The most shark-filled waters in the world

According to statistics, the absolute prime time, place and activity to encounter a shark bite will be surfing in Volusia County, Florida.

Volusia, home to the world-famous Daytona Beach, has the dubious distinction of being known as the "Shark Biting Capital of the World." New Smyrna Beach, located south of the city, is the epicenter of shark activity.

There were nine unprovoked incidents in Australia in 2022: four in New South Wales, four in Western Australia and one incident in Victoria.

Worldwide, bite victims are most often on the water on a surfboard, water ski, or other flotation device at the time of the attack. “Try to avoid splashing on the surface because they make sounds like fighting fish,” says Gavin Naylor, director of the Florida Shark Research Program, at Florida Museum Tips for Swimmers.

Maui is the second largest of Hawaii's islands, but it's by far the busiest when it comes to human-shark encounters. An important factor in this is the unique underwater topography: the gentle island habitats offshore Maui are especially attractive to tiger sharks.

Not surprisingly, fishing is another higher-risk activity in waters that are home to sharks. In May 2023, a kayaker was fishing in shallow waters off the coast of Windward Oahu, Hawaii when a tiger shark crashed into his boat.

Between 29 and 2012, there were 2021 unprovoked shark bites in South Africa, six of which were fatal. The Western Cape, which includes the Gansbaai coast, has the most recent reported attacks. Gansbaai has traditionally been a place to watch great white sharks, but in recent years, according to recent reports, they have been driven out by killer whales.

None of the 45 unprovoked attacks in South Carolina over the decade were fatal. Charleston, Horry and Beaufort were the site of most of the incidents.

"If you go out into the ocean, you have to assume that you might encounter a shark no matter when or where it is," Neil Hammerschlag, director of the Shark Research and Conservation Program at the University of Miami's Rosenstiel School, told CNN. "Fortunately, humans are not on the menu, and also, fortunately, sharks tend to avoid humans."

San Diego is a shark bite hotspot in California, with 1,926 confirmed shark attacks since 2020.

Although statistics may show that attacks peak during summer days due to the sheer number of people frolicking in the water, dawn and dusk should be avoided in real time. "Many shark attacks are cases of misidentification due to reduced visibility and ability to identify the shark," Richard Pierce, author, shark expert and former chairman of the UK's Shark Trust and Shark Conservation Society, told CNN.

Brunswick County, located in the southeast corner of North Carolina, is full of beaches and so it's no surprise that it's the region with the highest number of reported attacks, 17 of them since 1935.

The coastal waters of North Carolina lie on an important migration route for marine species, writes Chuck Bangley in Coastwatch of the North Carolina Marine Grant, which means most shark species found on the US East Coast will pass through here at some point in the year.

Located in the Indian Ocean between Madagascar and Mauritius, Reunion is a volcanic rainforest island teeming with wildlife, including plenty of sharks around its crystal blue shores.

There have been eight fatal attacks here between 2012 and 2021, meaning by some measures this island is one of the deadliest places on earth in terms of shark encounters. Geography plays a role here: Reunion Island sits on the so-called "shark highway" between the shark-rich waters of Australia and South Africa, meaning that human adventurers in the Indian Ocean can also open the porch door and walk right into the front shark room.

The state of Pernambuco in northeast Brazil is home to the vibrant beach of Boa Viagem, as well as the Fernando de Noronha archipelago, made up of 21 islands and islets. In addition, there are almost six times more shark sightings here than anywhere else in the country. An April 2023 study by the International Journal of Oceanography and Aquaculture reports that the local government has been seeking to fund scientific research to study the "vast number of unprovoked shark attacks that have suddenly begun in the coastal waters of Pernambuco" since the 1990s.