Last week, three people were injured in two shark attacks that took place less than two hours and five miles apart from each other on beaches in Florida’s panhandle.
There’s no beach in Florida where it’s impossible to come across a shark. It’s home to the “Shark Bite Capital of the World.” And although shark attacks are rare, they still happen every year in the Sunshine State.
But the area where these attacks happened, Walton County, is one of three Florida counties that only had one unprovoked shark bite recorded in International Shark Attack File in the last 140 years.
Here are the counties in Florida that see the most shark attacks, which areas see the least and when sharks are most active in Florida.
Which part of Florida has the most shark attacks?
The only scientifically verified database of its kind in the world, the International Shark Attack File (ISAF) is a worldwide database of shark attacks, and is kept by the Florida Museum of Natural History in Gainesville, Florida.
According to the ISAF, the county with the most shark attacks in the state is Volusia County, which is the “Shark Bite Capital of the World” and home to beaches like Daytona, New Smyrna and Ormond Beach.
Volusia County’s 47 miles of beach have seen 351 recorded unprovoked shark attacks from 1882 through present day, according to the ISAF.
From 2012 to 2021, there were 94 shark bites recorded in Volusia County. In 2023, Volusia County represented 50% of the shark bites in Florida that year (eight of 16 total bites statewide).
The two attacks that took place in the panhandle happened in Walton County, which only had one recorded unprovoked shark attack in the ISAF before June 7, 2024.
Here are the top 10 Florida counties with the most shark bites and how many bites have occurred in each county since 1882, according to the International Shark Attack File:
- Volusia County, 351
- Brevard, 158
- Palm Beach, 83
- Duval, 46
- St. Johns, 45
- Martin, 41
- St. Lucie, 39
- Indian River, 22
- Monroe, 21
- Miami-Dade, 20
What beach in Florida has the least amount of shark bites?
Here are the Florida counties with the least shark bites and how many bites have occurred in each county since 1882, according to the International Shark Attack File:
- Santa Rosa, 1
- Charlotte, 1
- Walton, 1 (Before three people were bitten on Friday, June 7)
- Franklin, 2
- Gulf, 2
- Okaloosa, 4
- Manatee, 5
- Flagler, 6
- Escambia, 7
- Sarasota, 7
What months are sharks most active in Florida?
According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) “shark activity is at its peak in Florida waters during April through October, which coincidentally, is also the time period that humans are more likely to be in the water.”
“Sharks typically move inshore and north in the spring and summer, and offshore and south in fall and winter months.”
How can you avoid a shark bite?What to know before swimming in Florida waters
What time of day are sharks most active in Florida?
According to the FWC, sharks are most active at night and the twilight hours (right before sunrise and right after sunset).
