Stepped-up monitoring of Long Island waters after '22 shark bite flurry

Long Island lifeguards and state park officials are doubling up on shark monitoring for the coming beach season — an attempt to avoid a repeat of last summer when numerous sightings and a record number of bites forced bathers from the water.

Of the 20 documented shark attacks in New York over nearly 200 years, eight occurred in summer 2022 off South Shore beaches, described as mostly minor bites and scrapes. None of the bites were life-threatening, 

An increase in high-tech monitoring in recent years has led to more sightings, according to marine experts, and environmental cleanup efforts have swelled the fish population closer to shore, luring sharks to shallower waters to feed. There aren't necessarily more sharks, experts said, but beachgoers and lifeguards are more alert when they're feeding offshore, which can account for increased sightings.

"The last couple of years, there have been more sightings of sharks and lifeguard drones to scan over the water to see more than they used to," said Teddy Tilkin, a shark expert and aquarist at the Long Island Aquarium.

 "It's always good to keep in mind this is the sharks home and we’re sharing the ocean for a couple months," he added, "but they're off Long Island year-round."

Safety measures for summer 

Actions this year, with the help of state funds, include additional drones and personal water craft to speed up efforts to alert swimmers of sharks in the water. State parks officials and Hempstead Town lifeguards are being trained to use drones to survey waters for sharks and their prey. Hempstead lifeguards are also trained how to tell whether a dorsal fin moving along the ocean's surface belongs to a shark or a dolphin.

“This may be our new normal,” said George Gorman, Long Island regional director of the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. “So that’s why we have to react to it. We had additional funding to survey and watch over the water so swimmers can be as safe as we can possibly make them.”

Bait fish and bunker fish in shallow waters — sometimes as close as 100 feet from the shoreline — are the primary food source for sharks, and in recent years have returned in abundance, he said. Last July and August, according to Gorman, lifeguards reported schools about 100 feet wide from the Fire Island inlet to nearby beaches on Fire Island.

“They’ve always been closer to shore, but not in those vast numbers …," Gorman said. "Shark experts told us there is not a great increase in population, but we’ve seen a difference in feeding closer to shore.”

An infusion of state funds

Gov. Kathy Hochul and the state legislature have set aside an estimated $145,000 in the state budget for Long Island's shark monitoring efforts that include 10 more drones, two additional wave runners and training for drone operators at Jones Beach, Robert Moses State Park and at Hither Hills State Park in Montauk. One of the new drones contains infrared thermal imaging to locate sharks and a flotation device to drop to swimmers in trouble, Gorman said.

Long Island state parks previously had eight drones on hand and are increasing the number of trained operators from 21 to 33. The increased drone patrols will begin Memorial Day weekend and be fully operational once all Long Island beaches open the third week in June.

Last year's eight shark attacks included a surfer bitten off Smith Point County Park and a lifeguard at Ocean Beach. There were eight attacks by sand tiger and other small sharks, according to the state Department of Environmental Conservation.

Five of the bites occurred in July and they continued until Sept. 1 off Robert Moses. Most occurred in murky water near schools of baitfish, according to the DEC. Officials said sharks likely misidentified swimmers as prey or bumped into sharks.

Bites are rare

Shark bites are extremely rare, according to marine experts, and before last summer, there had been only about a dozen attacks off New York beaches since 1837, according to the International Shark Attack File, based at the University of Florida. 

When sharks do bite, experts said, it's likely because they misidentified swimmer as a seal or other prey.

The predators don't focus on humans when they swim close to shore, said Greg Metzger, chief field coordinator for the South Fork Natural History Museum’s shark research program in Bridgehampton.

But most beachgoers are not aware of how to interact with them, Metzger said, such as respecting a shark's feeding area and avoiding where they may gather.

“We need to start educating the public,” he said. “Swimming and paddling in schools of bunker fish is terrible behavior. It’s equivalent to sitting on top of a dead zebra in South Africa. Would anybody go on safari and expect not to be mauled by a lion?”

More looking, more sightings

There have been more shark sightings in recent summers because people are looking with drones and sharing sightings online through cellphone pictures, Metsger said, adding that depending on the species, adult sharks off Long Island typically weigh about 100 pounds and are 5 to 6 feet long.

"These sharks are not coming to bite people. The problem is sharks are vying for position and pushing other sharks out of the way competing to get food,” Metzger said. “They’re usually not attacking people at all. People need to understand if there’s a school of bunker fish, they should get out of the water. The whales and dolphins we see are feeding on bunkers as well. It’s only a matter of time before someone gets hurt by whales and sharks as well."

The Town of Hempstead has reported about 50 shark sightings the past two years off beaches where lifeguards patrol from Point Lookout to East Atlantic Beach, Hempstead Supervisor Don Clavin said.

Hempstead has invested in multiple Jet Skis for shark patrols, Clavin said, and lifeguards plan to complete morning drone patrols on a daily basis this summer over the shoreline. They also have been trained on how to recognize a shark as they patrol the water on surfboards, he said.

The City of Long Beach is planning to run patrols on personal water craft three times a day, officials said.

If a shark is spotted, Clavin said, the water will be cleared by lifeguards and the town will communicate with other beaches until the threat of sharks in the area has passed.

"Residents shouldn’t assume it’s a scene out of 'Jaws.' Our lifeguards are trained to remove everyone out of the water in an orderly fashion," Clavin said. "This is something we're going to be dealing with for years to come. We're maintaining cleaner waters and dealing with Mother Nature and have to learn to coexist with marine life."
 

By John Asbury

john.asbury@newsday.comJohnAsbury

John Asbury is a breaking news and general assignment reporter. He has been with Newsday since 2014 and previously worked at The Press-Enterprise in Riverside, California.