But, for the most part, humans aren't the first choice for shark fare, he said. Long Island is a good area for shark breeding because geographically it extends out into the Atlantic and the Gulf Stream from the South and leads to a very fertile area, rich with nutrients, Yaiullo said. Also be on the lookout for signs of bait fishes or feeding activity. Ubatuba said the goal is to connect people from New York to the ocean, to make them aware of what's going on in Montauk, Southampton and across Long Island, "to bring more data so we can really understand what is going on in the waters of New York. •   Exercise caution when occupying the area between sandbars or near steep drop-offs, as these are favorite hangouts for sharks. Cabot, a Canadian white shark, holds a special place in OCEARCH hearts, Fischer said, as he was one of the first sharks tagged by the organization off of Novia Scotia. "It's something to be aware of. White sharks appear to have a nursery area near the Hamptons. "It was highly unusual, a sight I never believed I would see on the Long Island Sound," Skinner said, adding that he released the shark immediately and sent it swimming off quickly. But the news isn't reason to panic: Experts agree that swimmers have a greater danger of being killed by a faulty toaster oven — or driving on the Long Island Expressway, for that matter — than being devoured by a shark. Today's tournaments are tag-and-release events, he said. Sharks, experts agree, are far less of a danger to people than mankind is to sharks. "We're large, obnoxious, bony creatures in the water. According Fischer, founder of Ocearch, which has led expeditions off Montauk to tag sharks found in a nursery in the Atlantic Ocean in recent years, it's "unusual for a blue shark to be inshore like that." "People shouldn't think that more sharks in the water mean they're going to be attacked. Fish do swim in the bay," they said. Remember, a predator is never too far from its prey. "It takes a long time," she said. Most shark attack victims survive; bites on humans by sharks are normally exploratory. •   Refrain from excess splashing, and do not allow pets in the water because of their erratic movements. Sharks have been making an appearance in East End waters in recent years and as recently as this summer. Caution is key, Yaiullo said. The fact that a great white was found in the Long Island Sound for the first time "is a great sign," Fischer said. The most recent shark attack to happen in Long Island was 53 years ago. These four species include the sand tiger shark, brown sharks, smooth dogfish sharks, and spiny dogfish sharks. He said fishermen who venture out into the New York Bight or Long Island Sound are more likely to encounter these species of shark. Prior to that scare, you have to go back to Aug. 26, 1933, when one Helen Clarke had a bite taken out of her foot in the Mystic River. ", It's important to replace "fear with facts," Ubatuba said. Shark Sightings at Long Island Beaches Force Swimmers Out of Water For Second Day in A Row. One reason for the increase in sharks could be the explosion of the gray seal population after the passage of the Marine Mammal Protection Act and removal of bounty on seals in the 1970s, he said. (Note that I refer to this attack as "the most-recent," not "the last." The populations of many species have been reduced dramatically by overfishing, finning, pollution and habitat loss. "We're not on the menu"Joe Yaiullo, curator and co-founder of the Long Island Aquarium and Exhibition Center, said there are precautions swimmers can take, such as not going into the water at dawn or dusk when bait fish, such as bunker, are being fed upon. Tom Mikoleski of Grand Slam Charters in Montauk said shark sightings are not at all out of the norm on the East End. As we've blogged about before, we humans are a much greater threat to the survival of sharks. The group said it was the first time they had detected a large great white shark in Long Island Sound. According to John Skinner, the shark was caught near Horton Point in Southold two nights ago. As apex predators of the ocean, sharks are critical to maintaining healthy ocean systems. Since 1837, only 10 shark attacks have … "It should also be pointed out, that these are prohibited species and even targeting them is against the law," he said. The last known shark attack … This post was contributed by a community member. Sharks are a sign of a healthy ecosystem with plentiful fish, clean water and less pollution, an indicator that the United States is doing a good job of managing its fisheries, he said. "The current problem we face in shark conservation is that we do not have the necessary data to understand the migratory patterns of our ocean's apex predators, mating and birth sites — the locations we need to protect," a Kickstarter site for Ocearch said. SOUTHOLD, NY — A North Fork fisherman got the shock of his life recently when he reeled in a large shark. "We're seeing a lot of sharks here right now," he said. Last August, a shark spotted in the Shinnecock Bay near the commercial fishing dock at Shinnecock Inlet in Hampton Bays caused a sensation on social media. The gray seals are a major source of food for great white sharks, he said. Shark attacks on humans are extremely rare — the odds are about one in 12 million. Paparo said a sandbar, or brown, shark was also spotted in shallow waters off the Mattituck coast this summer. Still, it is the summer bathing season so here are several tips from the International Shark Attack File for reducing your risk of a shark encounter: •   Avoid being in the water from sunset to sunrise, when sharks are most active and have a sensory advantage.
