Sharks are up to nine times more likely to attack and kill men than women in Australia, new research has found.

The figure comes from a report by the Gold Coast's Bond University into the number of documented shark attacks in Australia between 1982 and 2011.

It shows males make up 84 per cent of all unprovoked shark bites and 89 per cent of fatalities.

Researcher Daryl McPhee was initially surprised by the variance and double-checked his work.

He says there may be a few reasons for the result.

"There's probably more man hours in the water so to speak than women hours globally," he said.

"Also it may well be tied to males being more risk-prone than females."

Australia tops shark death tally

The research also found that Australia has the highest number of fatal shark bites in the world.

It also shows that shark bites are becoming more prevalent.

Mr McPhee says in the past three decades there were 32 deaths in Australia, 28 in South Africa and 25 in the United States.

However Australia has a much lower overall rate of shark attacks.

There was a total of 171 unprovoked bites in Australia during that period, 132 in South Africa and 769 in the United States.

"The United States has a lot of sharks, but has a lot of small sharks," he said.

"That's probably the main reason."

Reducing shark attacks

Mr McPhee says despite the findings, the threat of shark attack is very low.

He says there needs to be a focus on education and personal responsibility to reduce the risk further.

"Swimming with a dead whale, that's bad; swimming between the flags where surf lifesavers can keep an eye out for sharks is good," he said.

"If you're going to swim with the bait, you're going to become bait."

The report will be published in international scientific journal Coastal Management.