Shark Attacks in Egypt: Statistics, Causes, and Prevention

Dec 03, 2025 0

Shark attacks, though rare, can have devastating consequences. Recent incidents in Egypt, particularly in the Red Sea, have raised concerns among both tourists and locals. Understanding the factors that contribute to these attacks and implementing preventive measures is crucial for ensuring the safety of those who enjoy the marine environment.

Oceanic Whitetip Shark, often found in the Red Sea

Recent Shark Attack Incidents in Egypt

July 1, 2022: A 67-year-old Austrian woman died after a tiger shark attack in the Red Sea.
June 2023: A 24-year-old Russian snorkeler died in Hurghada, reportedly due to a tiger shark attack.
December 22: Gianluca Di Gioia, 48, was killed by a shark in Egypt.

These incidents highlight the need for a comprehensive understanding of shark behavior and the factors that may trigger attacks.

Identifying the Shark Species Involved

Investigations into shark attacks often focus on identifying the species responsible. In the 2010 Sharm El-Sheikh attacks, two species were identified:

Shortfin Mako Shark (Isurus oxyrinchus): Identified through tooth impressions on victims.
Oceanic Whitetip Shark (Carcharhinus longimanus): Positively identified in several cases, with one shark recognized by a distinctive notch in its caudal fin.

On Friday, 7/1/2022, at 5:30 pm, the Red Sea reserves received a report of a shark attack on a 67-year-old Austrian woman, and this attack led to her death while she was being transferred to the hospital. The members of the committee examined the bodies of the victims and studied the available photos of the places of amputation. First: Of the two incidents, it was done through the type of tiger shark, and the committee was convinced that it was done by one tiger shark. The committee estimated the circumference of the upper jaw according to what is found on the body of the second victim (in the discovery), as well as estimating the diameter of its middle with values ranging from 40 to 48 cm. Accordingly, the total length of the shark that carried out the attack was estimated according to the following equation: Tiger Shark Y (Bite Circumference ( = 1.085x - 1.153 mm (Lower et al, 2009)

Factors Contributing to Shark Attacks

Several factors can contribute to the increase in shark attacks, particularly in the Red Sea region.

Abnormal Human Behavior: Excessive use of marine resources, including overfishing and coral reef damage from diving and snorkeling, alters the marine ecosystem.
Poaching Activities: Overfishing reduces the natural stock of fish, forcing sharks to seek food closer to shore. The natural stock of fish in the Red Sea has reached critical limits as a result of overfishing activities. Although the Red Sea on the Egyptian side is not considered important fishing areas due to its scientific concept, due to the low fertility of its waters in terms of its ability to produce living organic matter such as fish, the fishing effort (Fishing units, numbers of fishermen and recreational fishing practitioners) is still blatantly high, and the natural stock is constantly decreasing.
Excessive Use of Diving Sites: High volumes of divers and boats can lead to noise pollution and coral reef deterioration, further reducing food sources for sharks. There is no doubt that there is an excessive use of diving sites, which exceeds their absorptive capacity, and in general in all areas of the Red Sea. This excessive use, whether it is the numbers of tourist boats or the numbers of divers, leads to the issuance of strong sounds continuously in the diving sites, and these sounds are among the factors that attract sharks to the diving areas.
Abnormal Human Behavior Through Feeding: Intentionally or unintentionally feeding sharks can alter their behavior and make them associate humans with food. The crews of the boats throw baits to the sharks in order to attract them to the surface and provoke them with these baits as a kind of excitement for the visitors, such as offering chicken by tying it with a rope and then raising it whenever the sharks approached. Even throwing food from boats on the surface of the water leads sharks to believe that the spinning bodies may be food.
Breaking the Psychological Barrier: Divers attempting to interact with sharks can lead to a loss of natural caution in sharks.
Dumping of Sheep Carcasses: The dumping of sheep carcasses within 1.9 km of the shore by animal transport ships. After the carcasses were discarded from the ships, large and potentially dangerous sharks may have followed the dead animals as they were carried by currents and led the sharks close inshore near bathers, snorkelers, and divers.

With the decrease in the natural stock of fish, this is an indication that there is not enough food for sharks, and this leads to:

The sharks are forced to expand their search for food, and thus their access to the beach areas is uncommon, as these are areas that are heavily exploited by tourists and divers.
The scarcity of food leads to the ease of attracting sharks to any areas where food or even leftovers are provided by tourist boats, and thus they become accustomed to the presence of tourist boats and divers are linked to the presence of food, and therefore they take these sites as housing and this is an unusual behavior in shark groups.