. "It means there's a lot of life, and that the water quality is good.". "We're not on the menu. James D. Watt The Long Island Sound is a relatively safe place to swim, but there are some sharks around that you should look out for. Bitten by a speared shark. Sharks, Fischer has long maintained, are "great balance keepers." OYSTER BAY, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) — The recent increase in shark sightings has prompted heavier monitoring up and down Long Island beaches. In addition, food resources and fish bring the sharks "to a safe region to drop their pups," she added. The breeding sites "are being discovered for the first time," Ubatuba said. COMMENTARY: There's not enough cash in the federal treasury to get over the gut feeling that this former Chicago mayor is bad for America. The last recorded shark attack in Long Island Sound was in 1961, Mr. Sigworth said, and humans likely posed more of a threat to a shark than it did … While you may be alarmed to learn that there are any sharks in Long Island Sound, it seems you can take comfort that your chances for being sampled by a shark are pretty low. "You have more risk of dying by a defective toaster or driving a car than a shark attack, but it's perception," OCEARCH Chief Operating Officer Fernanda Ubatuba said. "  Again, the species of shark wasn't identified. "Not eating shark fin soup, or engaging in all these bad practices. A nearly 10-foot, 500-pound great white shark spotted in the Long Island Sound in … Monday's Shark-Attack Anniversary in Long Island Sound. The Maine Marine Patrol said the woman was swimming off the shore of Bailey Island on Monday when a shark … A 21-year-old college student captured a massive, near 400-pound shark off the coast of a Long Island beach earlier this month. In fact, the opposite is often true. These four species include the sand tiger shark, brown sharks, smooth dogfish sharks, and spiny dogfish sharks. Also this summer, a shark was sighted in a Hamptons creek in July, officials said. Researchers are diligently working to determine if Cabot will head north to Nova Scotia or stop by Massachusetts — the goal is to see if there are two separate populations of sharks or one large one, using both coasts, Fischer said. The last recorded shark attack in the Long Island Sound occurred in 1961. There has been a surge of great white sightings off Cape Cod in recent years — researchers say adults feed on seals around the Cape and return to Montauk, where adolescents stay until they reach adulthood at the age of 20. "There's just a lot of bait in the water — and sharks like to eat," Mikoleski said. And if they are doing well, we are doing well.". •   Despite what you may have heard, porpoise sightings do not indicate the absence of sharks. We humans kill a hundred million sharks every year, for shark teeth and jaws. If we were, sharks would just be lining up off of Jones Beach, Robert Moses and the Hamptons, just waiting for us to go in. Most sharks merely are curious and will leave on their own. So what types of sharks live in Long Island Sound? "If it's a big shark, you might lose a limb but again, sharks eat fish, and seals, that don't have big bones," he said. Author and charter boat Capt. Skinner, Paparo said, was not shark fishing and released the shark quickly. Fischer said the discovery could lead to restrictions on human activity around the nursery in an effort to protect the sharks. "They are harmless small fish eaters.". Mary Lee, the famous 16-foot, 3,400-pound great white shark, made headlines when she was found to be lurking off the Long Island coast, headed toward Fire Island, and then East Hampton. She 'Let Her Guard' Down: Virus Batters New Jersey Nurse, Family, www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/sharks/ISAF/ISAF.htm, Joe Biden Could Lose Black America By Hiring This Guy, Ask Me About: IRS Tax Problems - Notice of Intent to Levy, Perfect Day to Shop Amy Kahn Russell Pop Up Store, “LEAVING GOD: Why I Left God and Why So Many Other Are Too”, Unitarian-Universalist Virtual Service: "The Way of Stillness", Amy Kahn Russell Pop Up Store with Gifts under $40, At Home Craft & Gift Show - Virtual Vendor Village, Through the Cooking Class: A Culinary Tour Led by Celebrity Chefs, Virtual Open House for Girls in Grades 6-12, PG, Special Education & Independent Educational Evaluation Webinar. By. Instead, sharks are victims: Sharks are at great risk worldwide due to an industry in Asia and other areas that rely heavily on shark skinning. The sharks, he said, are typically found offshore, as they are pelagic fish. "With them being the apex of the food chain, if they're here, it's a good thing for humans," Yaiullo explained. According to a 2011 UCONN publication Sharks in Long Island Sound by Dave Sigworth, there are four species that call Long Island Sound home. Shark sightings are actually a good thing, he said. The blue shark in Hampton Bays, some say, might have followed a fisherman cleaning his catch into the inlet. With sharks moving from North Carolina and Florida during the next days and weeks, East End residents will be getting "fly bys" as sharks pass through area waters, Fischer said. "It's a natural environment. The fact that they have been proliferating in recent years, with a great white shark nursery found off the coast of Montauk, indicates that water quality is improving. But they're not," Yaiuloo said. According to a 2011 UCONN publication Sharks in Long Island Sound by Dave Sigworth, there are four species that call Long Island Sound