A paddleboarder was attacked by a shark Wednesday morning off Smith Point County Park in Shirley, county officials said, the latest in a string of shark-related incidents on Long Island this summer.
The park, which was closed to swimming all morning, reopened to bathers around 1 p.m
The 41-year-old paddleboarder suffered a 4-inch gash on his leg, Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone said at a news conference Wednesday morning.
The man, who has not been identified, was taken by ambulance to Long Island Hospital in Patchogue and is expected to be OK, Bellone said.
The attack, the second at Smith Point in 10 days, happened around 7:30 a.m. and lifeguards were not on duty, Bellone said.
“I think this is an indication that what we’re seeing is sort of a new normal in that sharks … are closer to shore than they used to be,” Bellone said.
Bellone said the boater thought the shark was a sand tiger shark and that the man tried to fight it off by hitting it. The shark then circled, according to the paddle boarder’s account, but then a wave came in and carried it closer to shore, Bellone said.
The paddler was able to get ashore and reach the registration booth at the campground, and a park ranger called 911. The man was taken to the hospital by Shirley Community Ambulance, Bellone said.
While shark attacks off the coast of Long Island are rare, authorities are taking measures to ensure the safety of all residents, including the use of lifeguards who monitor the waters with jet skis, drones and paddleboards.
Brian Lewis, 57, of Riverhead, who accompanied the beach walk for Little Flower Children and Family Services of New York in Wading River on Wednesday, said he has no worries about getting back in the water.
“It’s the chance you take,” he said. “This is the ocean. This is their habitat.
That’s not how Janine Fraser, 36, from Coram, feels. Fraser was on her way to the beach with her husband and two children when she learned of the attack. While the family usually goes into the ocean, on Wednesday they were happier to stay on the shore, just getting their feet wet to cool off.
“Absolutely not,” she said. “This is not a safe place.”
On July 3, a lifeguard participating in a training exercise off Smith Point Beach was attacked by a shark, described as 4-5 feet long, which bit him on the chest.
The lifeguard, 10-year veteran Zach Gallo, was playing victim during this training exercise when he was attacked, Bellone said at a news conference at the time, adding that the shark also bit Gallo’s right arm as the lifeguard tried to saved himself off.
Gallo made it to shore with the help of other rescuers, Bellone said.
A shark was spotted near Smith Point Beach shortly after the attack, although it is not clear if it is the same shark.
In late June, a man swimming off Jones Beach was bitten on the right leg, although Nassau County officials said it was unclear if that incident involved a shark.
Davis Park Beach on Fire Island was closed to bathers last week after a shark was seen swimming close to shore, officials said.
The city of Hempstead said it had 21 confirmed sightings on its beaches in 2020 and 29 in 2021, after having only two confirmed shark sightings between 1998 and 2020.
In 2021 and 2022, there were sightings in Long Beach, as well as Nickerson Beach, Jones Beach State Park, Robert Moses State Park, Ocean Beach, Davis Park Beach, Smith Point County Park and Pikes Beach, officials said.
Experts told Newsday last week that the latest attacks continue what has been described as an unprecedented escalation for an area that records say averaged about one attack per decade over the last century.
They said part of that increase is likely due to conservation efforts that have helped clean up local waters and in turn led to the resurgence of the Atlantic menhaden, known as the bunker, a bait fish that attracts predators including sharks .
These experts also said that ocean warming has also contributed to more shark sightings in northern locations.
Check back for updates on this developing story.
John Valenti, a Newsday reporter since 1981, has been nationally honored by the Associated Press and the Society of the Silurians for investigative, entrepreneurial and breaking news and column writing, and is the author of “Swee’pea,” a book about the former New York basketball court star Lloyd Daniels. Valenti is featured in ESPN’s 30 for 30 Emmy Award-winning film Big Shot.
Add Comment