Why are shark attacks happening off South Africa's coast and how common are they?

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1. 1

   Shark Spotters: Successfully reducing spatial overlap between white sharks (Carcharodon carcharias) and recreational water users in False Bay, South Africa.

   PloS one (Engelbrecht et al.)Published Sep 25, 2017Checked Oct 20, 2026

   “We also assessed the impact of a fatal shark incident on patterns of water use. Our results revealed striking diel and seasonal overlap between white sharks and water users at both beaches. Despite this, there was a low rate of shark-human incidents (0.5/annum) which we attribute partly to the success of the Shark Spotters program. Shark spotters use visual (coloured flags) and auditory (siren) cues to inform water users of risk associated with white shark presence in the surf zone. Our results showed that the highest risk category (denoted by a white flag and accompanying siren) caused a significant reduction in water user abundance; however the secondary risk category (denoted by a red flag with no siren) had no significant effect on water users. A fatal shark incident was shown to negatively impact the number of water users present for at least three months following the incident. Our results indicate that the Shark Spotters program effectively reduces spatial overlap between white sharks and water users when the risk of conflict is highest.”

2. 2

   Shark attack (Wikipedia)

   WikipediaChecked Oct 20, 2026

   “A shark attack is an incident in which a shark bites or otherwise injures a human. Every year, around 80 unprovoked attacks are reported worldwide. Despite their rarity, many people fear shark attacks after occasional serial attacks, such as the Jersey Shore shark attacks of 1916, and horror fiction and films such as the Jaws series. Out of more than 500 shark species, only three are responsible for a double-digit number of fatal, unprovoked attacks on humans: the great white, tiger, and bull. Humans are not part of a shark's normal diet. Sharks usually feed on small fish and invertebrates, seals, sea lions, and other marine mammals. A shark attack will usually occur if the shark feels curious or confused.”

3. 3

   Environmental and anthropogenic factors affecting the increasing occurrence of shark-human interactions around a fast-developing Indian Ocean island.

   Scientific reports (Lagabrielle et al.)Published Feb 27, 2018Checked Oct 20, 2026

   “The annual shark bite incidence rate (SBIR) in La Réunion (Indian Ocean) is among the highest in the world (up to 1 event per 24,000 hours of surfing) and has experienced a 23-fold increase over the 2005-2016 period. Since 1988, 86% of shark bite events on ocean-users involved surfers off the leeward coast, where 96% of surfing activities took place. We modeled the SBIR as a function of environmental variables, including benthic substrate, sea temperature and period of day. The SBIR peaked in winter, during the afternoon and dramatically increased on coral substrate since the mid-2000s. Seasonal patterns of increasing SBIR followed similar fluctuations of large coastal shark occurrences (particularly the bull shark Carcharhinus leucas), consistent with the hypothesis that higher shark presence may result in an increasing likelihood of shark bite events. Potential contributing factors and adaptation of ocean-users to the increasing shark bite hazard are discussed. This interdisciplinary research contributes to a better understanding of shark-human interactions. The modeling method is relevant for wildlife hazard management in general.”

4. 4

   Variability of environmental, contextual and individual factors in human-shark interactions in New Caledonia, 1980-2022, with some comparisons to Reunion Island.

   Scientific reports (Taglioni et al.)Published Aug 21, 2025Checked Oct 20, 2026

   “The discussion focuses on human-shark interactions in New Caledonia, with some comparisons to those on Reunion Island where possible. Environmental, contextual and individual variables related to human-shark interactions were analysed to identify potential influencing factors. The data analysis for New Caledonia revealed some correlations between variables related to the human-shark interactions. The main results showed that there was a concomitant increase in human-shark interactions since 2010 in the bays of Noumea and in the prevalence of human-shark interactions among people practising boardsports since 2007. The year 2007 was a pivotal year with respect to differences in important parameters of human-shark interactions. The results of this comparison between Reunion Island and New Caledonia were as follows: fatal human-shark interactions occurred among individuals practising boardsports and in turbid environments, whereas nonfatal human-shark interactions among individuals engaged in spearfishing and in clear water in New Caledonia.”

5. 5

   Predicting potential future reduction in shark bites on people.

   Royal Society open science (Bradshaw et al.)Published Mar 31, 2021Checked Oct 20, 2026

   “Despite the low chance of a person being bitten by a shark, there are serious associated costs. Electronic deterrents are currently the only types of personal deterrent with empirical evidence of a substantial reduction in the probability of being bitten by a shark. We aimed to predict the number of people who could potentially avoid being bitten by sharks in Australia if they wear personal electronic deterrents. We used the Australian Shark Attack File from 1900 to 2020 to develop sinusoidal time-series models of per capita incidents, and then stochastically projected these to 2066. We predicted that up to 1063 people (range: 185-2118) could potentially avoid being bitten across Australia by 2066 if all people used the devices. Avoiding death and injury of people over the next half-century is of course highly desirable, especially when considering the additional costs associated with the loss of recreational, commercial and tourism revenue potentially in the tens to hundreds of millions of dollars following clusters of shark-bite events.”