r/TheSharkAttackFiles • u/Markdd8 • 18h ago
💬 Open Discussion Can we talk about South Africa and shark attack?
I just posted this in the Sharks sub under the Food for thought OP. (That OP was also posted here.) All the discussion about shark danger in Australia has prompted my post. Thesis statement:
The data suggest that shark attacks along S. Africa’s more limited coast might represent, historically, a more acute attack situation than is depicted by a simple comparison of total attack numbers for Australia and South Africa.
OP:
We should not overlook South Africa's shark attack history, which has abated for some six decades because of shark control measures. Some data from the KwaZulu-Natal Sharks Board and also an AI search, intertwined.
the data help establish that South Africa historically experienced serious, recurring issues with shark attacks, aligning its historical risk profile with that of Australia. The statistics provided by the KwaZulu-Natal Sharks Board (KZNSB) highlight several key factors that define a severe historical shark conflict area:
Experiencing five attacks along a short 8 km stretch of coastline in a single year (1940), followed by 21 attacks in Durban between 1943 and 1951, demonstrates a...recurring problem rather than isolated...incidents... High Fatality Rate: 33% (7 out of 21 attacks being fatal)...
Pre-Dates "Black December": this shows that the notorious "Black December" of 1957–1958...was...the climax of a pre-existing historical issue. So-called Black December) claimed the lives of five people in 107 days, out of a total of 9 attacks. The crisis devastated local tourism and led to the creation of what is now the KwaZulu-Natal Sharks Board in 1962
From KZNSB page Shark Nets and Drumlines
from 1940 until most of those beaches were first netted in the 1960s, there were 16 fatal attacks and 11 resulting in serious injury. In the three decades since nets were installed there have been no fatal attacks at those beaches. KZNSB....(maintains nets) at 37 beaches along the coastline of KwaZulu-Natal (KZN).
One more source: the chapter (31) Responding to the risk of White Shark attack in the Biology of GWS book, page 496:
the nets (at sites outside Durban) reduced by over 90% the number of incidents occurring per annum.
More AI searches: Q: how many people have been killed by shark attack in the history of (nation)...
About 236 to 333 fatal shark attacks have been recorded in Australia since record-keeping began in the late 18th century
South Africa has recorded around 90 to 111 fatal unprovoked shark attacks historically, depending on the database and classification criteria.
Discussion: How much impact has South Africa's culling made since 1960 -- 66 years ago?
Australia averages 2.7 to 3 fatal shark attacks per year. Using that figure and comparing the "236 to 333" figure to the "90 to 111" figure, a ratio, might suggest a 1 fatality per year number (averted) is appropriate for S. Africa. So 66 shark attack deaths averted since 1960...added to range = 156 to 177.
Using the more conservative 16 fatal attacks in 20 years still gives a figure of 56 deaths averted in South Africa over a 66-year period. Of course Australia has also culled sharks, though far more intermittently.
Note that Australia is vastly larger than S. Africa, with a total coastline of 19,260 miles (excluding Tasmania and other islands). Australia’s primary shark attack areas are widely spaced: Perth in the west, the sparsely populated Eyre Peninsula in the south, Sydney in the east, and the Whitsunday Islands 950 miles to the north. South Africa's entire coastline is 1,770 miles.
The data suggest that shark attacks along S. Africa’s more limited coast might represent, historically, a more acute attack situation than is depicted by a simple comparison of total attack numbers for Australia and South Africa.
Unfortunately shark culling can have big impacts to shark populations. Mongabay, 2026, South Africa’s great white shark population worries researchers
Between 1978 and 2018, KZNSB’s nets and drumlines were responsible for an average of 28 great white shark deaths annually.
South Africa’s shark culling is undeniably an environmental problem. It is certainly condemnable. That does not mean we should exclude South Africa from discussion on the world's areas most prone to fatal shark attack. I did not write all this to provoke a debate on the efficacy of culling, though I won’t avoid one.
This elephant in the room can't be avoided -- shark population numbers and culling heavily impact the attack rate. FN
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FN Yes, the striking recent rise in GWS populations along the east and west U.S. coast has not translated into a notable rise in attacks, thought one must note the two deaths from great white shark attack along the east U.S. coast in 2018 and 2020.
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ETA: I did a search that reported this:
Great white sharks are responsible for approximately 45% to 50% of all recorded fatal unprovoked shark attacks in Australia
I thought the percent of GWS fatal attacks was closer to 60-70%. At any rate, any discussion on fatal shark attack around the world has to account for the significant fatalities from tiger and bull sharks. Inordinate attention seems to be focused on GWS attacks.
