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Surfer bitten by shark in New Smyrna Beach; the 4th incident in Volusia County in 2025

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Yet another surfer got to experience what is a known risk in New Smyrna Beach: being bitten by a shark.

An 18-year-old male surfer sustained a shark bite on his foot while surfing the self-proclaimed “Shark Bite Capital of the World” on Friday, July 18, according to Volusia County Beach Safety officials.

The incident happened around noon, a few miles south of the New Smyrna Beach jetty near Sapphire Road. This is the fourth shark bite registered in Volusia County in 2025.

Previous shark bite: Shark bites 40-year-old surfer’s right arm in New Smyrna Beach during July 4 weekend

“The individual was transported for medical treatment with non-life-threatening injuries,” according to Volusia County Beach Safety Director Tamra Malphurs.

Why is NSB the Shark Bite Capital of the World?

Prior to this week’s incident, the most recent shark bite was recorded during the July 4 weekend, when a 40-year-old surfer from Winter Park was bitten just south of the jetty.

The species of shark responsible for the bites is unknown, although blacktip sharks are typically the ones behind most of the bites in the area, according to Gavin Naylor, director of the Florida Museum of Natural History’s Florida Program for Shark Research.

A blacktip shark moves through the water off the coast of South Florida. Stephen Kajiura, a researcher and professor at Florida Atlantic University's department of biological sciences and director of its elasmobranch research laboratory, studies the sharks' annual migration, using a boat, a plane and drones to capture images of the sharks while they're in South Florida during the winter.

A blacktip shark moves through the water off the coast of South Florida. Stephen Kajiura, a researcher and professor at Florida Atlantic University’s department of biological sciences and director of its elasmobranch research laboratory, studies the sharks’ annual migration, using a boat, a plane and drones to capture images of the sharks while they’re in South Florida during the winter.

The surf break created by the sandbar structure around the Ponce de Leon inlet (south of Smyrna Dunes Park jetty) creates the “perfect spot” for potential shark bites, according to Naylor.

“And it turns out that the Ponce Inlet outflow has a dredge that’s about 40 feet deep, so water comes in and out with the tide, and it brings a lot of nutrients,” Naylor told The News-Journal last year. “As it curves down, it mixes with the other current, and there is a really great surf break.”

With plenty of fish swimming and surfers enjoying the thrilling waves, it is almost inevitable that a hungry shark will mistake a surfer’s hand, arm, foot or leg for a mullet or menhadens, Naylor said.

NSB shark bites: More shark bites than anywhere else: Why is NSB the “Shark Bite Capital of the World?”

That is the reason why Volusia County and New Smyrna Beach are known as the Shark Bite Capital of the World.

According to data from the International Shark Attack File program, Volusia has the most bites among Florida counties with 359 registered bites. Brevard County is second with 159.

Too early to tell whether Ponce Inlet dredging will affect NSB shark bite numbers

It is hard to say whether the number of bites at this point in the year will mean a lower incident of shark bites in Volusia County, Naylor said in a recent email to The News-Journal.

While the ongoing dredging of the Ponce de Leon Inlet could have an effect, it is too early to say for sure.

A large dredge pipe rests along the edge of the dunes in Ponce Inlet on Thursday, April 10, 2025.

A large dredge pipe rests along the edge of the dunes in Ponce Inlet on Thursday, April 10, 2025.

“We have not had a detectably lower incidence of shark bites at NSB this year,” Naylor wrote. “This does not mean that there has been no effect. It simply means there is no statistical power to work with… . There is simply too much noise in the data to say anything with such small sample sizes.”

But the changes in the ecosystem resulting from a major dredging effort like the one underway could influence shark bite numbers, he said.

“It could affect water visibility, nutrients in the water and the quality of the surf break.  These effects, in turn, could influence how many bait fish aggregate in the area, and how many surfers choose to surf there — which could affect the number of bites that occur at NSB.”

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Surfer, 18, bitten by shark in New Smyrna Beach near Sapphire Road



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