A 5-foot shark was spotted at the Jersey Shore yesterday afternoon prompting lifeguards to briefly close a beach on the Barnegat Peninsula for the third time this month.
Lifeguards in Seaside Park called bathers out of the water about 2:30 p.m. after the shark was seen swimming 10-feet off shore. The shark practically made its way all the way to shore!
On July 12 sharks were seen off Ocean Beach north of Seaside Park. On July 15, two sharks off Midway Beach, directly south of Seaside Park, caused lifeguards to suspend swimming for several hours.
A group of sharks spotted off the Jersey Shore this morning prompted lifeguards to briefly close a beach on Barnegat Peninsula for the second day in a row.
Three shark fins cut through the water about 9:30 a.m. near 10th Lane off Midway Beach, said Sgt. Nick Bruno who made the sighting. Swimming was banned for about an hour until the sharks moved south, he said.
Midway Beach is directly south of Seaside Park, where sightings of two sharks yesterday caused lifeguards to close the beach for several hours.
On Monday, sharks were spotted off Ocean Beach north of Seaside Park, forcing lifeguards to close that beach for about a half hour.
Shark attacks may be rare at the Jersey Shore and there hasn’t been a fatal attack since 1926… but I’m not taking any chances.
Beaches for several miles north of Island Beach State Park were closed for hours yesterday after two sharks were spotted swimming near the shorelines.
Surfers first reported five-foot-long sharks just off the surf break around 10 a.m. at Seaside Park. The sharks cruised the beach for about four hours, at some points coming as close as about 20 yards offshore.
Seaside Park beaches were reopened about 2 p.m., but reports of what are believed to be the same sharks closed down beaches at Seaside Heights, the next town north on the coast, for much of the afternoon.
Wildlife officials are warning people against getting too close to a family of dolphins that have been hanging out in two New Jersey rivers, saying sharks have also been known to frequent the area.
Bull sharks, which have a pretty bad rep for attacking humans, have been known to swim in the same section of the Navesink River where the 15 wayward dolphins have been staying, said Bob Schoelkopf, co-director of the Marine Mammal Stranding Center in Brigantine.
“In that area are bull sharks that go in there quite frequently,” he said. “You never know what you might be looking at; it could be a dolphin or it could be a shark.”
Wildlife officials have been concerned about the increasing number of boaters and jetskiers getting too close to the dolphins, which have been in the area since June. Federal regulations require that boaters stay at least 50 yards away from the dolphins; harassing them is punishable by a $10,000 fine.
Schoelkopf said it might have been a shark that one man recently tried chasing after seeing something big break the surface of the water; the man’s wife later reported the encounter. Schoelkopf said the animal probably WAS NOT A DOLPHIN because it never resurfaced, which dolphins must do regularly to breathe.
He also said quite a few injured seals were found in the area with wounds from shark attacks.
