Summer in New York City these days means fun in the sun and getting some blood in the water.
There have been 13 reported shark bites on Long Island in the past two years alone, and experts say this alarming trend is likely to continue, even though New Yorkers have a one in four million chance of being bitten by a marine predator.
“It’s the new normal that people are now familiar with, that shark interactions occur on our beaches, especially here on Long Island,” Frank Quevedo, an environmental scientist and executive director of the South Fork Natural History Museum, told The Washington Post.
No shark encounters have been reported so far this summer, but Quevedo warned, “encounters will happen.”
Here’s what you need to know before diving into a shark’s den.
Increased biting
Last July, five swimmers were stung within a week off the South Shore coast, an alarming rate that broke the previous year’s record of eight.
The bloody incident marks a significant increase in the number of shark encounters in New York waters, compared to just 24 total since 1937, according to data from the International Shark Attack File.
Nearly a quarter of these incidents occurred in the past 15 years.
But in each case, the alleged victims have only suffered severe injuries, including a 65-year-old grandmother who lost 20 pounds of flesh in a bite at Rockaway Beach last summer, which experts say should be evidence that the apex predator wasn’t trying to make a meal of the people it bit.
That’s why experts like Quevedo, who runs SOFO’s shark education program, have purposefully refrained from calling the dozens of shark bite incidents that occurred on Long Island in 2022 and 2023 “attacks,” calling them “encounters” instead.
The term “attack” is used only in cases where an apex predator targets humans as a food source, which is extremely rare but does occur.
What is causing the increase in encounters?
While there are a number of factors that have contributed to the increase in shark-related incidents over the past few years, Quevedo said the biggest factor is a booming population of Atlantic herring. Herring, better known as bunker fish, is a favorite food of sharks, whales, dolphins and other marine predators.
Bunker fish have been thriving since the New York State Legislature banned the use of drawstring nets to catch the fish in 2019, a step the state took to help restore the species after overfishing nearly wiped out the fish’s population in 2011.
Sharks chase fish into shallow waters to catch prey, which are notorious for swimming in huge schools known as “bait balls” that pose a high risk to humans if they accidentally encounter them.
Hans Walters, curator of animals at the Wildlife Conservation Society’s New York Aquarium, said most of the shark attacks on Long Island happened to swim into the “crossfire” of a fierce feeding contest between humans and bunker fish.
“I’ve seen these animals feeding, and I think they’re open-minded, and they know what they want. They swim toward the school of menhaden with their mouths open, and they shake their heads back and forth. Someone swims past, gets tagged, the shark misses the bait, they lose a few teeth, and that person ends up in the hospital. So nobody wins, everyone loses. And it’s a tragedy,” says Walters, who works closely with the aquarium’s “Marines: Sharks!” exhibit.
“Every time you go in the water you’re not waiting for something to hit you.”
A common misconception, he continued, is that sharks mistake human limbs for fish.
Rising temperatures are also bringing sharks closer to shore, which may explain why shark attacks increased sharply during last year’s urban heatwave.
Rising temperatures also mean more people will be using the ocean’s waters, which will increase the chances of encountering the larger fish already swimming through the waves.
“Anyone who’s been in the ocean has swam with sharks, and they may not know it, but they have,” Walters said.
“He’s there. He lives there.”
Shark species
The types of sharks that frequent New York waters are non-aggressive species that typically only prey on small fish, such as the Atlantic menhaden, which can grow to about 15 inches in length.
Although the great white, hammerhead and thresher sharks are better known, the smooth shark is the most commonly seen shark in the New York/New Jersey Bight Apex (the area from Fire Island to Manasquan Inlet in New Jersey). This alone should calm any worried swimmer’s fears, as the five-foot-long fish’s teeth are too blunt to break through skin.
The Great South Bay is also home to a nursery for baby sand sharks and baby grey nurseries, but bites from the babies do not cause serious harm and may not be recognized as shark bites.
By the time summer hits New York, big, aggressive sharks are stalking seals in the cold waters, meaning Cape Cod vacationers have a lot more to worry about than those frolicking in the Rockaways.
How to avoid becoming a shark’s prey
It seems easier said than done, but shark experts claim the best way to avoid becoming the victim of a shark attack is to be aware of your surroundings.
Because most encounters with sharks are collateral damage caused by overfishing, Quevedo and Walters recommend getting out of the water as soon as you notice a sudden increase in marine life or dark shadows moving on the ocean floor.
“If you’re sitting on the beach and looking out you can see the ocean is rough. I’m not just talking about a little choppy wind or ripples on the shore. You’re seeing fish floating on the surface,” Walters says.
These fish, he continued, are targeted from the ocean floor by whales, dolphins and sharks, often by waterfowl that dive to the bottom to catch the cornered fish.
Lifeguards across the South Shore have recently been using drone technology to track shark movements, an added benefit for swimmers seeking added protection.
Most importantly, shark experts are encouraging beachgoers to appreciate the beauty of the ocean and how sharks are a major factor — and that means avoiding the sensationalism that “Shark Week” brings.
“That’s why people are freaking out,” Walters said. “That’s the No. 1 problem.”
