Globally, there're fewer shark attacks.(Daily Press (Newport News, Va.))

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. _ The long Labor Day weekend showed that, when it comes to shark attacks, the highly unlikely is still possible, but the worst is almost certainly over for this year, shark experts said.

The number of attacks is directly related to the number of people in the water, said Jeffrey Carrier, a biology professor at Albion College in Michigan and a member of the American Elasmobranch Society, a professional organization that studies sharks. With school in session and cooler weather on the way, there are fewer people in the water.

"We've gotten pretty much all of summer out of the way," he said. "The frequency is likely to lower."

And the …