When a Monterey County woman died in a shark attack off Pacific Grove in late December, it was the 17th such fatality in 75 years off the coast of California.
Most of those incidents involved white sharks, and though bites and deaths from sharks are statistically rare, the idea of the ocean’s apex predator rising from the depths remains among the greatest fears of even the most ardent ocean lovers.
The death of Erica Fox, 50, was the first since Oct. 1, 2023, when a swimmer was killed in an attack at Pt. Reyes…