Officials are on heightened shark watch after three swimmers and a surfer reported being bitten by the sharp-toothed sea creatures off of Long Island beaches over the long holiday weekend — though none of the injuries were considered life threatening.
On Monday afternoon, a 15-year-old girl at Robert Moses State Park was treated for small puncture wounds on her left leg, according to state parks officials. She was possibly the region’s first shark bite victim, Newsday reported.
Four hours later and 7 miles away, Suffolk County police said that a 15-year-old boy was bitten on his left heel and toes while surfing at Kismet Beach on Fire Island.
He swam to shore and was treated by passersby on the beach until Marine Bureau Officers were able to respond. The teen was transported to Good Samaritan University Hospital and treated for non-life threatening injuries, according to police. His heel and toes were reportedly intact.
Shark bites have been on the rise in New York waters in recent years leading to heightened vigilance by state and local authorities. Last year there were more sharkbites than the previous ten years combined.
“We’re cleaning up the water,” Craig O’Connell, with the Montauk-based conservation group O’Seas Conservation Foundation, told Gothamist in May. “When you’re protecting prey, you’re cleaning up the water, you’re protecting the predators, predator populations start to increase. So we might be seeing more sharks along our coastline.”
Two more bites were reported on Tuesday, as Long Island beaches swelled with folks trying to escape the muggy Independence Day heat.
A 49-year-old man was swimming off the Fire Island Pines neighborhood when his hand was bitten by a shark just before 2 p.m. He was transported to South Shore University Hospital in Bay Shore and treated for a laceration, according to police.
Around 4:25 p.m., a woman was swimming west of Cherry Grove, another neighborhood on Fire Island, when she was bitten on the upper thigh….
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