A shark bit a 60-year-old surfer off Kauai’s west shore Wednesday, raising the attack total for Hawaii to 11 this year, an exceptionally active period for the ocean predators.
The strike on the Kalaheo man also was the second in six days in Hawaii.
The 11 attacks so far this year equal the total of the four previous years combined, according to figures from the state Department of Land and Natural Resources’ Division of Aquatic Resources.
A 28-year-old man was attacked by a shark at Leftovers, on Oahu’s North Shore on Tuesday.
“Around 20 (minutes) to 1 p.m. this afternoon, a surfer had sustained some minor lacerations to his foot from an approximately 10-foot shark,” John Hoogsteden, Lieutenant with City and County of Honolulu Ocean Safety and Lifeguard Services told ESPN Surfing photographer, Willi Edwards.
Hoogsteden thought it might be a tiger shark, but added, “We’re not 100 percent certain of the type, but it was a larger shark.”
According to a story in the Honolulu Star Advertiserr, the surfer was Joshua Holley of Waialua.
“It came up and got him and let him go, then came up and got him a second time. He fought it off with his board and got a good look at it,” City and County of Honolulu Ocean Safety and Lifeguard Services Operation Chief Jim Howe told the local paper.
Hawaii County lifeguards re-opened two Kailua-Kona beaches Thursday after a morning flyover found no signs of a large shark in the area. Shark warning signs though will remain posted over the holiday weekend after two women were attacked this week.
A 15 year old Kihei teen was bitten by a shark while body boarding just outside Kahului Harbor Sunday. He was released from the Maui Memorial Medical Center after doctors stitched up wounds to his left leg and foot.
Professional surfer Kai Barger was surfing at the same spot with friends when the teen was attacked.
Barger and fellow surfer Tanner Hendrickson helped the teen to shore. Once they got there they used a leash from one of their boards as a tourniquet to slow the bleeding.
Paramedics tended to the unidentified boy was taken to the hospital for treatment.
Andrew, 46, the older brother of actors Owen and Luke Wilson was bitten on the foot by a shark while surfing with friends in Hawaii earlier this month. The Whip It star was not seriously injured.
He had to get some stitches but was ok otherwise. Actually the paramedics who came said he was more at danger [because his friends] had tied a Blackberry cord around his ankle cutting off the circulation on his foot.
Jim Rawlinson, 68, was catching waves at the point in Hanalei Bay, Kauai Monday at about 4 p.m. when his surfboard was attacked by a large tiger shark.
Rawlinson slid back off the board and onto the back of the shark.
After measuring a bite mark on the tail of Rawlinson’s surfboard the tiger shark was estimated to be 14 feet long.
Rawlinson’s board was attacked about five miles from where Bethany Hamilton lost her arm while surfing a break called Tunnels in October of 2003.
The search by air, sea and land for the missing surfer has been called off as of 3:30 p.m. Thursday after firefighters could not spot any sign of him.
Meanwhile, the shark-warning signs at Laniakea Beach, Papailoa Beach and Chuns Reef were removed at 11:30 a.m. yesterday after Ocean Safety and Lifeguard Services personnel did not spot any sharks in the area.
Firefighters had resumed the search Thursday morning after a resident found a tattered pair of black shorts on Papailoa Beach and called police, who identified the shorts as belonging to the missing surfer. The missing surfer was described as an Asian male in his mid-thirties and was reported to be wearing black shorts.
