UPDATE: Florida Shark Victim Pronounced Dead
Thursday, February 4th, 2010
According to the NYDailyNews, the man found surrounded by sharks on Wednesday was pronounced dead at a local hospital. A swarm of sharks surrounded and killed a 38-year-old kiteboard surfer in the Atlantic off southern Florida.
A lifeguard who pulled Schafer from the water said the veteran kiteboarder was encircled by sharks about a quarter mile off-shore and had been bitten many times.
STUART – Young great white sharks might be responsible for Wednesday’s deadly attack on a kiteboard surfer, a research scientist who investigated a previous shark fatality says.
However, Grant Gilmore said it’s too early to say which kind of shark killed Stephen Howard Schafer, who was found with bite wounds about 4 p.m. a quarter-mile off an unguarded beach, just south of Stuart Beach, officials said.
Schafer, 38, of Stuart, was rushed to Martin Memorial North Medical Center, where he later died.
It was Martin County’s first fatal shark attack, according to records going back to 1882.
Gilmore said the size and type of shark in the attack can be learned the same way it was when he investigated the 1998 death of 9-year-old James Willie Tellasmon north of Jaycee Park in Vero Beach.
Characteristic bite patterns from among many species that live or visit waters off the Treasure Coast can be compared to determine the kind of shark, said Gilmore, a senior scientist with Estuarine, Coastal and Ocean Science Inc. in Vero Beach.
The 1998 attack happened in shallow water and was attributed to a young tiger shark about 6 feet long.
Great whites prefer colder northern Atlantic Ocean waters and aren’t usually thought of as a Florida shark. But smaller 6- to 8-foot ones migrate to Florida’s east coast during winter.
Of the many types of sharks off the Treasure Coast, three of the four species known to attack humans — great hammerheads, bulls and tigers — prefer warm water. They leave the area or go deep in winter.
“The only other species that gathers in abundance out there in the winter are the juvenile great white sharks,” Gilmore said.
Late Wednesday afternoon, a lifeguard was looking through his binoculars and saw Schafer in distress in the water, officials said.
When the lifeguard paddled out to Schafer, he was surrounded by sharks, officials said.
The lifeguard put Schafer on his rescue board and paddled to shore, where Schafer said he had been bitten by a shark, authorities said. He had multiple bite wounds.
Schafer’s friends said they are shocked by his death.
“I’ve never heard of multiple sharks in this area surrounding someone and fatally wounding him,” said Teague Taylor, 36, a childhood friend. “He was the nicest person ever.”
Normally, sharks appear in the area to eat migrating bait fish.
Taylor said he was surprised to see the sharks because they normally come around springtime. Taylor said he was surfing Tuesday near where his friend was attacked and saw several sharks.
“You always think in the back of your mind that [sharks] are out there,” he said.
Jordan Schwartz, who has known Schafer for five years, said he was a very experienced kiteboard surfer.
“He was a super-nice guy, always mellow,” Schwartz said. “I don’t think he had any enemies.”
It was unknown whether Stuart Beach would be open Thursday.
There have been about 14 deaths in Florida attributed to sharks, according to records provided by the University of Florida Museum of Natural History.
http://www.pbase.com/steve_71/image/69381882
White sharks my ass. It was bull sharks.
That chick is talking out her butt…thats such a novice call. Why was the kiteboarder in a position to be attacked by sharks? Did anyone see what happened to his kite, etc?
According to the victim’s friend: “He was an expert kiter that apparently had the misfortune of having his kite go down and before he could relaunch the sharks hit.”
My step-brother lives in Hawaii and occasionally kite surfs off Oahu. He said it is very sketchy when the winds die down and you are kind of stranded out there.
As an aside, I would think that the commotion caused by a kite surfer trying to fly somewhat resembles that of, say, an albatross chick trying to take off. Hmm. Tiger sharks l-o-v-e albatross.
More so, any prey that finds itself in an uncompromising position. Juvenile Tiger sharks are voracious predators. A great case study for juvenile Tiger shark attacks is the fatal 2001 attack off of North Carolina where the two Russian students were viciously attacked.
If memory serves, the female victim (lone survivor) said “this shark was trying to kill us by taking chunks of flesh off our bodies.”
Sounds kind of like this one.
Could be a bull shark, but I am guessing Tiger shark.