Division of Aquatic Resources

Sharks don’t try to bite people very often, but when they do, it’s a big deal. Whether the person lucks out with just damage to a surfboard, or the worst-case scenario takes place, professionals jump into action. Lifeguards may rescue and treat the victim, ambulance EMTs take over when necessary, warning signs go up, people are asked to stay out of the water for a while, and the media are all over it.

At the scene, things generally go back to normal the next day. Away from the scene, an investigation is underway. DAR staff collect data about circumstances surrounding the incident so it can be analyzed for trends that might help better understand shark behavior and enhance ocean safety. Safety tips are a product of data analysis, here in Hawai‘i and worldwide.

Data collected includes water clarity, tidal stage, distance from shore, water depth, weather and surf conditions, nature of injuries, possible attractants (e.g. fishing activity nearby), description and behavior of the shark, and a number of other factors. DAR staff also inspect any physical evidence that may exist. A bite impression on a surfboard can help identify the species of shark involved and its approximate size, as can the nature of the wounds suffered. This information is fed into a database of all known or suspected shark bites in Hawaiian waters which, as of the date of this post, includes 364 incidents from 1778 to the present.

Some of this information is made available to the pubic on DAR’s Hawai‘i Sharks website, including graphs of certain parameters. It’s easy to spot the uptick in shark bites that occurs in October, which researchers believe may be related to tiger shark migration. Surfing shows up as the activity associated with the most shark bites statewide, but digging deeper into the data shows that on Maui it’s swimmers who are most at risk (although the risk is still very, very small).

Because of their size and non-selective feeding behavior, tiger sharks are considered to be the most dangerous sharks in Hawaiian waters, capable of inflicting the most serious injuries. 69% of the cases in which the shark can be identified involve tiger sharks. But of those, 35% involve no injury (e.g. just the board was bitten) or minor injury.

Some other bits of information pulled from the database:

• In 57% of the cases (especially those from long ago) there is insufficient data to determine the species. We may suspect tiger shark involvement in many of these, but can’t confirm it.
• White sharks have been implicated in six cases; they are not very numerous in Hawaiian waters.
• In 21% of all cases there was no injury.
• Despite the conventional wisdom that dawn and dusk are the most dangerous times to be in the water, tiger shark bites occur throughout the day (see again our Safety Tips page).
• 13% of all cases are considered to have been provoked; most of those involve some type of fishing activity.
• In six cases shark involvement is considered doubtful, including probable eel bites. The most recent of these occurred June 24, 2024 at ‘Anaeho‘omalu Bay on the Big Island.

Incidents are added to the sharks website when the investigation is completed, which takes time. Initial reports coming from the scene are always incomplete, and inaccurate information can spread through the media. Those stories persist even after correct information is posted to the website. To be fair, the media sometimes refer people to the sharks website.

Visits to the website often skyrocket following a bite, especially a particularly bad one. For example, after the well-publicized fatality on June 23, 2024, page views went from an average of four or five hundred per day to nearly 15,000 the day after the event, gradually going back to more normal numbers after about a week. The incidents list page is the most-viewed page on the site, and sometimes the most-viewed of all DLNR web pages.

Personal and medical information in the database is confidential, but DAR shared that data with Queen’s Medical Center for the first study to characterize shark-related injuries in Hawai‘i. DAR shares all its data with the International Shark Attack File (ISAF), a global database of nearly 7,000 incidents dating back to the early 1500s. ISAF scientists also assist DAR researchers from time to time, and have offered advice on shark management policy.

Admittedly, there are holes in DAR’s database. Much of what we know about shark bites prior to the 1980s came from newspaper clippings and other sources that were incomplete. Many incidents went unreported. Now, particularly since the rise of social media, almost everything gets reported one way or another. And as soon as DAR finds out about it, we get to work.