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A 50-year-old girl was bitten by a shark Monday afternoon at Rockaway Seashore, the authorities mentioned, in what seems to have been the primary confirmed shark chunk in New York Metropolis in many years.
A shark bit the lady on her left leg as she swam close to Seashore 59th Road, a spokeswoman for the New York Metropolis parks division mentioned. Lifeguards eliminated her from the water and administered first help, earlier than emergency responders took the lady, who was in crucial situation, to Jamaica Hospital.
“We hope for a full restoration for this swimmer,” the spokeswoman, Meghan Lalor, mentioned in an announcement. “Although this was a daunting occasion, we need to remind New Yorkers that shark bites in Rockaway are extraordinarily uncommon.”
A spokesman for the New York Metropolis Police Division mentioned on Tuesday morning that the lady’s situation was “critical however steady.”
Lifeguards ordered everybody to exit the water after the assault, and helicopters looked for sharks however didn’t spot any. The seashore was closed for swimming and browsing on Tuesday.
Park officers described Monday’s shark assault as the primary on Rockaway Seashore “in current reminiscence.”
There have been 20 unprovoked shark assaults in New York state since 1837, based on the Florida Museum’s Worldwide Shark Assault File, a database of all recognized shark assaults.
However Monday’s shark chunk marked the primary confirmed assault in New York Metropolis for the reason that Nineteen Fifties, based on the International Shark Assault File, an unofficial database of such encounters. The final documented shark assault within the metropolis recorded in that database was in 1958, when a person was bitten by a harpooned shark after scary it.
“It’s not quite common that we’d see this,” mentioned Gavin Naylor, this system director of the Worldwide Shark Assault File.
However he famous that bait fish, comparable to blue fish and bunker fish, had develop into extra plentiful lately within the Lengthy Island area, and that the water high quality seemed to be enhancing.
“That brings in a whole lot of animals that belong there that haven’t been there for some time, and with that, we get the animals that prey on them,” Mr. Naylor mentioned.
“We will count on that because the ecosystem recovers that we’re going to see a bit extra of that,” he mentioned, including that individuals must be extra educated in regards to the elevated dangers of being within the water.
Mr. Naylor mentioned that it will be attainable to establish the kind of shark that bit the lady on Monday as soon as extra was recognized about her damage and the way deep the water was the place she was swimming.
All of Rockaway’s seashores have been closed for at some point final July due to shark sightings, leaving solely the boardwalk open to beachgoers.
The final recognized potential shark chunk at Rockaway was in 2017, based on Patch.com, which reported {that a} surfer required 40 stitches in his proper foot after the incident.
A child nice white shark was noticed close to the place the person had been browsing, however one skilled advised Patch that the injuries didn’t seem to have been brought on by a shark.
Whereas shark bites in New York Metropolis are virtually unprecedented, they’re considerably much less uncommon on Lengthy Island, the place 5 shark assaults occurred over two weeks final summer time, based on The Lengthy Island Press.
Ed Shanahan contributed reporting.
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