In addition, such excessive and intensive use leads to the deterioration of coral reefs, and thus their ability to produce food for the organisms inhabiting them, especially fish, which are the main food for sharks, and thus the scarcity of food for these predators.

The coastal boats dump organic waste, which includes the remains of meals and kitchen residues, as well as sewage. Although these residues do not represent food for sharks, their smell attracts many fish, so the presence of a food smell in the water attracts straw fish and even excites them and puts them in a violent mood because they smell food in the absence of food. The presence of food commensurate with their sizes, but rather crumbs from the leftovers, and this leads to their intense excitement.

With the increase in the value of sharks as a tourist product or as an attraction, the demand for diving with sharks has increased, and it was mainly dependent on divers merely watching sharks, but in recent years marketing methods for diving with sharks have diversified, on top of which is the implementation of training courses for divers in dealing with sharks. Sharks or to make diving more exciting by direct contact and attracting sharks to them, and this may be by using some baits, which we referred to previously as one of the most important reasons for shark attacks and harassment of divers in recent years. In addition, the attempt of divers to approach and attract sharks to them and touch them may have led to breaking the psychological barrier between sharks and divers. As a result of breaking such a psychological barrier, especially with oceanic type sharks, which are among the most curious types of sharks to approach and scout divers.

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Ambient water temperature is directly responsible for the metabolic rate of many shark species [25] . As water temperature increases, so does the metabolic rate of some shark species, which contributes to the sharks’ neces- sity to feed more frequently to meet their energy demands. Records provided by the National Park, South Sinai sector indicated during the week that the attacks occurred, sea surface temperatures were 28˚C - 29˚C, much higher than normal (19˚C - 23˚C). The elevated sea temperatures created the need for sharks to consume more energy (food) more frequently.

The severed forearm sustained by Victim 2 could also be associated with the prior hand-feedings of the shark by divers.

Tips to Prevent Shark Attacks While Swimming

Preventive Measures and Shark Management

Effective shark management is crucial for minimizing shark-human interactions while protecting marine life. Strategies include:

Surveillance and Detection: Monitoring shark activity to provide early warnings.
Education and Community Awareness: Informing the public about shark behavior and safety measures.
Regulating Fishing: Implementing sustainable fishing practices to maintain fish stocks.
Proper Waste Disposal: Training boat captains and skippers about proper sewage disposal to reduce human impact on shark feeding behavior.
Coastal Shark Management Zones: Designating areas with specific measures to minimize shark-human interactions.

Responsible diving practices are essential for shark conservation

The International Shark Attack File also provides advice for swimmers and divers:

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Avoid swimming with open wounds.
Divers should back up against reefs.
Avoid wearing highly contrasting swimwear.

In New South Wales, Australia, a "shark meshing" program has been implemented, placing nets on beaches to reduce shark-human interactions. Such measures have proven effective in decreasing shark attacks.

Theories Behind Unprovoked Shark Attacks

The reasons behind unprovoked shark attacks are still not fully understood. One prominent theory is:

Mistaken Identity: Sharks may occasionally mistake humans for their natural prey, such as seals or sea lions. This can occur due to visual similarities or movement patterns in the water.

According to this theory, sharks may occasionally mistake humans for their natural prey, such as pinnipeds (seals or sea lions). This misidentification can occur due to factors like visual similarities or the way humans move in the water, particularly when engaging in activities like surfing.

Impact of Overfishing and Discarding Food

Overfishing significantly impacts shark-human interaction because it can lead to a decline in shark populations, cause changes in the behavior and distribution patterns of sharks, deplete the populations of their prey species, and reduce habitat quality and overall ecological degradation.

Research has shown that sewage and organic matter dumped from boats can trigger the sharks' feeding behavior. The sharks seem to think of divers nearby as competing with them for this potential meal.

Cause	Effect
Overfishing	Decline in shark populations, changes in behavior, depletion of prey
Discarding food/waste	Triggers feeding behavior, attracts sharks to populated areas

A plan should be developed to manage marine waste, regulate fishing and combat marine pollution to avoid altering shark behaviour and maintain the ecological balance. A further suggestion is to separate the Red Sea fishing area from the Gulf of Suez and ban fishing-boats in all parts of the Red Sea from Ashrafi Reef to the Egypt/Sudan border in the south.

Historically, unprovoked shark attacks are random events that are usually distributed sporadically over time and at varied locations. There are those exceptions where multiple shark attacks have occurred at the same loca- tion over varying periods of time, from just a few minutes, to days or even years . Conditioning sharks to specific feeding locations and/or images was experimentally undertaken in a captive enclosure more than fifty years ago . These experiments demonstrated the ability of sharks to learn and remember specifics that were desirable for obtaining food under the laboratory parameters that were utilized.