Shark attack victim, Rodney Cox, holds up pictures showing his shark bites before and after surgery in South Australia.

Despite a widespread and erroneous belief that sharks are dangerous creatures with a taste for human flesh, attacks are extremely rare anywhere in the world. Despite theories about surfers and divers resembling seals or turtles, humans are rarely mistaken for food by sharks, and most attacks seem to be stimulated by curiosity or fear rather than hunger.

Only 55 unprovoked attacks were reported worldwide in 2003, a tiny number when compared to the number of people attacked by other animals or involved in accidents. Fatal attacks are even more rare, with only four deaths reported in 2003. The number of attacks actually seems to be declining, perhaps a result of dwindling shark populations.

Most shark attacks are attributed to a very small number of species. Great whites, tiger sharks and bull sharks are almost certainly responsible for the great majority of attacks. The risk of an attack is probably greater in areas where these species are common, especially in locations where large numbers of people are swimming. The greatest number of attacks is reported from South and Eastern Australia, South Africa, California, Hawaii, Florida and Brazil, although there are records of attacks everywhere from Greece to Japan.

Unfortunately, shark attack still attracts enormous amounts of media attention and generates great panic among the public, despite the fact that a swimmer is thousands of times more likely to drown than to be attacked by a shark.