For what it at least the fifth time this summer, a shark bit someone at a Long Island beach looking to cool off in the water on a hot day, this time a teenage surfer.
The victim, a 16-year-old boy, was surfing at a beach in the Kismet neighborhood on Fire Island around 5:45 p.m. Wednesday, according to Suffolk County officials. As he was paddling about 20 yards from Kismet Beach, he suffered a minor bite on his right foot that left him with a 4-inch cut.
He was able to walk out of the water, and was taken to Good Samaritan Hospital Medical Center in West Islip for treatment. The teen is expected to recover.
A police helicopter went to the scene, but officials said the water was too murky to find the shark afterward. No lifeguards were on duty at the time of the incident. No beach closures at Fire Island are on tap as of Wednesday night.
There were more shark sightings earlier on Wednesday: On Long Beach (the second in as many days), in the Rockaways, at Jones Beach and East Atlantic Beach — each of which triggered calls to pull swimmers from the water temporarily. No other bites were reported. At least six have been reported on Long Island so far this month.
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Here is a rundown of the shark incidents this summer on Long Island so far:
- Over the July 4 holiday weekend, lifeguard Zachari Gallo at Smith Point Beach was playing the victim role in the training exercise when he was bitten in the chest. He tried to swat the shark, said to be 4 to 5 feet long, away and suffered a hand injury, authorities said. It was the first reported shark attack at Smith Point since the beach opened in 1959, the parks commissioner had said.
- Later that week, on July 7, another lifeguard was similarly playing victim during a training exercise when he was bitten. That 17-year-old lifeguard was performing training about 150 to 200 yards offshore in the morning at the Fire Island community of Ocean Beach when he felt something bite him near his left foot. The lifeguard then swam to shore, where he was taken by ambulance to a nearby hospital, treated and released.
- There were two bitings reported on July 13. In the morning, surfer Shawn Donnely suffered a four-inch gash to the leg when he was bitten by what he believed was a sand tiger shark in the water just east of the main beach at Smith Point County Park, officials said. The 41-year-old reported the shark knocked him off his board and bit him around 7 a.m., officials said. He then said he punched the shark repeatedly as it kept circling him until a wave helped carry him to the shore and safety, they added.
- Later that day, Suffolk County officials said a man from Arizona was bitten just after 6 p.m. at Seaview Beach, in the Ocean Beach section of Fire Island. The 49-year-old man was standing in waist-deep water when the shark came from behind and bit him on the left wrist and buttocks, officials said. The man was able to walk out of the water
With more sightings and attacks reported, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has ordered stepped-up patrols on some of the South Shore's most popular stretches of sand.
News
The latest bite incident comes after one of the marine predators washed up in the Village of Quogue. Police responding to a report of a dead shark on the Ocean Beaches along Dune Road, between numbers 80 and 90, were told the fish was 7 to 8 feet long.
It washed back out to sea before cops could secure it, but not before someone snapped the photo below. Shark expert Chris Paparo, with Stony Brook University, says it was a juvenile great white shark. Fortunately, it was only a carcass.
"Due to conservation efforts, these sharks are making a comeback. Many of the ones we are seeing are juveniles," Paparo said.
Quogue police say they're coordinating with the South Fork Natural History Museum Shark Research and Education Program, which it says is monitoring the situation along with law enforcement partners.
It's not clear what kind of shark this was, but it's certainly not a friendly sight for summer swimmers. Quogue police said people should be aware of the "ongoing situation" in local waters and give law enforcement space to investigate.
If anyone sees another shark in the area, call Quogue Village Police Department at 631-653-4791.
Gov. Kathy Hochul unveiled an action plan Monday to address the uptick in sightings and help New Yorkers be more aware about potential danger signs. Learn some signs of shark-infested waters and more on NY shark safety protocol here.
The plan includes, among other measures:
- Increased lifeguard staffing by 25% at ocean beaches through overtime. That'll translate to 2-4 lifeguards within each field and boost shark and other marine life surveillance from the shore
- Enhanced drone beach surveillance program: Jones Beach State Park gets three instead of one, Robert Moses State Park goes from one to two and Hither Hills State Park will be assigned its first drone. Park Police also have a drone available
- Drone surveillance capabilities at Long Island State Park beaches expand from 4 miles to 11 miles
- Deploy more surfboats to surveil from water as well as Park Police patrol boats
- Add six more drone operators to the 13 certified ones already working for Long Island State Parks within weeks
- Bolster federal, state, county, and local partnerships to share resources and information about potential shark sightings and better support the correct identification of sharks and other fish
More Shark Sightings to Come?
More sharks are being spotted in the waters off Long Island, a trend that is likely to continue — and experts say that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
Cleaner oceans, warmer water temperatures and a resurgence of bunker fish that sharks feed on are seen as factors, according to experts. Detection, from drones to helicopters, also has improved and reports are easily spread through social media.
“There are a lot more sharks than 10 or 15 years ago,” Paparo told Newsday. “We’re spotting sharks, whales and dolphins here. In the 1960s, we did not have sharks, whales and dolphins.”
Sharks that were once nearly wiped out by overfishing are now protected and thriving in waters that are cleaner and filled with more fish to eat than ever.
"Being that we’re in New York — one of the busiest metropolitans in the world — to see that success, is awesome," Paparo said, stressing that despite an uptick in recent attacks, sharks are not really a threat to humans.
Shark attacks in the area have been very rare until recently, with an average of about one reported per 10 years for the last century, Newsday reported. Two lifeguards suffered bites and a third person was bitten in what possibly was a shark attack, within the last two weeks, the newspaper reported.
The United States recorded 47 unprovoked shark bites in 2021, a 42% increase from 33 incidents reported in 2020, according to records kept by the Florida Museum of Natural History.
