As summer approaches, reports of shark attacks increase. The most recent? A 25-year-old woman was in serious condition Friday after an apparent attack off the island of Oahu.
That same day, two shark attacks occurred off beaches on the Florida peninsula that injured a woman and two teenagers, according to the Northwest Florida Daily News, part of the KeynoteUSA Network.
Authorities reopened beaches in Walton County and neighboring Bay County in Florida on Saturday. Both counties changed beach flags from double red (water closed to the public) to single red and purple, indicating high danger conditions and the presence of dangerous marine life.
“The Walton County Sheriff’s Office and Florida Fish and Wildlife will have their boats in the Gulf to monitor the coast,” said Corey Dobridnia, public information officer for the Walton County Sheriff’s Office, the Northwest Florida Daily News reported. . “We just ask everyone to be aware of their surroundings while they’re in the water.”
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What happened in the shark attack near Honolulu, Hawaii?
The still-unidentified 25-year-old woman was seriously injured in an apparent shark attack Friday in the waters off the island of Oahu in Hawaii, near the Haleiwa small boat harbor, a popular destination for shark tours, according to KHON, a Honolulu. Hawaii Fox affiliate, which was among several media outlets that reported on the attack. Paramedics responded around 2 pm HST/8 pm ET on Friday and treated the woman for multiple injuries and took her to a trauma hospital in serious condition, according to Sunny Johnson, Honolulu. Emergency Medical Services paramedic supervisor, The KeynoteUSA reported. No additional details were available.
In March, another shark attack occurred on Oahu, east of Ka’a’awa, when an 11-year-old girl was swimming; reportedly the first shark encounter in the state this year. Another attack two days later, on March 4 in Waikīkī, involved a shark biting the tail of a surfboard, according to the state’s Shark Incident List.
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What happened to the shark attacks in Florida?
A woman was injured by a shark while swimming past the first sandbar in the Gulf of Mexico in Walton County, west of Laguna Beach, after 1:15 p.m. ET on Friday, according to the county Sheriff’s Office of Walton. The woman, 45, lost her lower left arm and suffered injuries to her abdomen, officials said at a news conference Friday afternoon. She was hospitalized in critical condition, authorities said.
Less than two hours later, another attack occurred about five miles to the east, near Inlet Beach. The victims, ages 15 to 17, were in waist-deep water about 4 miles from where the first attack occurred. One victim was hospitalized in critical condition and another in stable condition, authorities said.
“We are 100% sure this was done by a shark,” Dobridnia told KeynoteUSA. The two attacks occurred “at very close range,” she said. “It’s most likely the same shark.”
The beaches closed on Friday and reopened on Saturday morning.
Why do shark attacks occur?
The United States had the highest number of unprovoked shark bites (36) (two of them fatal) in 2023, a year in which shark bites and fatal shark attacks increased slightly worldwide, according to the International Archive of Shark Attacks at the University of Florida. (Provoked bites occur when a person initiates interaction with a shark in some way, while unprovoked bites occur without human provocation.)
Florida had the highest number of unprovoked cases (16) last year. That was slightly below average, but the state’s extensive coastline and tourism industry make it the usual contender for the most shark activity, said Gavin Naylor, director of the Florida Museum of Natural History’s shark research program. to KeynoteUSA in February.
Experts do not believe sharks are becoming more aggressive. It’s a combination of factors, including people in the warm water, Naylor says on the museum’s website. “It’s very scary, but the reality is you’re putting a lot of people in the water on a hot day with bait fish in the water,” she said.
Bay County Sheriff Tommy Ford said in a note on Facebook that the state Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission noticed how “bait fish build up near shore this time of year, which can have been a contributing factor to the attacks.
Other recent shark attacks in California and Florida
A man hospitalized on June 2 after being attacked by a shark was released from the hospital on June 6, according to a news release from the city of Del Mar, California. He suffered injuries to his torso, left arm and hand from shark bites that occurred when he was about 100 yards offshore north of Torrey Pines State Park. He was part of a group of swimmers who train regularly in the area, authorities said.
A two-mile stretch of San Clemente beach was closed for part of the Memorial Day weekend after an “aggressive” incident with a shark caused a surfer to fall off a surfboard on Sunday, May 26. , reported the Orange County (California) Register. The beach has since reopened.
In May, two fishermen were bitten by sharks in separate incidents less than 36 hours apart in the Florida Keys, the KeynoteUSA reported.
Contributing: Natalie Neysa Alund, Collin Bestor, Nathan Cobb, Emily DeLetter, Cheryl McCloud, James Powel, Anthony Robledo and Dinah Voyles Pulver, KeynoteUSA Network.
Follow Mike Snider on X and Threads: @mikesnider and mikegsnider.
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