NSB Shark Bite

Shark attacks

How many shark attacks happen at New Smyrna Beach?

This is the plain answer, kept current. Roughly ten unprovoked bites a year are recorded across Volusia County and most of them happen here — but not one of them, in well over a century of records, has been fatal.

0

New Smyrna Beach — 2026

Counted from individually sourced reports

5

Volusia County — 2026

The county-wide count of record

5.8

Average per year

Volusia County

0

Fatal attacks

New Smyrna Beach, all years

Most sources answer this question with a single number and get it subtly wrong, because the authorities who keep the record — Volusia County Beach Safety and the International Shark Attack File — publish at county level. That county covers New Smyrna Beach, Ponce Inlet, Daytona Beach Shores, Daytona Beach and Ormond Beach. The great majority of bites happen in the two miles of surf beside Ponce Inlet at New Smyrna Beach, but "Volusia County had 5 this year" and "New Smyrna Beach had 5 this year" are not the same statement.

So this page keeps them apart. The town figure counts only bites we can place in New Smyrna Beach itself; the county figure is the published total. Where a bite can be sourced individually, it appears in the log and on the map below.

Where the attacks happened

Every individually sourced bite in this record, placed along the coast. The clustering around the inlet is the whole story of why this beach holds the title.

SINCE 18821882–1959 · The record opens1882–1959 — The record opens. The International Shark Attack File dates its Volusia County record to 1882, but publishes no year-by-year series before 1960. Bites from this period exist in the file; they are not broken out by year or by beach, so no annual figure is shown here.1960–1993 — Before the county reporting link. ISAF counts for these years are real but undercounted. Minor bites were rarely passed on to the file until 1994, when ISAF established direct reporting with Volusia County lifeguards and emergency responders — which is why the numbers step up sharply after 1993.1960 — 0 unprovoked bites, Volusia County1961 — 0 unprovoked bites, Volusia County1962 — 1 unprovoked bites, Volusia County1963 — 1 unprovoked bites, Volusia County1964 — 0 unprovoked bites, Volusia County1965 — 0 unprovoked bites, Volusia County1966 — 0 unprovoked bites, Volusia County1967 — 0 unprovoked bites, Volusia County1968 — 0 unprovoked bites, Volusia County1969 — 1 unprovoked bites, Volusia County1970 — 0 unprovoked bites, Volusia County1971 — 1 unprovoked bites, Volusia County1972 — 0 unprovoked bites, Volusia County1973 — 0 unprovoked bites, Volusia County1974 — 3 unprovoked bites, Volusia County1975 — 4 unprovoked bites, Volusia County1976 — 1 unprovoked bites, Volusia County1977 — 2 unprovoked bites, Volusia County1978 — 0 unprovoked bites, Volusia County1979 — 1 unprovoked bites, Volusia County1980 — 0 unprovoked bites, Volusia County1981 — 2 unprovoked bites, Volusia County1982 — 2 unprovoked bites, Volusia County1983 — 1 unprovoked bites, Volusia County1984 — 1 unprovoked bites, Volusia County1985 — 2 unprovoked bites, Volusia County1986 — 1 unprovoked bites, Volusia County1987 — 0 unprovoked bites, Volusia County1988 — 2 unprovoked bites, Volusia County1989 — 0 unprovoked bites, Volusia County1990 — 1 unprovoked bites, Volusia County1991 — 2 unprovoked bites, Volusia County1992 — 2 unprovoked bites, Volusia County1993 — 3 unprovoked bites, Volusia County1994 — 12 unprovoked bites, Volusia County1995 — 16 unprovoked bites, Volusia County1996 — 6 unprovoked bites, Volusia County1997 — 14 unprovoked bites, Volusia County1998 — 11 unprovoked bites, Volusia County1999 — 8 unprovoked bites, Volusia County2000 — 12 unprovoked bites, Volusia County2001 — 22 unprovoked bites, Volusia County2002 — 18 unprovoked bites, Volusia County2003 — 12 unprovoked bites, Volusia County2004 — 3 unprovoked bites, Volusia County2005 — 7 unprovoked bites, Volusia County2006 — 7 unprovoked bites, Volusia County2007 — 16 unprovoked bites, Volusia County2008 — 17 unprovoked bites, Volusia County2009 — 7 unprovoked bites, Volusia County2010 — 13 unprovoked bites, Volusia County2011 — 11 unprovoked bites, Volusia County2012 — 16 unprovoked bites, Volusia County2013 — 8 unprovoked bites, Volusia County2014 — 8 unprovoked bites, Volusia County2015 — 9 unprovoked bites, Volusia County2016 — 15 unprovoked bites, Volusia County2017 — 9 unprovoked bites, Volusia County2018 — 6 unprovoked bites, Volusia County2019 — 9 unprovoked bites, Volusia County2020 — 8 unprovoked bites, Volusia County2021 — 17 unprovoked bites, Volusia County2022 — 9 unprovoked bites, Volusia County2023 — 8 unprovoked bites, Volusia County2024 — 8 unprovoked bites, Volusia County2025 — 6 unprovoked bites, Volusia County2026 — 5 unprovoked bites, Volusia County1900192019401960198020002020PONCE DE LEON INLETNew Smyrna BeachPonce InletDaytona Beach ShoresDaytona BeachOrmond BeachATLANTICDaytona Beach Shores — 2026-07-25Daytona Beach Shores — 2025-07-25New Smyrna Beach — 2025-07-18New Smyrna Beach — 2025-07-06New Smyrna Beach — 2024-09-22Daytona Beach Shores — 2024-07-10Ponce Inlet — 2024-07-08New Smyrna Beach — 2024-07-04New Smyrna Beach — 2023-09-12

