Feb.07.20002

Teenager attacked in the dark by shark

January 04 2002 South Africa

Sixteen-year-old Adrian Sheik kicked and punched as a shark gnawed at his right leg in the early hours of Friday morning.

Sheik and a group of friends were fishing at 2am in the shallow water on the sand banks of the Royal Natal Yacht Club in Durban Harbour when he was attacked by what was believed to be a Zambezi shark.

Partially freeing himself, he then stabbed the shark with his fishing rod, before finally escaping and swimming towards the harbour's edge.

He was then rushed to Durban's Addington Hospital, where he is recuperating after his leg was amputated on Friday afternoon.

The horror attack is the second shark attack in KwaZulu-Natal waters in less than a week and the Natal Sharks Board has warned beachgoers to stay out of the water at night.

Recounting the incident, Sheik's best friend, Kevin Moonsamy - who was with him - said the actual attack was quick, but helping his friend swim back to land took about half an hour.

When they approached the shore, another fisherman, Jack Potgieter, came to the boys' assistance. "I heard screaming and turned to see what was happening," Potgieter said. He quickly put a towel around Sheik's leg and helped drag him to the shore. The paramedics were called soon afterward.

"We believe it to be quite a large shark," said Sharks Board biologist Sheldon Dudley.

This is the first reported shark attack inside the harbour since the Sharks Board started keeping records of attacks in the 1940s.

"This is the first attack inside Durban harbour, but we do know of such attacks in other parts of the world," added Dudley.

There are no shark nets inside the harbour. There have been rare sightings of sharks in the harbour, but none that close to the moored yachts and the fishermen.

Dudley said only after further investigation would they be certain what type of shark the attacker was, but early implications are that it was a Zambezi shark.

"The Zambezi shark is the only one that can live in both salt and fresh water and the harbour has both," said Dudley. This shark is also known to swim upriver and can get close to shore. Sheik was attacked in knee-deep water.

Speaking to The Independent on Saturday, Sheik's mother, Anita Sheik, said she was told of the incident about 4am on Friday.

"I thank God my son is alive. He loves fishing and fishes almost every day," she said.

But she said that on Thursday night he was hesitant about going fishing as he was feeling ill, and was persuaded to do so by his friend.

"Maybe it was a sign, a sort of premonition," she added. She said her son is turning 17 next Sunday. He was due to begin a new job on Monday.

"Both me and my husband are unemployed. My son told me before he left that he was going to support us financially when he started work," she added.

Earlier this week Zululand doctor Michael van Niekerk was bitten while surfskiing off Mtunzini on New Year's day.

Van Niekerk, 26, was about 1,5km out to sea and was watching the sun setting as he waited for his friend to catch up to him. As he sat on his surfski he dangled his legs over the side.

"I felt something bump my leg and heard a big splash. Then I felt something tugging on my foot," explained Van Niekerk. He managed to maintain his balance with his paddle and tugged his leg out of the water. When he pulled it out he saw the large gash and realised what had happened.Van Niekerk is luckier than Sheik - while his foot was badly mangled, all major nerves and tendons were intact, enabling doctors to save his leg.

In his case too, it is only once the bandages are removed that experts will be able to say what kind of shark attacked him.

"This is the second attack this week, but the public must remember that both attacks occurred between dusk and dawn - during the sharks' feeding time. Fishermen, paddlers and swimmers should not to go into the sea at night," cautioned Dudley

JAN.2.2002, Hawaii

Snorkeler survives encounter with shark

California musician Tommy Holmes is "ecstatic" to be alive after staring into the jaws of one of the ocean's most feared predators while snorkeling off Maui on New Year's Day.

Tommy Holmes was attacked by a shark while snorkeling off Maui on New Year's Day.

The 35-year-old Los Angeles resident, who was snorkeling with his girlfriend, escaped the encounter with six lacerations on his buttocks where the 6- to 7-foot tiger shark nipped him with its razor-sharp teeth before disappearing into the deep.

"He was very lucky, that's for sure," said Randy Honebrink of the state's Shark Task Force. "Usually tigers would be expected to do a little more damage than that."

Honebrink said an average of three to four shark "incidents" occur every year in Hawai'i.

The most recent shark attack occurred last March, when a suspected reef shark bit a bodyboarder's hand at Sandy Beach on O'ahu. In 2000, two nonfatal attacks reported off Maui were blamed on tiger sharks.