home. The views expressed in this post are the author's own. … It was slightly unnerving to be wading out in the dark water with it.". Register for a user account. The fact that a great white was found in the Long Island Sound for the first time "is a great sign," Fischer said. Bottini, a naturalist, is also the head lifeguard at East Hampton's Main Beach; he started lifeguarding in the 1970s at Jones Beach and said shark sightings were relatively non-existent. We'll call that a provoked attack. Runoff is a fertilizer, promoting growth of algae, which small shrimp eat, and so on, up the food chain. Coming over to the Connecticut side of the Sound, the most-recent attack seems to have been on Aug. 24, 1960, off of Eames Monument in Bridgeport when a fellow named Clyde Trudeau suffered a "superficial laceration of his left arm" while he was "free diving. "The last shark attack in Long Island Sound was in 1961 and that was a guy that was spear fishing off the north shore of Long Island, so you're okay … The views expressed here are the author's own. "I'm especially happy to have the video I recorded. Types of Sharks in Long Island Sound . A nearly 10-foot-long Great White Shark was tracked in the Long Island sound for the first time ever, research group OCEARCH said Monday. A Great White named Cabot was spotted in the Long Island Sound in May 2019. We're doing much more damage to them than they are to us. Want to post on Patch? The shark, which many say was either a blue shark or a mako shark, was seen near the commercial fishing pier, setting off a sea of comments about the unexpected occurrence. Gone are the days of old Montauk tournaments, when sharks were caught, hung from the dock and weighed, then thrown into dumpsters, said Yaiullo. She 'Let Her Guard' Down: Virus Batters New Jersey Nurse, Family, Joe Biden Could Lose Black America By Hiring This Guy, great white shark nursery found off the coast of Montauk, which has led expeditions off Montauk to tag sharks found in a nursery, discovered the first North Atlantic nursery, has not been seen since 2017, when she last pinged, At Home Craft & Gift Show - Virtual Vendor Village, La Grande Bande: Highlights from a Season At Home (Sun, 3:00 PM), BLOOD DRIVE at the Greenport American Legion, Front office person, book keeper assistant, personal assistant, Holiday Gift Box Promotes Entrepreneurs with Down Syndrome, Connections Bring Together Whitmore, Bruderman, Allyance, Elf on the Shelf Tiny Sweaters & Miniature Face Masks, Animal Communication. ... referring to the attack that killed a New York City woman. "We're hoping to gather data and solve the final piece of that puzzle soon," he said. (Diving seabirds are good indicators of such action.) So for Connecticut, that's two attacks in 80 years. The most profound conversation you can have, Home with someone with memory issues? Deaths from shark attacks are not caused by people being consumed by sharks, he said; instead, victims often bleed out. Tracking is done through GPS "ping" signals and was located near Greenwich, Connecticut, before heading to the South Fork, Fischer said. The shark was named after the explorer John Cabot, OCEARCH said. Worldwide, 200,000 sharks are killed per day; in contrast, about 10 to 12 human lives are lost yearly as a result of shark attacks, researchers told Patch. Due to regulations and better environmental conditions, we have seen some species returning to where they once roamed.". ", Sharks, Yaiullo said, don't have fingers to feel; instead, they "mouth" things, and many times, a shark attack is "just them being inquisitive, asking, 'Is this something I want to eat?' It's not the first time a shark has been spotted in the Long Island Sound this season. In 2016, great white shark researchers discovered the first North Atlantic nursery for the fearsome predator in the waters off Montauk — explaining the recent surge in great white sharks around nearby Cape Cod. According to Fischer, the shark — @GWSharkCabot — was then spotted off the coast southwest of Montauk. Although it hasn't happened for 52 years, it probably won't be the last time it happens.). St. Luke’s Welcome Wednesdays—Join Us! Many commented on social media that the shark likely traveled from the ocean to the bay through the Shinnecock Inlet, following food. In 2016, the leading shark research team said it suspected Long Island might be a breeding ground for great whites and launched a tagging expedition to be able to determine potential birthing sites. ", Why Long Island is fertile ground for sharks. According to SharkAttackFile.info , 57-year-old Bruno Junker was bitten by a shark while spear fishing out of … According to the websites, a man named Bruno Junker, 57, was spearfishing off of Whitewood Point in Oyster Bay on Long Island when he was bitten on his fingers and right shin by a speared shark – the species, unidentified. "I've lived most of my life close to the Sound, but this is the first time I've ever seen a shark there," Skinner said, adding that the shark was caught from the beach. Mikoleski said he recently saw a thresher shark in Montauk right off the Lighthouse. Ocearch research, Yaiullo said, also includes sand tiger sharks in the Great South Bay. Based on information from two websites that keep track of such things –  www.sharkattackfile.info and www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/sharks/ISAF/ISAF.htm – July 29, 1961, was the most-recent occasion that a shark took a nip out of anyone in the Sound. Down Long Island Sound in … Monday 's Shark-Attack Anniversary in Long is. 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