They ran the story on hearsay. What a way to rile people up and scare them although there was a shark attack in Matawan creek back in the early 1900's.
By ERIC SCOTT CAMPBELL Staff Writer, 609-272-7227 | Posted: Sunday, August 2, 2009
Howard Sefton, of Captain Howard’s Bait and Tackle in Egg Harbor City, uses a blackboard to inform his customers about reported bull shark landings in the Mullica River.
Photo by: Anthony Smedile
Reports of bull sharks in the Mullica River have prompted the owner of an Egg Harbor City fishing shop to warn customers who would consider swimming or rowing there.
These reports do not come from the state Division of Fish, Game and Wildlife, which has confirmed no bull sharks this year, according to its records. But Howard Sefton, of Captain Howard's Bait and Tackle, trusts the folks who tell him their friends or neighbors have hauled in a 4-footer, a 6-footer and a 7-footer in the past several weeks.
"I've had a couple people call me about it and tell me there were sharks in the Mullica. They're not going to swim there anymore," Sefton said. Asked whether he feared being pegged as an alarmist without proof, Sefton replied, "Better to err on the side of caution."
Bull sharks have never been seen so far up the river, Sefton said. The animals are known for entering fresh water and have attacked humans in a few infamous instances of U.S. history, including a series of attacks in 1916 off New Jersey.
Other veterans of Mullica fishing are staying skeptical.
"I haven't seen anything like that, and I do watch for things like that," said Barry Douglas, who mans the Lower Bank bridge across the river every weekend afternoon and night. "First I've heard of it, but I wouldn't be a bit suprirsed to see one. ... I've heard bull sharks come up (other rivers) that far."
News of the shark discussion frustrated Bill DiFilippo, owner of Nacote Creek Marina in Port Republic, just off the Mullica for recreational boaters.
"I think it's ridiculous," said DiFilippo, a 20-year area resident. "Bull sharks live in very, very warm water, and I can't see the water being that warm to support them."
Bruce Gehringer spent Thursday afternoon hanging a fishing line off the Lower Bank bridge, trying to catch a perch big enough to eat.
"I'd like to talk to somebody who's actually seen it. Usually the information you get is pretty good, especially from the people at Captain Howard's," Gehringer said.
Gehringer sometimes fishes the Mullica in a kayak, and he said he would not be scared to do so again.
"No, I'm curious. I'd love to see a shark," he said. "From what I understand, (bull sharks) are not aggressive. The stories you see on TV, seems like that's one in a million."
Sefton said he caught bull sharks off the beach in Brigantine four years ago. The following summer, reports of bull sharks in the back bay behind Atlantic City created a buzz.
Said Sefton: "I guarantee you if the water's warm, they're there. ... They're opportunistic. They'll take a meal if it's thrown in their face."
Posted in Atlantic on Sunday, August 2, 2009 10:35 pm
I think it's possibe. This came from another site...
bull sharks have been documented to swim over 2000 miles into full fresh water in the amazon river and its tributaries. the bull shark contains two unique features that no other shark has that allows it to survive in fresh water. one is a specialized liver that metabolizes salt diferently and is able to re use salt stored in the body from when in salt water. also near the sharks anus is a special organ that stores the salt instead of letting it exit the body and then sends the salt to the specailized liver in a closed loop that the fishcan sustain for an unknown period of time
Man that's a big shark, 400lbs. I would love to see one that big close to the boat.
From Al Ristori's column
8-foot thresher fought off Manasquan Inlet
Published: Wednesday, June 23, 2010, 8:34 PM Updated: Wednesday, June 23, 2010, 9:13 PM
Stripers didn't cooperate outside Manasquan Inlet this morning when Robert Palmisano of Caldwell fished there on his small center console in a bunker school. When one of his baits did get hit, it turned out to be a fish they had no chance of boating -- a thresher shark with a body length of about eight feet that was hooked on 20-pound test line. Christian Palmisano (16) fought that shark for over an hour as it towed them two miles offshore -- but they had no means of boating it even if the estimated 400-pound thresher tired. Threshers are often spotted in bunker schools, and their small teeth may not cut mono leaders if hooked in the corner of the mouth. Yet, few small boaters are equipped with flying gaffs and are better off enjoying the fight without attempting to boat a dangerous adversary.
