San Onofre State Beach remains closed after a woman was attacked by a shark in the area last April (Photo by Laylan Connelly, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Photographer Matt Larmand, of Capo Beach, took this image of a shark just offshore from his home in Capo Beach.

Great white sharks have been seen in greater numbers off Southern California in recent years. File photo

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Leeanne Ericson was one of the nine unprovoked shark attacks recorded on the Pacific West Coast in 2017, according to a study released by the Shark Research Committee. Photo by Mindy Schauer/SCNG

A group of sharks were spotted off Capistrano Beach in Dana Point on Sunday, April 30, 2017, the day after a shark attacked a woman at San Onofre State Beach.They were 8 to 10 feet long. (Photo courtesy of Matt Larmand)



A great white shark off the coast of Huntington Beach in 2015. (Photo courtesy of Steve Pace)

There was the shark that flipped a kayak, relentlessly ramming and attacking the vessel and propelling the man inside into the ocean, in shock — an incident in Monterey that was caught on video as beachgoers watched helplessly.

In Santa Barbara, there were two attacks – one a kayaker, another a paddleboarder — just a few miles apart. The attacks were on the same day, by different sharks.

Down the coast at San Onofre, a swimmer enjoying a late afternoon ocean dip with her surfing boyfriend was pulled underwater by a shark, a chunk of her leg ripped out before she was able to escape with the help of others.

A report released Thursday, Jan. 25 by the Shark Research Committee documents nine authenticated unprovoked shark attacks – all thought to be great white — along the Pacific coast of North America last year. Luckily for all who had close encounters with the sharp-toothed apex predator, none proved fatal.

The nine attacks in 2017 — four of them kayakers — tied with 2004 for the most attacks recorded in a single year. The number was up from five attacks in 2016 and six in 2015.

Eight of the attacks were in California and one was recorded in Washington. There was one in March, one in April, four in July, one in August, and later in the year one in November and another in December.

Related: Here’s a map of the 9 shark attacks that happened in 2017 along the Pacific Coast

Ralph S. Collier, founder of the Shark Research Committee, said he was surprised after he analyzed some of the information.

While the number of attacks is the highest in more than a decade, Collier said he’s actually shocked there weren’t more, given the shark population spike in recent years — there have been increased sightings in areas including El Porto in the South Bay, Long Beach and San Clemente — along with an increase in people flocking to the water.

“More people are in the water today than there were 10 years ago, more people are kayaking, swimming, surfing and diving,” he said. “As those ocean user groups go up, the likelihood these types of events are going to happen … you’re going to get more reports and you’re going to have more incidents of physical contact with sharks. That’s just a matter of numbers.”

Collier said shark populations are increasing as a result of protections put in place decades ago.

“We don’t know what their numbers are, there’s no way to get an accurate count, but we know their numbers are rebounding,” he said.

Another surprise from the data, Collier said: Kayakers were at the top of the list for user groups attacked, followed by just two surfers.

Historically, when looking at the 103 attacks that have occurred since 2000, the largest group of victims falls into the “surfer” category, with 62 incidents, compared to only 17 kayakers. Eight of the victims were swimmers, six were divers, and another six were paddleboarders. The rest were one each of outrigger, windsurfing, fishing, and boogie boarding.

He said the incidents with kayakers last year don’t show a predatory behavior, like they do when sharks are striking for food. And it’s not a case of mistaken identity, a goof on the shark’s part thinking kayaks are whales or sea lions.

It’s most likely “displacement behavior,” meaning the shark wants the object, or person, to leave the area.

In the Monterey attack in March – while the kayaker waded helplessly before a boat finally came to pluck him out — the shark continued to bite and push the kayak, slamming it with its tail.

“These types of events really give us some insights into their behavior,” Collier said. “In this case, the shark struck his kayak. In my opinion, it had invaded its space and this shark felt threatened or was protecting an area it was using for food.”

The high number of attacks on kayakers also coincides with an increased number of kayak anglers going into areas with plentiful catch – food source sites for sharks.

“Apparently these are the same areas sharks are using,” Collier said.

Collier said he was also interested in the time of year the attacks occur. Usually, it’s busier in the latter half of the year, with half of recorded attacks taking place in August, September and October.

Last year, July was the month with the most attacks, four, while there was only one in August, and none in September and October.

One of the July attacks was of a surfer in Washington. In this case, the man was seen kneeling on the board, yelling, and hitting the water.

“It turned out this shark had come up and was laying alongside his surfboard. He was trying to get it to leave,” Collier said. “The fin goes underwater, then comes from under to bang the board, propelling the surfer about six feet in the air. When he comes down, the surfer lands on the shark.

“The shark submerges, he crawls on the board, these people come running to see if he’s OK,” Collier said, gathering the information from bystander interviews.

The man simply said, “I’m OK, have a nice day.” He never talked to the media or park ranger and no one knows his name.

Shark attack survivor Leeanne Ericson’s story is better known, splashed on news broadcasts around the world. The swimmer from San Diego was enjoying a late afternoon dip while her boyfriend, Dusty Phillips, was surfing, when a shark suddenly pulled her underwater.

Collier spent hours interviewing Ericson and Phillips and spent time with them in San Diego to flesh out details of the encounter.

He said that attack seemed to be a case of mistaken identity – the water was murky and they had reported seeing a distressed sea lion moments earlier before something brushed her leg. That “something” could have been the shark, which may have thought she was its meal. She was also wearing swim fins at the time of the attack.

“I think in that case, the attack probably was predatory,” Collier said. “Once the shark realized she wasn’t the seal, it released her and swam off.”

Another possibility to ponder as sharks and ocean-users share the water: Are they conditioning themselves as juveniles to not be bothered by people?

“The sharks are teaching themselves, through conditioning, this isn’t anything that I should be concerned with. Is it possible, because of all the contacts with yearlings and juveniles, all these interactions, are they conditioning themselves to ignore humans in the future because they realize we’re not anything important?” Collier asked. “That’s a possibility.”