Wild New Jersey Exclusive: Is 2010 the "Summer of the Shark" in New Jersey?
Bull Shark
Photo credit: National Geographic
By David Wheeler
The summer began with a United States Coast Guard shark advisory, warning recreational boaters and paddlers to be alert for sharks along the Northeast coast.
That trend picked up steam over the past week, with shark sightings near swimming beaches - and ensuing beach closings - on three of the first four days of the week.
Perhaps Seaside Park Beach Patrol chief Joe Gomulka was on to something when he noted to NJ.com that "2010 appears to be the summer of the shark."
Juvenile Great White Shark.
Photocredit: thedorsalfin.com
That remains to be seen, but the flurry of sightings - most likely caused by the unusually warm water off our shore - is surprising for mid-July. While approximately two dozen species of sharks swim along our coast, they typically stay far out of sight for beach goers. This week was quite different.
Here's a timeline of our possible "Summer of the Shark":
Thursday, July 15 - Three shark fins are spotted off of Midway Beach on the Barnegat Peninsula in Ocean County. The beach closes for an hour.
Wednesday, July 14 - Two five-foot sharks are spotted off of Seaside Park. Soon after they are spotted off of Seaside Heights, just to the north. The beaches are closed for much of the morning and Seaside Park, and the afternoon in Seaside Heights. (Seaside is just north of Island Beach State Park, which is separated from the Barnegat Peninsula by Barnegat Inlet and Bay.)
Bathers stay close to shore in Seaside Park just before 3 p.m. in an area of beach that was temporarily closed
for about four hours after local surfers spotted two five-foot-long sharks at about 10 a.m. Wednesday.
Photo credit: The Star-Ledger
Monday, July 12 - A shark is spotted swimming along Ocean Beach Unit 3, a cozy shore community about 8 miles north of Seaside. Beaches are closed for less than an hour.
Friday, July 2 - The U.S. Coast Guard issues a shark advisory after a seven-foot juvenile great white shark is spotted in the Stellwagen Bank fishing grounds 20 miles east of Massachusetts.
August 2009 - An Egg Harbor fishing shop owner posts a warning for customers after repeated sightings of dangerous bull sharks in the Mullica River.
Howard Sefton, of Captain Howard’s Bait and Tackle in Egg Harbor City, uses a blackboard to
inform his customers about reported bull shark landings in the Mullica River.
Photo by: Anthony Smedile
July 2005 - A surfer's foot is sliced open off of Long Beach Island. Though initial reports blame a shark, experts say it was far more likely that a surfboard or other cause was to blame.
1974-1975 - The "Jaws" phenomenon, sparked by Peter Benchley's best-selling novel and Steven Spielberg's blockbuster movie, sweeps the nation and introduces a whole generation to the fictionalized concept of "monster sharks." Benchley later regrets the way his book was interpreted, especially as people mistakenly believed that sharks actively hunted humans. In reality most shark "attacks" in history were the result of a misidentification by a shark believing a human to be a seal or other prey, then immediately letting go after the initial bite.
However, though incredibly rare, there have been actual attacks such as the legendary....
July 1916 - A shark attacks three people in Matawan Creek in Monmouth County, New Jersey - a brackish creek that would hardly seem to be shark habitat - and kills two of them. Earlier in the month, sharks had attacked and killed single swimmers in Beach Haven and Spring Lake in separate incidents. Great white shark was initially blamed, though in time the more likely culprit - especially for the Matawan attacks - appeared to be the bull shark, which frequently swims upstream into brackish and even fresh water in many areas around the world.
For the full history of shark attacks, there is no better source than the Global Shark Attack File, where you can download a Microsoft Excel document listing every known (or misidentified) shark attack in history:http://www.sharkattackfile.net/incidentlog.htm . ;
Another great source is the International Shark Attack File, which offers an excellent range of information on shark behavior: http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/sharks/isaf/isaf.htm . ;
Finally, the Shark Research Institute - based right here in Princeton, New Jersey - offers a wealth of shark science under the leadership of Dr. Leonard Compagno. http://www.sharks.org/about.htm
Other recent Wild New Jersey stories on sharks:
wildnewjersey.tv/2010/07/15/fishing-with-wild-new-jersey-shark-bait-over-the-chicken-canyon.aspx
http://wildnewjersey.tv/2010/06/29/jills-pick-from-around-the-world-sharks-carrying-drugresistant-bacterial-monsters.aspx
http://wildnewjersey.tv/2010/06/03/sciencedaily-hammerhead-shark-study-shows-cascade-of-evolution-affected-size-head-shape.aspx
http://wildnewjersey.tv/2010/03/17/press-of-atlantic-city-state-dep-asks-us-not-to-ban-shark-fishing-off-new-jersey-coast.aspx
Posted by WILDNEWJERSEY at 7/16/2010 11:35 AM 
Categories: WNJ Exclusives, Sharks
Tags: shark barnegat new jersey jaws mullica river seaside heights seaside park
Categories: WNJ Exclusives, Sharks
Tags: shark barnegat new jersey jaws mullica river seaside heights seaside park
Is anyone facing the fact that increasing temperatures in our ocean, yes, global climate change, brings sharks, increased jellyfish, increased red tides, and other perils farther and farther north? I shudder at humans' tendency to blame sharks, blame Mother Nature, when our greed is at work here.
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I was amazed at the sharks swimming south in Seaside Pk on 7/29/2010---more amazed when one turned toward the beach where I stood ankle deep as he swaggered in and belly slid onto the sand--stopped 3' away from us..looked buggy eyed around then opened his mouth as wide as he could..he was black with a lighter grey belly..about 6' or more...
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