Holmes is the first to acknowledge his good fortune in suffering only minor injuries from Tuesday's attack.

"I couldn't feel luckier," he said yesterday from his hospital bed at Maui Memorial Medical Center.

A certified scuba diver, Holmes said he has made more than 100 dives off Southern California and Kaua'i and had never once even seen a shark.

Turtles in area

On Tuesday, the conditions were clear and the ocean calm when Holmes and girlfriend, Monica Boggs, 29, entered the water around 12:30 p.m. at a popular snorkeling spot off Olowalu near Lahaina. They swam out about 100 yards in water that was 40 feet deep.

"We saw a big group of 12 to 15 turtles. It was amazing," Holmes said. "We were just watching them for about 10 minutes when Monica spotted the shark about 25 feet away and grabbed my hand."

Boggs said the shark sped straight toward them with a clear purpose.

"It was swimming right at us at an alarming speed. It didn't look curious — it looked like it knew what it wanted. I thought we were going to die," she said.

Holmes said they popped their heads out of the water and started to back away from the approaching animal.

"I put my mask back in the water to see where he was and he was around four feet away. I saw his open mouth and teeth, and a very big head," he said.

Holmes curled into a ball to protect his limbs, and the shark latched onto his buttocks then quickly released. Before the shark swam off, Holmes managed to punch its snout as it lingered near the surface.

"I saw Tommy fighting a little bit and it scared me to death," Boggs said. "It all happened very fast."

"I'm very grateful we saw it coming. We were kind of able to prepare."

On the frantic swim back to shore, Boggs turned to get a look at Holmes' wounds and saw that his shorts were in tatters and there was blood in the water. It wasn't until they reached the beach that they realized he had escaped serious injury.

Holmes said he didn't feel any pain when the shark bit him, only a stinging sensation as he began to swim back to the beach.

"We were quite happy once we were on the shoreline," he said. "We were both ecstatic. I had all my limbs, and we knew it was in the butt and that we had gotten off easy. I'm a lucky guy."

'It was absolutely terrifying'

Holmes said he received more than 50 stitches to close the half-moon bite wounds. As a singer, songwriter and guitarist for a rock 'n' roll band in L.A., Holmes said he "loves telling stories" in between numbers and was hoping to get more publicity for his music — but this isn't quite the kind of story and publicity he would've preferred.

Although obviously joyful at surviving their shark encounter, both Holmes and Boggs remain shaken by the event.

"It was absolutely terrifying," Boggs said. "You don't feel that kind of feeling, ever. You can never know what it's like unless you go through it.

"I figure if I can take that, then I'm pretty set."

Like Holmes, Boggs enjoys water sports and ocean swimming. Both said the shark attack wouldn't keep them out of the water, although they might stay a little closer to shore.

"I'll be a little bit more aware of how far out I go," Holmes said. "It's not until you get out there that you realize you have to swim back in."

Boggs, a visual arts teacher and professional singer, finds some security in figuring the odds are with them. "How could that happen twice?" she said.

Snorkelers who ventured into the water at Olowalu yesterday also were counting on the rarity of shark attacks. Most, like Joe and Liza Eto of Oakland, Calif., were unaware of Tuesday's incident until they noticed the shark-sighting signs posted at the beach by the state Division of Aquatic Resources. The signs were removed at 11:15 a.m. yesterday after a county lifeguard used a personal watercraft to inspect the snorkeling area.

The Etos, who were snorkeling with their children, Ben, 12, and Georgia, 8, were unperturbed by the threat of an ocean predator.

"We came all this way and we rented all this dang equipment, and we're not going to go in now?" said Liza Eto as she squeezed anti-fog drops into her mask.

Dive instructor Jeff Tanonaka has been taking dive groups off Olowalu for years, and he said he has never had trouble with sharks there. He said he often sees black-tip sharks and other reef sharks, but they generally are not aggressive unless harassed.

Attack happened at midday

Honebrink said Holmes' description of the shark, in particular its large head, leads him to believe it was a tiger shark.

"This is not unusual as far as the types of thing that happen in Hawai'i with shark bites," he said. "Most of the time when people are bitten, it's usually a tiger shark."

