Boy fighting for life after being mauled by shark in Sydney’s east© Nine

For nearly 60 years, Sydney did not record a single fatal shark attack.

Now the city has witnessed three deadly encounters in as many years, as well two life-threatening ones in the last two days.

On Sunday, a 13-year-old boy was pulled out of Sydney Harbour by mates after he was attacked by what police believe is a bull shark.

Sydney just witnessed three shark encounters in two days, leaving many scared to even enter the water.© 9News

Another suspected bull shark bit an 11-year-old boy’s surfboard on Sydney’s Northern Beaches yesterday morning, and a man in his 20s was bitten on the leg at Manly the same day.

A fourth attack, this time on the NSW Mid North Coast, put a surfer in hospital with minor injuries this morning.

Encounters like these seem to be on the rise in NSW and across state borders, leaving some Australians afraid to even set foot in the ocean.

Australia has recorded 23 fatal shark attacks in the six years since January 1, 2020, across NSW, Queensland, South Australia, and Western Australia.

By comparison, only 22 fatal encounters were reported in the decade between 2010 and 2019, and fewer than 15 were reported each decade from 1960 to 2009.

The numbers appear to show a spike in fatal shark encounters.

But numbers don’t tell the whole story.

“Even though it sounds like a lot, it’s still a very, very low number,” Emeritus Professor of Marine Ecology at Macquarie University Robert Harcourt told 9news.com.au.

“It’s only a handful per year, and we have a lot of other factors that are changing much more rapidly.”