3 more apparent shark bites off Long Island beaches: in Quogue, Fire Island, police say

Three more swimmers reported being bitten by sharks off Long Island beaches Tuesday, bringing the number of possible attacks since Monday to four and conjuring up memories of last summer's record number.

The first two reported shark bites Tuesday occurred shortly before 2 p.m. — the first off Quogue Village Beach and the second off Fire Island Pines, not far from the Kismet beach where a biting was confirmed a day earlier. They also came after parks officials announced stepped-up monitoring efforts for the summer to prevent a repeat of last year, when numerous sightings and a record number of bites forced bathers from the water at South Shore beaches.

The third bite, in which a woman was bitten on the upper thigh while swimming west of Cherry Grove at 4:25 p.m., was confirmed by police on Wednesday.

Early Tuesday, officials delayed opening the beach at Robert Moses State Park for swimming after about 50 sand sharks were spotted using drone surveillance shortly before 8 a.m.

"We want to make sure swimmers are safe," said Long Island State Parks Regional Director George Gorman.

For beachgoer Jen Robbins, a teacher from Bay Shore, it all had a familiar ring, which meant she'd remain on her beach towel for July Fourth 2023.

“There have been more and more shark sightings on Long Island the last couple of years,” Robbins said as she tried to get some sun amid the clouds at Robert Moses Field 3.

“It’s definitely a concern," she said of the shark bites and sightings. "I might get my feet wet but I’m definitely not going in.” 

The first possible shark bite of summer 2023 occurred about 1:45 p.m. Monday at Robert Moses State Park when a 15-year-old girl was treated for small puncture wounds on her left leg, said state parks officials. 

Just after 5 p.m. Monday, the first confirmed shark bite of 2023 occurred when 15-year-old boy was attacked in the waters off Kismet beach, officials said. The boy, identified late Tuesday by his father as Peter Banculli of North Babylon, was able to swim to shore, where someone on the beach provided medical care, police said.

The teen’s father, also named Peter Banculli, said his son was bitten on the ankle and had a puncture wound on his calf.

In an interview, the teen, a rising junior at North Babylon High, said he and a friend had been surfing, waiting about 35 feet away from the shore in Kismet, Fire Island, for a wave to come when the shark “came out of nowhere and chomped" on his foot, leaving "multiple gashes" in it.

“It happened so fast,” said the teen, who also pumps gas for boats as his summer job at Bergen Bay Docks in West Babylon. "I started to shout and panic to my friend. He thought I was kidding until he saw the tail on it."

He said he knew immediately it was a shark that had bit him. 

"I never felt so much pain in my foot before, and my friend saw the shark; he said it was pretty big," he said. "I didn’t really notice that I had been bitten really bad because I was in so much shock, and then I realized how big and deep the cuts really were."

The teen scrambled to get back ashore with the help of his surfboard.

"I was trying to ride the waves on my stomach for a quicker way to get out," he said.

He sought out a Good Samaritan's help.

"The blood started to pour out really bad when I got onto the beach," the teen said. 

For now, he's bandaged up and on a break from surfing, his pastime since age 7. He needs to use a scooter to get around because of the injuries. But he's undeterred.

"I have to wait about two weeks to get a decent recovery so maybe after the third week I'll be back in the water," he said.

He expects to be completely healed by August and hopes to be a lifeguard for one of the Babylon Town pools. 

“He’s in pain. But he’s doing fine,” said the teen's father, noting how lucky the boy is. "I would say that I’m more shaken up about it than he is. When you have something like that happen to your child, it’s a pretty frightening thing.”

After a delayed opening Tuesday, the beach at Robert Moses closed once more to assess a sighting that turned out to be a dolphin. 

The second confirmed shark bite of the season was reported Tuesday afternoon off Fire Island Pines Beach, not far from Monday's confirmed attack.

A 49-year-old man swimming off the beach was bitten on the hand by a shark about 2 p.m. Tuesday, Suffolk police said.

Suffolk County Police Marine Bureau officers responded to the scene and the man was taken to South Shore University Hospital in Bay Shore for treatment of a non-life-threatening laceration, police said.

Minutes earlier, a 47-year-old man reported being bitten on his right knee by a shark while swimming in chest-deep water off Quogue Village Beach, Quogue Village Police said. While no shark was observed, the man suffered multiple non-life-threatening lacerations police said were consistent with a bite from a large marine animal.

The man was transported by Westhampton War Memorial Ambulance to Peconic Bay Medical Center in Riverhead.

Quogue police said they notified surrounding beaches of the wildlife activity and were advising swimmers to stay out of the water until “the situation can be further assessed.”

The woman bitten near Cherry Grove later on Tuesday afternoon had non-life threatening injuries.

Gorman said it's unclear if the sighting of 50 sand sharks Tuesday morning off Robert Moses State Park was unusual.

“People think that’s a significant number, but the question with this enhanced surveillance is if they were always there,” he said.

Shark patrols had already been boosted at Long Island's ocean beaches this summer after a surge in bites and sightings last year. 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.

In response, Gov. Kathy Hochul and the state legislature set aside an estimated $145,000 in the state budget for Long Island's 2023 shark monitoring efforts that included 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 in May after Hochul's office announced the additional funds.

Parks officials could not confirm if the marine animal that bit the girl Monday afternoon at Robert Mose was a shark and lifeguards used drone patrols to scan the surface of the water, but no sharks could be seen at that time.

"Drones were up surveying but we did not see anything," Gorman said of the surveillance, conducted by state parks employees, lifeguards and state parks police. A Suffolk police boat joined the patrols Tuesday. Standard protocol is to monitor every hour and to reopen beaches if there have been no shark sightings for more than one hour.

Eric Alicea, a 28-year-old bar manager from Brentwood, said he wasn't "too worried about it."

“Shark attacks are still rare overall,” said Alicea, who was visiting Robert Moses Tuesday with family and friends to celebrate the holiday.

“It’s not going to keep me from the water because it’s one of the most enjoyable things about living here out on Long Island.”

With John Asbury