Comment on this story
Comment
Over the past two weeks, five shark attacks have been reported in Long Island, New York, including two in a few hours on Wednesday, a dramatic increase in shark encounters that officials said could represent a “new normal.”
Four of the reported attacks took place on Fire Island in Suffolk County, including two on the popular Smith Point beach and two near the town of Ocean Beach. The fifth was reported on Jones Beach Island in neighboring Nassau County.
None of the victims were seriously injured and it was estimated that the sighted sharks were between four and five feet long, officials said.
Shark sightings have been increasing off the coast of the U.S., which scientists attribute to successful conservation efforts that have restored populations closer to historic levels. However, the recent wave of attacks was very unusual: there were only 47 unconfirmed attacks confirmed nationwide in 2021, according to the Florida Museum of Natural History’s International Shark Attack Archive. .
“This is not something that is unprecedented in any way in our history here in Suffolk County,” Suffolk County Executive Steven Bellone said at a news conference Thursday. “Prior to July 3, we had not recorded any shark bites [Smith Point Beach] since it had opened, during beach hours, in 1959 ”.
Bellone said the county is deploying drones and increasing lifeguard patrols to control the waters, acknowledging that the increase may represent the “new normal.”
“The idea of more frequent contact with this type of shark may be what we will expect,” Bellone said at a separate press conference Wednesday, ahead of the fifth attack.
The first of the recent attacks took place on June 30, when a 57-year-old man swimming in Jones Beach suffered a laceration in his right foot that paramedics identified as a “possible shark bite,” according to the police department. of Nassau County.
Three days later, Zach Gallo, 33, a lifeguard in Smith Point Beach, was playing the role of a victim in a rescue training exercise when he himself became one, WABC reported. He heard a four-foot shark whip him with its tail and then bite its hand, according to the station.
“I felt pressure in my hand, I pulled it back and I just started pounding, hitting and connecting with the shark three times, and then the third time it turned,” Gallo told WABC. “I guess my adrenaline and my survival instincts started.”
Gallo returned to work on Thursday, telling the press conference with Bellone that he was grateful that his injuries were minor and that his fellow rescuers were coming to his aid.
“If you go to the ocean, make sure you go to a lifeguard-protected area,” Gallo said.
On July 7, first-year lifeguard John Mullins, 17, was bitten in the foot while also playing the role of a victim during a training exercise near Ocean Beach, according to CBS New York.
“My teeth were inside my skin and when I pulled my foot out, I felt like a scratch, like a rake going up my foot,” Mullins told the station. “We never expect to be attacked while we’re training, but they handled it well.”
Mullins received five stitches and lost his job while his foot healed, CBS New York reported.
On Wednesday morning, a surfer was bitten by a tiger shark about four feet tall, leaving a four-inch splinter, according to Bellone. The man was pulled from his table and watched as the shark turned toward him, but a wave carried him to shore, Bellone said.
About 11 hours later, police were called to Seaview Beach after a 49-year-old Arizona man who was in “deep water at the waist” bit him from behind his wrist and left buttocks, according to police. Suffolk County. He got out of the water and was airlifted to a hospital with injuries that did not endanger his life, police said.
Christopher Paparo, manager of the Center for Marine Sciences at Stony Brook University, said the series of attacks is “definitely something you don’t hear every day,” but stressed that the chances of encountering a shark are still “very low.”
He said Long Island sharks are mostly sand tiger sharks, sand sharks and dark sharks, all fish eaters that probably attack humans by mistake while hunting bait fish.
“They don’t have the teeth or the jaw structure where they can eat a person even if they want to,” he said. “They’re not out there looking for a swimmer or a surfer.”
Paparo said the increase in encounters is a “sign that we are doing things right” in terms of conservation.
“What happened in the 50s, 60s and 70s, they were heavily fished and many of their populations were close to complete collapse,” he said. “Then, through the regulation and conservation not only of sharks, but of their food, the Atlantic menhaden, better known as the bunker, these populations have recovered, and we are now beginning to see them once again in the figures that used to be. ”
Paparo said beach enthusiasts should swim in areas protected by lifeguards and avoid water when it is cloudy or they see shoals of fish. Sharks also tend to feed more at dawn and dusk, he added.
Bellone said officials do not expect serious injuries from shark attacks given the species that have been spotted, but urged hikers to be aware of their surroundings. Don’t wear shiny jewelry or get in the water while bleeding and being closer to shore, he said.
On Sunday, at a news conference, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman jumped into the water, seeking to reassure hikers who can avoid sharks with simple precautions.
“If you go to the ocean, it’s good to go with a partner. Always go to a protected beach where there are lifeguards, “Blakeman said.” If you do these things, you’ll be safe. “