Methodology

Shark Incidents records a shark-human incident only when at least one credible public source supports the core event. A record is never published just because a keyword or headline exists.

What counts as a record

A record is a reviewed shark-human interaction with enough public evidence to identify the date, location, and basic event type. Records with uncertain details remain public only when the uncertainty is explicit.

Incident categories

Records are classified as unprovoked, provoked, watercraft, air/sea disaster, questionable, other, or unknown. Classification describes the interaction, not an assumption about a shark’s intent.

Verification status

Reported means one credible source exists. Corroborated means independent or authoritative evidence supports the core event. Verified means strong source evidence supports the key details. Disputed means credible evidence conflicts or the event is not established.

Source selection

Primary authorities, scientific institutions, specialist databases, and reliable news reports are preferred. Marketing pages, copied aggregators, and social posts are not treated as verification sources.

Duplicates, coordinates, and species confidence

Duplicate reports are merged by canonical URL, date, and location. Coordinates use the most precise public evidence and are marked as approximate when needed. Species identifications use confidence levels and are never inferred only from geography.

Corrections

Corrections are reviewed before any public record changes. A submitted correction never automatically rewrites a published incident.