounter.
