Shark bites man trying to remove fishing hook

A trio of shark hunters in the Atlantic Ocean south of Long Island hauled one of the creatures onto their boat yesterday - only to have the shark bite one of the men on his arm, a U.S. Coast Guard official said.

The man, 20, whose name was not released, was fishing for blue sharks with two friends in a recreational craft Saturday about 25 nautical miles south of Moriches Inlet in Brookhaven, Coast Guard Petty Officer Anthony Kozak said.

They were trying to remove a fishhook from the mouth of a shark they caught when it rolled over and bit a man on his right bicep, Kozak said.

A rescue boat from the guard's Shinnecock Station in East Moriches met the vessel about 1:30 p.m. and escorted the man back to shore.

Emergency workers took him to Stony Brook University Medical Center, where he was undergoing treatment.

A Coast Guard spokesman told The Associated Press it was unclear what happened to the shark or how big it was.

The attack came a day after the Coast Guard warned recreational boaters to keep watch for predatory sharks in ocean waters from Maine to New Jersey, the AP reported, but Petty Officer Thomas McKenzie said Saturday people in the metro area did not have to worry because the area hadn't seen an attack in "many, many years."