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While Amity may be faced with a series of shark attacks, that doesn’t make all of the waters surrounding New England dangerous.

According to the Ichthyology at the Florida Museum of Natural History website, there have been 138 unprovoked fatal shark attacks around the world since 1580.  Of those 138 victims, only 43 have been from the United States.

In New England there has only been one fatal shark attack; it was in Massachusetts in 1936. 

Even the number of non-fatal shark attacks is low.  There have only been five non-fatal attacks in Massachusetts, Maine, Rhode Island, and Connecticut combined.  Vermont and New Hampshire have not seen any shark attacks.

There are a total of 54 known species of sharks.  Of those 54 species, the number of non-fatal attacks is higher than the number of fatal attacks.  In fact, many of the shark species have not even had a recorded fatal or non-fatal attack.

Based on the statistics, anyone going to the beaches of New England can rest easy.  Shark attacks do happen in the United State and New England, but they are very rare.