West Coast shark attacks rose in 2017

A new report says shark attacks rose last year on the West Coast.

The Shark Research Committee says there were nine unprovoked attacks in 2017 – eight in California and one in Washington. That’s up from five the year before.

Nobody died but some people were bitten.

The committee says most attacks probably involved great white sharks. In a March attack captured on video, a great white attacked a kayak in Monterey Bay, knocking the kayaker into the water.

Committee founder Ralph Collier tells the Orange County Register that kayaks topped the target list. He says the sharks may have seen them as intruders and were trying to drive them away.

Collier also says he’s surprised there weren’t more attacks because the shark population has spiked in recent years.