A surge in shark sightings and a swimmer’s shark bite have beachgoers on the East Coast on high alert. A small sand tiger shark is likely what bit a man who suffered non-life-threatening lacerations to his foot while swimming at Jones Beach State Park Field 6 on Long Island over the Fourth of July weekend.
The beach was temporarily closed while state officials searched for more sharks, but they reopened it to restricted swimming after an hour. Days before, the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation (NYC Parks) alerted beachgoers to expect intermittent beach closures at Rockaway Beach in Queens, New York City’s largest beach, due to multiple shark sightings.
Increased Surveillance Efforts
In May, New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced that the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, in collaboration with the Department of Environmental Conservation, were enhancing the state’s surveillance capability with new drones and drone operators to patrol sharks and other marine-life activity along Long Island State Park beaches this summer.
Shark bites are rare, especially with alert systems in place, according to Gavin Naylor, director of the Florida Museum of Natural History’s shark research program. The OCEARCH Shark Tracker is a free, public online map that allows people to follow the movements of tagged sharks through satellite tracking.
Original reporting: Fox News (HLL/CB) — read the source article.
