There were 88 reported unprovoked shark attacks — five of which were fatal — in 2017 worldwide, according to the University of Florida International Shark Attack File’s latest report.

This is slightly higher than the most recent five-year annual average of 83, according to the report, but deaths were slightly lower than the average (6), making 2017 about average overall.

The U.S. hosted the most reported unprovoked attacks (53), with Australia coming in a distant second (14).

“It really was just an average year, and significantly, the U.S. saw no shark attack fatalities for the second consecutive year” says research assistant Lindsay French in a press release. “While we don’t put too much emphasis on year-to-year changes, a slight increase is expected as beach tourism and water sports gain in popularity.”

French says that Florida saw the most attacks among the United States with 31.

“The hot spots we’re keeping an eye on are Ascension Island, which had its first attacks since the 1800s, and Reunion Island, which had two of last year’s five fatalities,” says French.

Board sports were most commonly associated with the attacks, accounting for 59 percent of the reported cases.

With billions of people involved in ocean activities each year — including millions of scuba divers — sharks remain a low threat to humans.

On the other hand, it’s estimated that more than 100 millions sharks are killed by humans each year. For more information, visit the shark section of our website.

Here is the International Shark Attack File's definition of a provoked and unprovoked attack:

"'Unprovoked attacks' are defined as incidents where an attack on a live human occurs in the shark’s natural habitat with no human provocation of the shark.

'Provoked attacks' occur when a human initiates physical contact with a shark, e.g. a diver is bitten after grabbing a shark, attacks on spearfishers and those feeding sharks, bites occurring while unhooking or removing a shark from a fishing net, etc."