Beachgoers enjoying the long holiday weekend ended up with some “Jaws” stories of their own this Fourth of July. Five possible bites were reported in the waters of New York beaches over the busy weekend, according to officials. It is believed the attacks were perpetuated by several different sharks, though in some cases the marine life responsible for the bites cannot be confirmed without a doubt.
On Tuesday, drone operators spotted what appeared to be roughly 50 sand tiger sharks about 200 yards from the beach while conducting surveillance of an area in Robert Moses State Park, Long Island State Parks Regional Director George Gorman told USA TODAY.
As a result, public access to the beach was delayed an hour and a half. The beach was later closed again but reopened after another potential shark spotting turned out to be a dolphin.
Close encounters
At least two encounters did end up occurring on the holiday, however, one off Quogue Village beach and one near Fire Island Pines beach, according to WCBS. A 47-year-old man and 49-year-old man both reported being bitten on the knee and hand respectively. On Monday, two teenagers reported what they believed to be bites to their legs after swimming in the same areas.
It is currently unknown who the victim of the fifth reported attack was.
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While the proximity of the spotted sharks and last year’s eight reported bites indicate the attacks were likely shark-related, officials cannot say for sure what animals caused the injuries in the cases that victims, witnesses or drones were unable to spot the offending marine life.
“If there is a bite in the Atlantic there is suspicion it’s a shark but there are other marine life like blue fish that bite,” said Gorman. “The last couple years, we’ve seen an increases of shark sightings and sharks coming closer to shore and that has to do with the small feeder fish.” He said that the small fish have been hanging out closer to the shore and have attracted other sea life to areas near beaches as well, including stingrays and whales.
Gorman said the year-over-year trends indicate that this may be the “new normal” for Long Island beaches, which has prompted agencies to implement safety precautions.
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“We have this plan in place, we have drone operators and trained New York State Park Police, staff are trained so we can have very frequent patrols,” he said. “We have very extensive surveillance and monitor of the water so that if we do see a shark we can react.”
Gorman cited a recent increase in funding that allowed the building and training of a more efficient and well-equipped drone force as one step the state is taking to keep beachgoers safe. There is also a notification system in place in over 200 beaches called the Costal Awareness Group, which allows beach operators to quickly share information on wildlife sightings.
“We’ve taken a lot of measures, we coordinate, we have an immediate motivation system of over 200 beachfront operators,” said Gorman. “We took a lead on that to keep everyone safe.”
USA TODAY has reached out to the Village of Quogue and Suffolk County police departments for further information.
