Shark attacks in Australia are to be officially renamed "negative encounters" after activists campaigned to improve the predator's public image.
Referring to an incident in which a shark bites a person as an attack plays into outdated notions of the creatures as mindless killers, scientists have claimed.
Researchers say the language is important to reflect that most run-ins between sharks and humans do not result in injury - and to avoid scaring people away from beaches.
The change in terminology has been confirmed despite data from the University of Florida showing that there have been 57 unprovoked shark bites in the past year. In Australia, six out of the 18 recorded were fatal.
Despite the serious nature of the incidents, the figures are relatively low considering how frequently people swim in the sea.
An official in Queensland told a recent shark conference that the state would prefer the term ''bites'' over ''attacks,'' reports the Sydney Morning Herald.
Leonardo Guida, a shark expert at the Australian Marine Conservation Society, said the change matters ''because it helps dispel inherent assumptions that sharks are ravenous, mindless man-eating monsters.''
Meanwhile, researcher Christopher Pepin-Neff from the University of Sydney said ''shark attack is a lie", claiming that shark encounters were branded locally as ''shark accidents'' before the 1930s.
The Department of Primary Industries in New South Wales also said it has gradually replaced the term "attacks" in its annual reports.
A spokesperson told the outlet: ''NSW DPI is respectful that each incident is best described by the individual involved.
''DPI generally refers to ‘incidents’ or ‘interactions’ in our formal shark reporting.''
