WNJ Exclusive: "Summer of the Shark" continues with Seaside Park beach closing


A shark washed up on a beach in Seaside Park this past weekend.
Photo Credit: News 12 New Jersey

by David Wheeler

A five-foot sand shark swam all the way up the tideline at a crowded Seaside Park beach this weekend.  Lifeguards closed the beach temporarily. 

Though the shark riding the tide up the beach was dramatic, a Seaside Park Beach Control official noted to the Philadelphia Inquirer that the sand shark sighting is, in itself, nothing remarkable.

"Sand sharks are pretty common because they're out there all the time feeding on dead fish.  This one just happened to come closer than normal."


The sighting marked the second time this summer that the Seaside Park beach was closed due to a shark sighting, as two five-foot sharks were spotted off of Seaside Park on July 14, forcing a morning beach closing.  Beaches have also been temporarily closed in Seaside Heights, Midway Beach, and Ocean Beach this summer due to shark sightings.  Seaside Park Beach Patrol chief Joe Gomulka told the Associated Press that week that "2010 appears to be the summer of the shark."

A bull shark
Photo credit: Brian J. Skerry, National Geographic

That flurry of sightings - most likely caused by the unusually warm water off our shore - was 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. 

The Seaside Park sighting this weekend also offered a local highlight to accompany Discovery Channel's Shark Week, which is also being celebrated by New Jersey's own Adventure Aquarium in Camden.

The2010 summer began with a United States Coast Guard shark advisory warning recreational boaters and paddlers to be alert for sharks along the Northeast coast.

Here's a previous timeline of our 2010 "Summer of the Shark" in New Jersey:

July15 - Three shark fins are spotted off of Midway Beach on the Barnegat Peninsula in Ocean County.  The beach closes for an hour.

July14 - 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 in 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.)

July12 - 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.

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.


July2005 - 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 tragic attacks such as:

August 1926 - A swimmer in Seaside Heights is killed by a shark, the last fatal shark attack in New Jersey waters.

July1916 - 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 shark news: 
Share |

Posted by WILDNEWJERSEY at 8/2/2010 11:00 AM
Categories: WNJ Exclusives, Sea Life, Mammals, Sharks
Tags: New Jersey Sharks Seaside Jersey Shore Snooki NJ beach Coast Guard
 

What did you think of this article?




Trackbacks
Trackback specific URL for this post
  • No trackbacks exist for this post.
Comments
  • No comments exist for this post.
Leave a comment

Submitted comments are subject to moderation before being displayed.

 Name

 Email (will not be published)

 Website

Your comment is 0 characters limited to 3000 characters.