Terrifying ordeal ... Australian surfer Mick Fanning is chased by a shark in July 2015 during a competition in South Africa. Picture: AFP/WSL

Shark attacks hit a record high last year, with 98 people mauled around the world.

Six people were killed by sharks, including a snorkeller in Hawaii, two off the Indian Ocean island of Reunion, as well as victims in Australia, Egypt and New Caledonia.

While last year saw twice as many fatal attacks as 2014, the number of deadly encounters was roughly on par with the past decade’s average, said George Burgess, director of the International Shark Attack File.

The 98 unprovoked attacks surpassed by 10 the previous high recorded in 2000, he said. The rise reflects growing populations of both people and sharks, he said.

Hawaii saw seven attacks, and the rest occurred in California, Texas, Mississippi and New York. In Australia, there were 33 recorded shark attacks, 22 of which were unprovoked, in 2015.

In NSW, there were 14 unprovoked attacks, with one killed, eight injured and five uninjured, according to the latest figures.

There were four attacks in Queensland, with just one person injured, one attack in South Australia resulting in injury, two in WA (both were injured) and one in Victoria, also injured.

Mr Burgess said that shark attacks are occurring further north in the United States as warmer ocean temperatures extend the marine mammal’s range, Burgess noted.

In a rare incident, a New Yorker was attacked while boogie boarding off Long Island.

“We’re going to be seeing more bites north of Virginia in the east and California in the west in the years ahead as long as this warming trend continues,” Burgess said.

Unseasonable warm water off the coasts of North and South Carolina likely contributed to 16 attacks there last year, including rare attacks in which two children were bitten in separate incidents less than an hour apart, he said.

Florida saw 30 shark attacks in 2015, roughly half of the 59 recorded in the United States, as is typical, Burgess said.

According to the findings, surfers and others participating in board sports were most often targeted (49 per cent of cases), compared to swimmers (42 per cent) and snorkellers (nine per cent).