In this case, "it doesn't surprise me that there are sharks in an area where there's a bunch of turtles."

While experts warn of a higher shark-attack risk if swimming in dark, murky waters or early or late in the day, Tuesday's incident happened at midday in clear, calm conditions.

"The guy wasn't doing anything wrong," Honebrink said. "What this incident does is remind people that sharks are out there and we have to be careful. It's part of going into the ocean. We're entering their environment, and they're the boss."

Two other shark attacks have been reported off Olowalu in the past 10 years, both occurring a bit north of the spot where Holmes was injured.

On Oct. 18, 2000, Henrietta Musselwhite, 56, of Geyserville, Calif., was bitten on her upper and lower back while snorkeling a half-mile offshore. On Nov. 26, 1991, swimmer Martha Joy Morrell, 41, of Maui, was mauled by a tiger shark. Her death triggered a state-sanctioned shark hunt and the formation of the Shark Task Force.

Honebrink said officials are not ready to declare Olowalu a shark zone, but "we're certainly paying attention to that right now, with three incidents in the past 10 years."

Great white snacks on rubber duckie

03oct 2001

A BRISBANE man endured a 30-minute nightmare after a great white shark attacked his inflatable boat and propelled him across waters just off Moreton Bay.

Matt George, 31, hung on to his damaged rubber duckie and dog paddled 200m to safety after the 4m predator smashed into the side of the vessel on Sunday afternoon.

The force of the shark's bite destroyed and sank one half of the boat just off Sovereign Beach at the southern end of Moreton Island, northeast of Brisbane.

"I've seen thresher sharks throw themselves out of the water and do full twists in the air," said Mr George, a sport fisherman from Chelmer in Brisbane's west.

"I've seen sharks herd up pilchards on to the shore and just cut them up . . . but nothing like what this thing did.

"The whole side of my boat exploded and the shark was pushing the boat back in towards the beach. It blew up and that just wrecked my day."

Mr George said many things went through his head, but he had no plan of attack.

"He finished having a bit of a chomp on the boat and kicked his tail up in the air and disappeared, then the boat started sinking and I didn't know what was going to happen next," he said.

"There was no way to know if it was going to come back."

Mr George said that at first he thought it was a tiger shark, but a ranger told him the bite marks were more likely to be from an elderly great white which may have travelled by habit into the area, which once housed a whaling station.

"Every now and then I'd stop and look around, then I'd give myself enough time to have a paddle and enough time for a shark to come in, then I'd have another look," Mr George said.

Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service officers said they spotted Mr George from the island and when he got close used rope to help drag him in.

But Mr George became wedged on a sandbank and had to carry his vessel out. He has deep tissue damage in his back and has been unable to work since the attack.

University of Queensland shark researcher Michael Bennett said little was known about the great white in the "northern extent" of their travels.

But Dr Bennett said there were recent reports of a lone individual prowling the Moreton Bay region.

"The motto is don't go out in your rubber duckie," Dr Bennett said. "I expect it might well have been a great white. There have been anecdotal reports recently of one in the bay."

Shark bites surfer along Volusia County coast

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- As Tropical Storm Gabrielle steams toward Bermuda, she leaves in her wake Volusia County's 21st shark bite victim this year.

Blaise Mosler, a 14-year-old surfer from Longwood, was bitten on the left ankle about 3 p.m. Tuesday near the 2800 block of North Atlantic Avenue, just a mile south of Ponce de Leon Inlet.

Beach officials said the murky waters and the high surf caused by the storm passing through over the weekend are the cause for Tuesday's incident.

"It's very typical of the bites we have been seeing in the inlet," said Joe Wooden, deputy chief of the Volusia County Beach Patrol.

Mosler, who was paddling out to the surf break when he was bitten, was treated at the scene for a 1- to 2-inch cut on his right foot, Wooden said. He was not transported to a local hospital and he told officials he would likely go to an emergency facility near his home.

"We are being cautious and are doing flyovers," Wooden said. "We want to see how murky the waters are, how much baitfish there are in the area and the number of sharks."

A 4 p.m. helicopter check by the county's Beach Services department and the Sheriff's Office did not spot any sharks, Wooden said. However, he said people should be aware of the potential for shark encounters because of the large number of bait fish along the shoreline and the inability of the shark to see its prey because of poor water clarity.

