It is not a secret that whales are amongst the most visible marine life to return in abundance to New York waters. The massive beasts of the sea can be seen frequently from Manhattan to Montauk. However, a dark secret regarding the New York whale population is coming to light, people are intentionally chasing them and bumping them.
For the second straight summer, July has started out like a scene from "Jaws" on New York beaches. Four swimmers were attacked and bitten over the past holiday weekend.
It has not been an easy summer swimming on the white sandy beaches of Long Island this year. Six people were bitten by sharks in a little more than a two-week span. The painful swimming experience continued on Sunday at Jones Beach State Park and Robert Moses State Park, thanks to a marine organism called a Pelagia Noctiluca.
The corpse of a great white shark washed up on the shores of Quogue, New York on July 20th. Coincidentally, that is the same day of the last shark attack reported off the south shores of Long Island. Could there have been a single shark that was creating havoc amongst beachgoers? Was there something wrong with this beast that caused it to attack swimmers and surfers?
Truly out of the pages of "Jaws", New York beachgoers have a real question on their hands. Is is safe to go in the water? And, if you are on any of the southern Long Island beaches from the Rockaways to Montauk, the answer right now is NO. On Wednesday night, the 5th shark bit victim in two weeks and the 2nd in ONE DAY occurred in waist deep water off the beaches of Fire Island, less than 50 miles from where a surfer was hit Wednesday morning in Smith Point.
A lifeguard swimming off Fire Island on Thursday was bitten in the foot by a shark. Three shark attacks in one week, off the beaches of Long Island, have prompted "Dangerous Marine Life" warning flags for some New York beaches. The first thing that may come to mind is the 1975 classic movie, "Jaws." It was just a movie...right? Was there a real life "Jaws" situation, where one shark was targeting human victims? As far as we know, the answer is YES!