Shark Scare at Jones Beach Sends Swimmers Back to Shore

By Bill Bleyer, Newsday, Melville, N.Y.

Jul. 31–Swimmers were ordered out of the water for almost two hours at Jones Beach yesterday after a state park police officer saw a shark’s fin.

It was the second time in less than two weeks that Jones Beach bathers were instructed to leave the water after a reported shark sighting. About 20,000 people were at the park, said George Gorman Jr., deputy regional director for Long Island state parks.

A park police officer in a patrol boat about 500 feet offshore near the West Bathhouse spotted what he said was a fin next to his boat, Gorman said.

“We got everybody out of the water just before noon,” Gorman said.

Officers in a Nassau County police helicopter responded but did not find the shark in two sweeps, so the beach was reopened to swimming about 2 p.m., Gorman said.

Beachgoers seemed unfazed by the closure. The sharks are “as much afraid of us as we are of them,” said beachgoer Stanley Wong, 34, of Lake Grove.

“There are sharks here all the time,” said lifeguard Santiago Granda, 31, of Amityville.

The reported sighting comes about two weeks after a thresher shark was captured in Zach’s Bay at the park. The baby shark, with a 3-foot body and a 3-foot tail, appeared in the bay on July 17 and returned the next day, when three lifeguards caught it by the tail, muscled it into a plastic container and carted it away. It was released in the Atlantic Ocean miles from shore.

Shark experts say two sightings in two weeks in the same area is not unusual for Long Island in the summer.

“They’re out there whether we see them or not,” said Joseph Yaiullo, curator at Atlantis Marine World in Riverhead.

“This time of year, it’s common for them to be in our waters, especially with them following food fishes into the shallower areas.”

Rip currents don’t affect sharks’ habits, he added.

Staff writer Jesse Cozzetti contributed to this story.

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