In mid-August, the Beach Patrol treated 10 people for shark bites in a 10-day period, creating a media frenzy and prompting the Beach Patrol to keep a stretch of surf just south of the inlet off limits to swimmers and surfers for more than a week.

So far this year, 31 shark bites have been recorded in Florida, 21 in Volusia County, according to George Burgess, director of the International Shark Attack File at the Florida Museum of Natural History in Gainesville. Worldwide, the shark file shows there have been 54 attacks this year, 43 in the United States.

Burgess said the good surf increased the number of surfers in the ocean and, with the water as murky as it is, it was an accident waiting to happen.

"It's a juicy situation for the surfers because of the turbulent waves caused by the storm. But, there is also the regular number of sharks out there," he said Tuesday. "We are seeing the results."

09/09/01 Florida

An angler who hooked a shark and hauled it into his boat was bitten on his legs and hand after they both fell into the water.

The man caught the shark near Florida's Everglades National Park.

He is said to be in a good condition in Miami's Jackson Memorial Hospital on Sunday with bite wounds and lacerations.

The 44-year-old man slipped and fell off the boat with the shark after spraying himself with insect repellent, say Miami-Dade Fire Rescue.

More than 40 shark attacks have been reported along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts in recent months, two of them fatal, according to the International Shark Attack File based at the University of Florida.

The file counts only unprovoked attacks, such as those to swimmers and surfers.

It does not consider bites suffered by fishermen as shark attacks because they involve direct handling of the shark.

AVON, North Carolina (AP) -- A shark attacked a married couple wading in the surf Monday, killing the man and leaving his wife in critical condition.

Officials have identified the victim who died as Sergi Zaloukaev from Arlington. He lost his right foot above the ankle, and medical officials are performing an autopsy at Pitt County Memorial Hospital in Greenville.

His friend Natalia Slobonskaya, from Vienna, Va., underwent surgery last night at a Norfolk hospital. She lost her left foot, and rescuers didn't recover it. Her mother has joined her at the hospital.

Authorities on U.S. Coast Guard flights made two aerial searches today of the area along the Cape Hatteras National Seashore. Spotters on one flight did see sharks, but the nearest ones to the scene of the attack were about 10 miles away, said Mary Doll of the National Park Service.

Monday's shark attack was the second fatal shark attack in the region over the holiday, coming about 99 miles south of where a 10-year-old boy was fatally attacked Saturday off Sandbridge.

The two fatalities are the only ones reported among 51 shark attacks this year in U.S. waters. There were 53 attacks in the United States last year.

The last reported fatal shark attack in North Carolina waters came in 1957, according to the International Shark Attack File in Gainesville, Fla.

Beaches were open today but officials advised swimmers to be cautious, especially near dusk and dawn when sharks look for food near the shore.

``I don't know if I would use the word 'afraid,''' said David Griffin, director of North Carolina Aquarium on Roanoke Island. '``Respect' is better.''

Slobonskaya was alert and stable but remained in critical condition today, said Sandra Miller, spokeswoman for Sentara Norfolk General Hospital. She was on a ventilator to assist her breathing, said Dr. Jeffrey Riblet, a trauma surgeon at the hospital.

The woman was flown to the trauma center at Sentara Norfolk on Monday by a Dare County helicopter ambulance.

The couple suffered ``multiple dramatic injuries'' to their legs and buttocks, said Dr. Seaborn Blair of the Avon Medical Center.

The man was pronounced dead in Avon shortly after the attack.

Just after 10 p.m., Norfolk General officials said the woman was in critical but stable condition after surgery and was in the intensive care unit. She also had severe injuries to her torso.

``I think, barring any unforeseen complications such as infection, we'll be able to get her on the road to recovery,'' Riblet said late Monday.

``I believe she'll do well in terms of her outcome,'' said Dr. Jon D. Mason, an emergency physician.

``She lost a fair amount of blood,'' Mason said. ``IVs were established quickly so that she never lost consciousness totally. They did a good job in Carolina.

``She has several wounds. . . . blood loss is a concern,'' he said, without elaborating, but ``things are looking good for her.''

Dorothy Toolan, a Dare County spokeswoman, said both victims are Russian citizens. Doll, of the National Park Service, said the couple were boyfriend and girlfriend and were interns in the Washington area.

