Shark attacks remain steady, deaths highest since 1993

Worldwide shark attack fatalities reached a 20-year high during 2011, while shark attacks in Florida and the United States were the lowest for the last decade, according to the University of Florida’s annual International Shark Attack File report issued Feb. 7, 2012.

The worldwide number of reported attacks was average compared with numbers over the last decade, and Florida saw its fifth straight year of decline in attacks, said George Burgess, ichthyologist and director of the file housed at the Florida Museum of Natural History on the UF campus.

While there were no fatalities in the U.S., a dozen people were killed internationally by shark attack-related injuries in 2011.

More about the shark attack story here.