Should You Actually Fear Sharks? Your Odds Are About 1 in 28 Million

Great white shark swimming in open water — A great white shark. Statistically, the sea is far safer than the drive to the coast. Photo: Pterantula (Terry Goss) at en.wikipedia — CC BY 2.5

The global census recorded 47 unprovoked bites and four deaths in a single year. Fishing fleets killed an estimated 80 million sharks in the same twelve months. The arithmetic is brutal.

Shark silhouette beneath the surface — Most sharks avoid people entirely; encounters are usually mistaken identity. Photo: NOAA Photo Library — CC BY 2.0

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Photography credits: Pterantula (Terry Goss) at en.wikipedia (CC BY 2.5) via Wikimedia Commons