NEW YORK – Four shark assaults had been reported off the coast of New York’s Long Island over the vacation weekend, extending a current spike in such encounters in state waters, however authorities stated the victims suffered solely minor accidents.
With the assaults over the weekend, the two-year complete for the state stands at 13, greater than have been reported previously 175 years, analysis from the Atlantic Shark Institute exhibits.
“To see this many this quickly this early in the season, not withstanding last year, I’m surprised,” George Gorman, the institute’s director, stated on Wednesday.
The first assaults occurred early on Monday night, when a 15-year-old boy browsing close to Fire Island was bitten on his heel and toes. He was hospitalized with non-life threatening accidents, Suffolk County Police stated.
The second incident, additionally on Monday, befell at Robert Moses State Park, about seven miles (11.3 km) away from the primary. A 15-year-old woman suffered three puncture wounds on her left leg.
On Tuesday, two males had been attacked in separate encounters, one at Quogue Village Beach within the Hamptons, and the opposite close to the sight of the primary assault. Neither sustained life-threatening accidents.
The species believed to be accountable is the sand tiger shark, Marie Levine, govt director of the Shark Research Institute, stated.
“It appears to be like like sand tiger sharks, due to their dentition they usually wish to be near shore, the place they’re searching fish,” she stated, referring to chunk marks on the victims.
Around 50 sand tigers had been noticed by drones off Long Island on Tuesday, and swimming within the neighborhood was forbidden for greater than an hour.
Experts say sand sharks have moved nearer to shore in recent times as a result of hotter ocean temperatures have introduced their prey into shallower waters near land.
While no different assaults had been reported over the weekend, shark sightings had been reported in Florida and Massachusetts. Video footage from Pensacola, on Florida’s Panhandle, confirmed startled swimmers speeding ashore on Sunday as a black dorsal fin and tail lower by way of shallow waters.
Despite growing sand tiger shark assaults, the species has by no means killed a human, consultants say. But different, extra lethal species have additionally migrated into northern waters in recent times. In 2020, an amazing white shark killed a Maine girl within the first reported shark assault in that state’s historical past. — Reuters
Source: www.gmanetwork.com
