Shark bites appear lower worldwide in 2020 compared to 2019, but researchers don't know whether COVID, climate change, coincidence or something else were factors.
They do know the coronavirus pandemic made it more difficult to get information from hospitals, so while they think their numbers are correct, they couldn't get enough background information to know all the circumstances around the incidents.
There were 129 shark interactions reported in 2020 compared to 140 in 2019. Of those, researchers classified 57 as unprovoked, compared to 64 in 2019, which was fewer than the five-year average of 80 from 2015-19.
Researchers' investigations classified the rest as:
39: Provoked
3: Doubtful
1: During scavenging
"After the pandemic hit in March, people started speculating that since everyone will be on lockdown and not going into the water as much, that should lead to fewer shark bites," ISAF researcher Gavin Naylor told TCPalm Friday. "The numbers were a little down by midsummer in Florida, but surfers like surfing and continued to surf."