An employee of the Embassy of the Russian Federation said officials there were unaware of the incident Monday night, but he said officers were being informed.

The pair were swimming about 20 to 40 feet off shore near a sandbar when they were attacked about 6 p.m., just off the beach at Greenwood Place in the Askins Creek area of Avon.

Gary Harkin, 33, of Columbus, Ohio, was with his friend Paul Richards and Richards' wife, Carolyn, under a tent on the beach. He said friends of the couple helped them ashore.

``He was still talking when he came out of the water,'' Harkin said. Harkin said he tried to put a tourniquet on the man's leg with his long-sleeve T-shirt. Meanwhile, Carolyn Richards administered CPR.

``I did have a pulse on him twice, but I lost him,'' she said.

Harkin said it appeared that the man had lost a leg and a finger. The woman, he said, lost her left foot and had been bitten on her left hip and left wrist. Both also had injuries in the groin area, he said.

Doll said that when the first official, a Dare County sheriff's deputy, arrived, the man was in full cardiac arrest.

Daniel Roughton, 21, of Avon was surfing near the couple with three other people. He said he next saw the couple on the beach, with someone administering CPR.

``A guy came running down the beach telling everybody to get out of the water,'' Roughton said.

Dare County officials were moving quickly Monday night to determine the extent of the danger posed by sharks in Outer Banks waters. The Dare County Control Group -- a gathering of emergency officials and key department heads normally brought together for hurricanes -- was meeting late Monday.

Sandy Sanderson, director of emergency operations for the county, said aircraft would survey the coastal area today to look for sharks. It was unclear whether beaches would be open today along the Outer Banks.

Relatives of the boy fatally attacked Saturday in Virginia Beach were critical of the decision to keep beaches open after being told of the new attack Monday.

``It's endangering people,'' said David Winter, 33, whose nephew, 10-year-old David Peltier, became the first person in the country to die from a shark attack this year.

He called Virginia Beach's choice to reopen its beaches to the public one day after the attack ``irresponsible.''

``I guess people go to beaches for the beach and don't think about what's in the water,'' said David's grandfather, Harry Winter.

On Saturday, a shark in Virginia Beach fatally attacked 10-year-old David Peltier, ripping a 17-inch gash in his left leg and releasing him only after the boy's father hit the shark on the head. The father, Richard Peltier, carried David ashore, but the boy died hours later after losing large amounts of blood from a severed artery.

Sanderson, the Dare County spokesman, said it was too early to speculate on the type of shark responsible for Monday's attack. That would have to wait until the survivor could be interviewed and the injuries more closely examined.

The waters off North Carolina are home to all kinds of sharks, said Jack Musick, professor of marine science at The Virginia Institute of Marine Science and head of the Shark Research Program.

``At Avon you're essentially talking about the same situation here in Virginia Beach, ecologically,'' Musick said. ``There are more blacktips down there than there are up here for sure.''

The water off Cape Hatteras is bull shark territory, he said.

``They're the ones that are the problem,'' Musick said. ``They like to eat large animals like sea turtles.''

A shark aggressive enough and powerful enough to attack two people, killing one, would have to be one of the bigger sharks, such as a bull shark, said George Burgess of the International Shark Attack File.

``It's a large shark,'' he said. ``And more commonly found right along the beach with a reputation for attacking humans.''

Bull sharks have been implicated in a number of severe attacks, including a July attack on an 8-year-old boy in Pensacola, Fla., and a fatal attack on a man in St. Petersburg, Fla., last summer, he said.

These are the first reported attacks in North Carolina this year.

Carolyn McCormick, managing director of the Outer Banks Visitors Bureau, said that a common denominator with Monday's attack and the one in Virginia Beach on Saturday was that they both occurred around 6 p.m.

``We need to ask people to act with caution, especially at those times,'' she said, adding: ``Our condolences go out to everyone who's related to these two people. It's heartbreaking.''

There had been no reports of anyone seeing any sharks in the area before the attacks, officials said, but there have been sightings in recent days.

Maylon White of the Virginia Marine Science Museum said the ferocity of the attack ``could suggest that it was a tiger shark. . . . There is no way to know for sure. All you can do is rule out other suspects.''

What he was certain of is that the proximity and timing of the two fatal attacks is stunning.

