Shark attacks are down for third year in a row
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People are using their heads about "when and where they enter the water," a researcher said.
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MIAMI, Florida (Reuters) -- Shark attacks around the world declined in 2003 for a third straight year, partly because swimmers and surfers grew more accustomed to thinking of the ocean as a wild and dangerous place, and possibly also because of a decline in the global shark population.
The University of Florida, which houses the International Shark Attack File, said there were 55 unprovoked attacks worldwide, down from 63 reported in 2002 and lower than the previous year's 68 attacks.
Four people were killed, compared to three in 2002, four in 2001 and 11 in the year 2000.
Normally, scientists do not put much stock in year-to-year fluctuations in the number of attacks because they can be affected by such things as the weather and oceanographic conditions that drive bait fish closer to shore.
But the third consecutive year of decline could indicate a longer term trend, the university said.
"I think people are beginning to get a little more intelligent about when and where they enter the water," George Burgess, director of the International Shark Attack File, said in a statement.
"There seems to be more of an understanding that when we enter the sea, it's a wilderness experience and we're intruders in that environment."
Burgess added that a fall in the global shark population because of overfishing could have played a role, as might have the downturn in the U.S. economy, which made cash-strapped holidaymakers give up their annual pilgrimage to the beach.
As in most recent years, the bulk of last year's attacks -- 41 -- were in U.S. waters. One of the most prominent victims was 13-year-old surfing champion Bethany Hamilton, who lost an arm to a Great White off Kauai's North Shore in Hawaii.
There were six attacks in Australia, two each in Brazil and South Africa, and one each in Fiji, India, Madagascar and Venezuela. The U.S. state of Florida remained the world's shark attack capital.
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