Florida’s WPTV is reporting that in 2011 Florida saw its lowest number of shark attacks in over a decade. This figure is from a recent report on global shark attacks from the University of Florida’s ISAF.

While Florida saw no fatal shark attacks during 2011, the report indicates that the number of worldwide human fatalities due to shark attacks reached a two-decade high of 12 fatal attacks. The ISAF report recorded 75 instances of "unprovoked" attacks worldwide.

In addition to the interactions labelled as "unprovoked," there were 29 recorded "provoked" attacks. The "provoked" attacks included interactions such as a diver grabbing a shark, a fisherman being bitten while removing a shark from a net, and bites that occurred while a human was feeding a shark.

After two fatalities believed to be the results of shark attacks off of Seychelles, experts are being called in to identify the shark responsible for the attacks and to help “catch” the shark, according to an ITN News report. Police spokesman Jean Toussaint said that there is a “big effort” being made to catch the shark responsible for the attack. Alain St Ange, Director of Tourism, said that if a “rogue shark” is responsible, authorities will try to catch it.

A British tourist died as the result of apparent shark bites earlier this week. The victim was swimming off Anse Lazio beach located on the Seychelles island of Praslin. Earlier this month a French tourist died as the result of injuries that “looked like a shark bite” while diving off the same beach, according to Toussaint.

According to multiple news outlets, a 38-year-old Stuart, Florida man died after suffering multiple shark bites while kite surfing near Stuart Beach. A lifeguard spotted the man in distress and paddled out to him where he was being circled by several sharks, according to WFLX.com. Despite the rescue efforts of the lifeguard, the man was pronounced dead after being rushed to the hospital.

While an attack of this nature is almost unheard of in Florida waters, particularly this time of year, the loss of life is no less tragic. My thoughts go out to the victim’s family and friends.

"The NSRI and the emergency services have expressed our deepest sympathies to the family of the victim."

This is the kind of story that you never want to see, and while the odds of a fatal shark attack are highly unlikely, those odds are of little consolation to the people who are directly affected by such a rare event. My sympathies go out to the friends and family of the victim.