SHARK BUFFET: Increase in Long Island shark attacks may be blamed on conservation bill from 2019, here's why
Great white sharks and other sharks have been circling Long Island beaches this year in search of a specific type of bait fish that has thrived in New York waters since the state legislature unanimously voted to protect it three years ago. Sharks are swimming into shore like tourists bellying up to a buffet as the population of Atlantic Menhaden grows, and they are coming dangerously close to bathers. On Wednesday, July 20, the corpse of a six- to eight-year-old shark washed up on the beach in Quogue.
“The reason why people are interacting with sharks more often this year and more than last year is because of conservation efforts over the years [that] has protected a food source known as the Atlantic Menhaden,” Frank Quevedo, executive director of the South Fork Natural History Museum Shark Research and Education Program, told the New York Post. “If there’s a school of Menhaden or baitfish close to shore, and sharks are feeding on that, they’re gonna fight any way they can, or shove other fish out of the way to feed on that food source. So, if people are in the middle of that frenzy … they’re gonna get bitten and that’s what happens.”
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Dead Great White Shark Washes Up On Long Island https://t.co/h2Ro0iblTZ
— Long Island (@longisland) July 21, 2022
The recent increase in shark-human interactions is unsurprising given that the protected Atlantic Menhaden are a "major food source" for sharks, as well as whales, dolphins, predatory fish, seals, and seabirds, according to the legislative memo. However, Assemblymember Steve Englebright, who co-sponsored the bill with State Senator Todd Kaminsky, said he didn't think it would increase shark activity. “I’m not sure that one could have predicted there would be the seriousness that this has become", the New York Post reported.
Recent shark attacks on Long Island
Bathers are reconsidering going into the water this summer due to recent shark attacks in the Long Island area. The first attack of the season occurred in late June when a swimmer was bitten on the foot off Jones Beach. Two more incidents occurred in early July. On July 3, one occurred off the beaches of Smith Point and Cupsogue on Fire Island. During rescue training, a lifeguard was bitten. The other lifeguard attack happened on July 7 off Fire Island's Ocean Beach. Both incidents resulted in minor injuries.
On July 13, two more attacks occurred, one-off Ocean Beach and the other off Smith Point Beach. The first was on a surfer, who received a four-inch gash on his leg, and the second was on a swimmer in waist-deep water, who received bites to his wrist and buttocks. A sixth shark attack occurred on July 21, when a surfer off Fire Island's Kismet Beach was bitten on the foot and sustained a four-inch gash.
In 2021 summer there was only one reported shark attack, with a lifeguard bitten in July. According to Long Island officials, there were 20 confirmed shark sightings off the island in that year, a record for the area.
What does the Conservation Bill say?
The bill, which was passed unanimously in both the Senate and the assembly before being signed into law by Gov Cuomo in April 2019, made capturing Atlantic Menhaden with a drawstring-bag-like fishing net illegal. It was an attempt to reintroduce the species after overfishing nearly wiped out the population in 2011. Englebright sponsored the 2019 bill to protect Atlantic Menhaden from overfishing.
Despite the correlation to increased shark interactions, Englebright says he supports the bill but would like to see a shark safety education system implemented. “It’s having positive results,” he said, stating he’s noticed flourishing osprey nests along the South Shore. “I don’t doubt that there are collisions taking place between bathers and probably tiger sharks that are looking for those Menhaden and mistaking people’s feet for fish … That’s not something that one can legislate".
The bill appears to be working: humpback whales are staying longer in New York City waters, while sharks lurk in the shallow water from Rockaway to Fire Island. “We’re seeing more sharks because of better fisheries management and because of cleaner waters,” said Christopher Paparo, manager of Stony Brook University’s Marine Sciences Center. “We’re seeing more sharks because our environment is much healthier and populations are much stronger due to conservation.”
Paparo emphasizes that sharks are not changing their behaviors to be more aggressive; there are just a lot more of them. “What you’re seeing is a game of numbers. More sharks, people, there’s a greater chance there’s going to be an interaction,” he said. “One thing to keep in mind: seeing sharks in our local ecosystem is extremely important. It’s a sign that the environment around us is healthy", The Post reported.
Observations
On July 18, Gov Kathy Hochul increased state park lifeguard staff by 25% by making them work overtime to spot predators before an encounter occurs. The most common sharks in Long Island waters, according to Paparo, are Sandbar, Sand Tiger, and Dusky sharks, but Quevedo points out that there is a Great White nursery just off the coast where hundreds of the massive fish lurk. “Juvenile white sharks are born somewhere offshore,” Quevedo said. “That we know is a fact because of scientific data that we’ve accumulated the last five years to confirm the South Shore Long Island as a nursery for juvenile white shark species.”
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Mother sharks give birth offshore each year around May, and the young migrate inshore to feed on smaller fish, such as Atlantic Menhaden, that live in shallower waters. Though juveniles migrate to warmer waters in the winter, they return each summer until they reach adulthood and can pursue larger prey such as whales and seals in deeper waters.
However, the expert emphasizes that sharks do not bite humans on purpose. There would be mayhem if they wanted to attack people, according to Quevedo. "People would be dying, bleeding to death, and losing limbs if sharks were here to attack people," he said.