``I think it would surprise anybody,'' he said late Monday. ``Last year there was only one fatality in the U.S. and here we have had two occur.''

He said it was difficult to know if the events are merely a tragic coincidence or evidence of something more ominous.

``If we go for the rest of the year without anything, people will look back and say it was coincidental,'' he said. ``But if something else happens in the next few weeks, that will change the thinking.''

He said officials face tough choices in answering the question of whether beaches should remain open.

There have been only 19 recorded attacks -- including the two Monday -- in North Carolina waters since 1670. But five nonfatal attacks were reported last year, giving the state the second-highest number of incidents; Florida posted 34.

Last year, a 12-year-old girl was attacked near Corolla on the Outer Banks. She required 300 stitches, but survived.

Monday's attack came just as the local and national news media were attempting to add a layer of perspective to 48 hours of heavy coverage of Friday's fatal attack in Virginia Beach.

CNN, for instance, had labeled this the ``Year of the Shark.'' But by Sunday evening, the fact that the number of reported attacks this year is no greater than the levels of recent years was getting greater attention. Then, in the midst of a special half-hour report on shark attacks, came news of the latest fatality on the Outer Banks.

Many coastal residents, tourism officials and beachgoers had sought to be calm about the situation, most recognizing the Virginia Beach death as highly unusual.

How the new attack just down the coastline would affect people's attitudes and tourism was unclear.

``I think this is going to really shake things,'' said Gary Barnette, 61, a retired law enforcement officer who has lived just south of Avon on Ocracoke Island for 18 years. ``This is something you really don't want to see. It's scary.''

Boy dies after shark attack- VIRGINIA BEACH, VA

SEP.2.2001

David Peltier, of Richmond, was pronounced dead at Children's Hospital of The King's Daughters at 3:45 a.m. ET Sunday.

As a result of the attack, the main artery in his left thigh was severed, resulting in significant blood loss, according to a spokesman for Children's Hospital of The King's Daughters.

David was visiting his father, Richard Peltier, a resident of Virginia Beach, when the attack happened Saturday evening around 6 p.m. ET. The father and son were in about 4 feet of water on a sandbar approximately 50 yards offshore.

Witnesses of the attack say the father could be seen hitting the shark over the head to try to get it to release his son.

David was initially treated at Sentara Virginia Beach General Hospital, and was then transferred to the trauma unit at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital and then taken to Children's Hospital of The King's Daughters where he died.

David's family released a statement through the hospital saying they "appreciate the expressions of concern, sympathy and support they have received from the community and asks that prayers on their behalf continue."

"I speak for the entire city of Virginia Beach when I say how terribly saddened I am by this horrible accident," Mayor Meyera E. Oberndorf said.

Shark attacks are exceptionally in Virginia Beach, according to Maylon White, curator of the Virginia Marine Science Museum. Officials believe Saturday's shark attack was the first in the Virginia Beach area in some 30 years.

In Florida, there have been 28 shark attacks this year. One of the Florida attacks severed the arm of 8-year-old Jessie Arbogast and left him in a light coma.

White noted that sharks in Virginia Beach waters are typically small varieties, such as sandbar, sand tiger and hammerhead. Rarely found are larger types such as tiger and bull sharks, he said. It's not known what type of shark attacked David Peltier.

In order to prevent further attacks in Virginia Beach waters this weekend, Mayor Oberndorf has asked city public safety officials to take all possible precautions to safeguard swimmers from shark attacks.

EMS will have boats patrolling all ocean waters and vehicles checking the oceanfront from the beaches.

All lifeguards will be briefed on searching for signs of sharks prior to beginning their watches. At any sign of shark, lifeguards will require swimmers to leave the water.

EMS officials urge swimmers to be alert and use caution in swimming in the ocean, especially in non-guarded areas.

Aug. 27. 2001

Shark bites swimmer off New Smyrna Beach;
Surfers ignore warnings to hang ten

NEW SMYRNA BEACH – A shark nipped a swimmer off New Smyrna Beach this afternoon, the 10th person in eight days to suffer a shark bite in Volusia County and the 20th this year.

William Goettel , 69, was swimming near the 27th Ave. beach ramp at about 4:30 p.m. when he felt something grab his left heel, according to Capt. Dave Williams of the Volusia County Beach Patrol. Goettel told Beach Patrol officers he did not see the creature that bit his heel and then let go because the water was murky, Williams said.

