Swimmers share Florida beaches with sharks more often than they realize

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Shark encounters in Florida likely during certain times of day

FOX Weather's Brandy Campbell talks to local experts who say to avoid these two times of the day to minimize encounters with sharks. 

MIAMI BEACH, Fla. – While floating in the salty Florida surf, if you ever got the feeling you are not alone, you are right. A Florida marine biologist said that shallow beach waters near shore are important habitats for sharks. So if you swim, be prepared to share. And beware, hunting times are at dusk and dawn.

"In that video, they mentioned, 'Do you think that people know that they're there?' And I can tell you, even if the people don't know the sharks are there, the sharks definitely know that the people are there," Director of Shark Research and Conservation at the University of Miami, Catherine MacDonald, told FOX Weather's Brandy Campbell. 

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She is referring to an Instagram post by South Beach Helicopters. Chief pilot and owner Lisa Landsman Pomeranz took the video while taking tourists over the beaches filled with swimmers.

"We get asked all the time, ‘Do you ever see sharks by the beach in Miami?’" asks the post. "The answer may shock you. There are days when we spot hundreds of sharks swimming right by people."

MacDonald is not shocked at all. She said the sharks in the video are probably blacktips.

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File: The telltale black tip on a blacktip shark.

(Kurt AMSLER/Gamma-Rapho / Getty Images)

"Sharks are present even in very built habitats, including those like Miami Beach, and that people liking a place, is no barrier to sharks liking a place," MacDonald said. "So if we want to share the ocean with sharks, that's going to include sometimes sharks being in proximity to swimmers."

Several shark species in Florida don't migrate and stay year-round at these beaches, she said.

Generally, she added, sharks want to avoid us as much as humans want to stay away from the predators.

"For the most part, you'll see avoidance behaviors from sharks when they encounter people in the water," MacDonald said.

STAY SHARK SMART: WHAT TO KNOW WHEN YOU HEAD INTO THE WATER

File: A mako shark off Islamorada.

(Ronald C. Modra / Getty Images)

Worried swimmers should avoid dusk and dawn when sharks are hunting. Lighting at that time is also failing. It's hard to see sharks and even harder for sharks to see you.

"Swim at times where the light and the water clarity are going to make it easy for sharks to tell what you are," MacDonald said.

Avoid splashing too. Sharks may take a hand or a foot for a flailing fish.

In 2022, the International Shark Attack File reported 57 unprovoked bites and 32 provoked bites. Most were in Florida.

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File: Drone footage caught a shark swimming near an unsuspecting swimmer.

(Chris Lowe @CSLUBsharklab)

Since 1887, the file notes 910 unprovoked shark attacks in the Sunshine State. The vast majority occurred in Volusia County, 343, followed by 156 in Brevard. Miami-Dade only has 19 reports. The file dubbed Volusia County the "shark bite capital of the world," with 94 bites in the past 10 years, but none were fatal.

"Surface recreationists," like fishermen, boaters and surfers are the most likely to get bitten, followed by swimmers and waders. Bites have gone up sharply since 1980. File researchers feel that blacktip sharks are responsible for a high number of attacks. Blacktips are in the requiem family, but the species are difficult to differentiate from the bite marks.

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Most shark attacks happen in September, followed by August and July. Attacks are more prevalent during the 2 p.m. hour followed by the 11 a.m. hour, despite hunting time being dawn and dusk.