Fatal shark attacks at frenzy level WESTERN Australia is a "world hot spot" for shark attacks with an above average number of fatalities recorded for the second consecutive year. The University of Florida's annual International Shark Attack File report, released yesterday, revealed a total of 79 "unprovoked" shark attacks around the world in 2012. Seven fatalities resulted from the unprovoked attacks in 2012, above the 2001-2010 yearly average of 4.4 fatalities. An above average death toll was also recorded in 2011, when 13 people died after unprovoked attacks. File director George Burgess said Australia had an "average year" with 14 attacks - but two fatal attacks in Western Australia had followed three fatal attacks in that state in 2011. Mr Burgess said this was the second consecutive year for multiple shark attacks in both WA and Reunion island in the Indian Ocean. "Those two areas are sort of hot spots in the world," he said. WA is a function of white shark incidents and Reunion is a function most likely of bull shark incidents. He said there were three attacks off Reunion last year - one fatal - and four attacks including two fatalities in 2011, suggesting the small island state had developed a problematic situation. "What I've seen in all situations when there's been a sudden upswing in an area is that human causative factors are involved, such as changes in our behaviour, changes in our abundance, or an overt shark-attracting product of something that we're doing," Mr Burgess said. We could reduce risks by avoiding areas and times when sharks are most common, and where danger is at its highest. A perfect example of that is in WA, where people have been getting hit in areas of known white shark abundance at times of the year when white shark numbers are at their highest - the responsibility is upon us, as humans, to avoid such situations or else pay the consequence. He said any increase in attacks were far more likely to have happened because more people were going into the water to swim, surf, snorkel or dive, rather than shark numbers increasing, with over-fishing causing the deaths of between 30 million and 70 million sharks every year. Surfers and other board-based water sports fans continue to be the most likely victims of an attack, accounting for 60 per cent of incidents. Swimmers are affected by 22 per cent of attacks, followed by divers at 8 per cent.