Flyovers of the beach earlier in the day showed no sharks in the area of the 27th Avenue approach.

Goettel left the scene in his own vehicle after being treated by Beach Patrol officers and said he would go to the hospital if he believed stitches were necessary, Williams said.

Further north, surfers unconcerned about the possibility of shark bites ventured into waters closed since last week by the Beach Patrol, despite warnings that they surfers would not be rescued if they got into trouble.

A one-mile stretch of beach south of Ponce Inlet will officially remain closed, at least until Tuesday, because of concerns about large numbers of sharks patrolling the shoreline. The Beach patrol surveyed the waters throughout the day today and concluded the waters were not safe for swimming or surfing.

But surfers lured by good surf conditions defied the county's order today and went into the water anyway. Although the Beach Patrol warned last week that it might arrest anyone who tried to go into the water, it took a hands-off approach today. The surfers were just warned that lifeguards would not put their own safety at risk to rescue anyone in the no-surf, no-swim zone.

The one-mile stretch of beach between the inlet and the Beachway Avenue beach approach has been closed to water activity since Thursday after nine people were bitten along the New Smyrna Beach coastline in the past week.

The most recent bite occurred Saturday in front of the Flagler Avenue Beach approach, south of the closed area.

However, seven of the nine bites, have taken place in the restricted area. All the victims were either surfing or riding boogey boards when they were bitten.

Saturday’s bite was the 19th of the year, which broke the previous bite record of 18 in 1996.

The 9th  shark attack reported near Ponce de Leon Inlet, volusia county Florida.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Despite precautions taken by the Volusia County Beach Patrol in closing a wide area of the beach south of Ponce de Leon Inlet Saturday, a 19th shark-bite incident sent one surfer to the hospital.

Ben Gibbs, 18, of Casselberry, was bitten in the right foot and the upper thigh around 4 p.m. as rode a boogie board in front of the lifeguard station near the Flagler Avenue beach ramp, said Capt. Dave Williams of the Volusia County Beach Patrol. Gibbs was treated at the scene but decided to go to the hospital near his home, Williams said.

Gibbs was south of the mile stretch of surf closed to swimmers and surfers all weekend because of a rash of shark bites this past week.

Just minutes before the incident, Williams flew overhead in the county's Air One helicopter in search of the dangerous predators, which have been swarming the area for more than a week. Williams said he also scanned the waters around 10 a.m. from the air and saw just one shark.

The attack brings the count to 19 shark bites this year along county beaches, nine in the last week.

Wednesday, August 22, 2001

Another shark bite pushes year's tally to record-tying 18 attacks

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- A small shark sunk its teeth into a 17-year-old surfer's foot Wednesday afternoon, marking the eighth reported bite in five days, Beach Patrol officers said.

The bite Wednesday south of Ponce de Leon Inlet marks the 18th one this year, matching a 1996 record for shark bites along Volusia County beaches in a single year. Most of the bites have been relatively minor; none has been fatal.

Because of the string of "hit and run" bites recently, Beach Patrol officers banned water activities in the surf for a half-mile stretch south of the south jetty late Wednesday afternoon and for today.

Leery from a string of bites beginning Saturday and running through the beginning of the week, Beach Patrol officers asked a sheriff's helicopter to fly over the inlet Wednesday afternoon to check for shark activity, said Beach Patrol Deputy Chief Joe Wooden.

"After seeing sharks in the inlet, we went up and down the beach making public announcements warning surfers and letting them know they were in the water at their own risk," Wooden said.

Several surfers didn't heed the warning, and less than an hour later, at 4:20 p.m., a small shark bit Lowell Lutz of Edgewater in the left foot.

Beach Patrol officers treated the small bite and released Lutz at the scene.

After lifeguards closed the half-mile small stretch of surf for water activities, most surfers either packed up for the day or moved farther south.

Keith Mitchell, 17, of Edgewater, was surfing near the Flagler Avenue beach approach and said he didn't like having the best stretch of surf closed. "But with so many sharks in the water it is pretty smart," he said.

Mitchell's twin brother, Kevin, said he has seen numerous sharks in the past while surfing and never had a problem, but agreed halting water-related activities near the inlet was probably a good idea.