Placed on the map

  • New Smyrna Beach5
  • Ponce Inlet1
  • Daytona Beach Shores3

On record

387

Unprovoked bites counted county-wide across the published annual series, 1960–2026.

The rail runs from 1882, when the file on this coast opens. Bracketed spans are years the record covers but never broke out one by one.

Each dot is one individually sourced bite in this record. Positions are approximate to the nearest beach approach — outlets report at street or park level, not at a point in the surf. Tap a dot to open the incident. The rail to the left is a separate layer: one hairline per year of the published Volusia County count, so the map carries the full depth of the record without inventing a position for a bite nobody placed.

Shark attacks by year

New Smyrna Beach beside the Volusia County figure of record. Open any year for the individual incidents behind it.

YearNew Smyrna BeachVolusia CountyFatal
2026050
2025260
2024280
2023180
2022090
20210170
2020080
2019090
2018060
2017090
20160150
2015090
2014080
2013080
20120160
20110110
20100130
2009070
20080170
20070160
2006070
2005070
2004030
20030120
20020180
20010220
20000120
1999080
19980110
19970140
1996060
19950160
19940120
1993030
1992020
1991020
1990010
1989000
1988020
1987000
1986010
1985020
1984010
1983010
1982020
1981020
1980000
1979010
1978000
1977020
1976010
1975040
1974030
1973000
1972000
1971010
1970000
1969010
1968000
1967000
1966000
1965000
1964000
1963010
1962010
1961000
1960000

Why the record says "bite", not "attack"

An attack implies intent and pursuit. What happens here is a small blacktip or spinner shark, three to five feet long, working a bait school in water with a few inches of visibility, closing on a moving hand or foot, and releasing it immediately. The animal is usually gone before the person knows what touched them.

That distinction is not public relations — it is why the injury pattern looks the way it does. Single lacerations. Stitches rather than surgery. Same-day discharge. And, across the whole history of the beach, no deaths. The realistic hazards at New Smyrna Beach are rip currents and sun exposure; sharks are the famous one.

Straight answers

How many shark attacks happen at New Smyrna Beach each year?

Around ten unprovoked bites a year are recorded for Volusia County, and most of them happen at New Smyrna Beach. The published figures of record are county-wide, so this page shows the town count and the county count separately rather than blending them.

Have there been any fatal shark attacks at New Smyrna Beach?

No. New Smyrna Beach has no recorded shark bite fatality despite leading the world in bite counts. Almost every injury is a single laceration to a hand, foot or lower leg, treated and released the same day.

Where do the attacks happen?

Overwhelmingly in the surf line beside Ponce de Leon Inlet, on the sandbar where bait fish are flushed out of the inlet and small blacktip and spinner sharks follow them into water surfers are already using.

The full incident log →Why NSB holds the record →Lowering your odds →