Wooden said most shark bites in the county happen in the late spring or early summer. The recent string of attacks is unusually late in the season, he said.

Most bites are blamed on young or disoriented blacktip and spinner sharks that mistake people for baitfish.

"There are a lot of factors in play causing these bites," Wooden said. "We have had some unusually high surf and some cloudy water around the jetty. Both contribute to disorienting sharks."

Wooden said breakers were averaging 2 feet high on most county beaches, but just south of the inlet waves were nearing 4 feet Wednesday afternoon.

In the past five days, eight shark attacks have been reported along county beaches. In April, a similar cluster of bites happened when seven shark attacks were reported in a span of three days. Twelve bites were reported during all of last year.

Wooden said he was surprised so many surfers continue to brave the ocean despite the string of bites.

"The thing is, the surfing community knows the sharks are out there. They know they are biting. But they go into the water anyway," he said.

Shamon Burton, 22, of New Smyrna Beach, a clerk at the Quiet Flight Surf Shop on Flagler Avenue, said the closure was probably a good idea right now, but he might see things differently if the waves at the inlet were particularly nice.

"With as many bites as there have been lately, it is not worth chancing it," he said. "But if it were really, really good, that would be a whole different story."

08/21/01

Seventh surfer in four days bit by shark off Volusia beaches

NEW SMYRNA BEACH Florida  — A surfer was bitten by a shark off the Volusia County coast today, the seventh attack along the county’s stretch of beaches in four days.

Omar Oyarce, 27, was bitten in the right thigh when he re-entered the water after the beach had been cleared for a short time because of lightning. Oyarce was taken to a hospital but his injuries weren’t serious and he was released.

“I was just getting in,” Oyarce told Orlando television station WKMG. “I don’t think I’m going to come back here again.”

He’s not the only shark attack victim who will avoid New Smyrna Beach in the near future.

Seventeen-year-old Becky Chapman used to love surfing near the Ponce de Leon Inlet off New Smyrna Beach, with its 3-foot waves and warm waters.

But it’s going to be a long time before she returns to the place where a shark badly bit her leg last weekend, she said.

“I’d always gone to the Inlet because that’s where the surfing is the best,” Chapman said today. “I had seen sharks ... but never had they ever bothered me before.

“After this, I’ll go surf somewhere else,” she added.

Chapman was one of seven swimmers attacked in the waters off New Smyrna Beach during the past four days. Over Easter weekend, seven people were bitten.

That raises to 16 the total of attacks along more than 50 miles of Volusia County’s beaches this year, said George Burgess, director of the International Shark Attack File in Gainesville.

The Volusia County Beach Patrol said today that it has recorded one more than Burgess — 17. The record for the county’s beaches is 18 set in 1996.

Forty-one shark attacks have occurred worldwide since January. Thirty of them have been in the United States, 23 in Florida.

Chapman said she was attacked while sitting on her surf board in waist-deep water. The bite severed her Achilles tendon, nicked an artery and tore muscles in her left calf.

“When I was on the beach, they wouldn’t let me look at my leg, but I reached down and felt it when I was still in the water,” Chapman said.

“That’s what made me start panicking, when I felt how serious it was. It’s kind of gruesome ... when I put my hand down, I could feel the artery pumping.”

Chapman was in good condition today, but said she didn’t expect to be released from Bert Fish Medical Center for another two days.

Dr. Arlen Stauffer, medical director of the hospital’s emergency department, said the attack Chapman suffered was typical of those treated at his hospital, though her wounds were more severe.

“We’ve had 45 shark bites that we’ve treated in our ER (in the past five years); 28 of them were surfers,” Stauffer said. “But only about five of those bite victims had to be taken to the operating room.”

Many surfers were asking a higher power for safety before getting in the water. One young man, board in arm, twice made the sign of the Cross before diving into the surf.

Another surfer, 23-year-old Christie Bew, said: “I see them (the sharks) out there, so I say my prayers and hope that I’m taken care of.”

“When you step into the water, you step into the food chain,” said one local, 52-year-old Woody Hart, who brought his camcorder to the beach today.

Meanwhile, state Rep. Charlie Justice, D-St. Petersburg, said today that he would was looking into filing legislation that would regulate or potentially ban shark feeding off the Florida coast.

“There is a growing concern that with these shark feedings, sharks will eventually associate humans with food,” Justice said.