This happened on the 28th, thought some haven't seen it yet. The shark was small only 2 feet. You should see all the online arguing it started. People who don't fish should do some research before they open their mouths.
Woman catches hammerhead shark in NJ bay
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS • June 30, 2010
VENTNOR — Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water.
A woman reeled in a baby hammerhead shark in Lakes Bay in southern New Jersey.
The shark was about two feet long and had a flat head with eyes on each end.
Stacy McCarron and her husband, Matt, were on a boat when she felt a tug on her line Sunday. Her husband says "everyone on the boat was freaking out" when she landed the fish.
They posed for pictures with the shark before releasing it.
Matt McCarron says a buddy is wondering "where the shark's mother is."
Andrew Mills/The Star-LedgerBathers stay close to shore in Seaside Park just before 3 p.m. in an area of beach that was temporarily closed for about four hours after local surfers spotted two five-foot-long sharks at about 10 a.m. Wednesday.
SEASIDE PARK — Beaches for several miles north of Island Beach State Park were closed for hours today after two sharks were spotted swimming near the shorelines, authorities said.
Surfers first reported five-foot-long sharks just off the surf break around 10 a.m. at Seaside Park, said Joe Gomulka, head of the Beach Patrol there. Gomulka said 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.
Gomulka said the sharks were not positively identified, but their unusual swimming patterns raised the question of whether or not they may have been sick or injured.
Every summer has its own unique pattern, Gomulka added, and "2010 appears to be the summer of the shark."
The season started with the Coast Guard issuing its first ever shark warning for the northeast. Earlier this week, sharks were spotted both in Ortley Beach, which is a few miles north of Seaside and near Ocean Beach on the barrier island of Toms River.
Authorities said sharks have not been seen at either locations since then.
There have been no reports of shark attacks in New Jersey this summer.
That is scary to think I could be minding my own business, throwing out my favorite Finchaser rod and all of a sudden.........GULP......, I am taken away forever by a hungry shark.
I think Dark would protect you, Pebbles, at least it seems that way.
The sharks are all over, I don't really see the cause for alarm. They're going through the schools of bunker, that's all they really want. People are too crunchy, not much nutritional value there.
The real sharks to worry about are great whites and bull sharks. If you check the historical records, great whites dont come into the surf that much, at least in the US. Australia, California, maybe, but they tend to attack surfers and swimmers swimming way past the last breaker. If we ever get bull sharks in the surf, I would say even Dark couldn't help you, Pebbles.
By the way, they closed a Berkeley twp beach, 23rd, today because of another shark sighting.
Sand tiger shark attacked a Readington man 50 years ago
READINGTON TWP. -- In July 1960, a sand tiger shark attacked then 24-year-old John Brodeur and ripped through his right thigh as he stood in the ocean at the Sea Girt beach.
50 years later, the Readington Township resident is grateful he lived through it to experience 40 years of marriage with his wife Celine, and life with his four children, seven grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
“I’m very happy with my life. It was just an incident along the way,” said Brodeur, a retired accountant, who has been featured in books about sharks and was once a guest on the “O’Reilly Factor.”
Brodeur was told the shark had been a 12- to 17-foot sand tiger shark, judging from the teeth marks in his leg, At the time of the attack, he was standing farther out than other bathers, his feet firmly planted in the sand.
“I ride waves and I was getting ready to ride a wave in,” Brodeur said. “I was in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
“I saw this big black thing coming toward me — I thought it was a telephone pole,” he said. The shark was long and black, and there had been a bad storm earlier that week.
When the shark bit him, Brodeur slapped the top of the shark’s head with his hand, and “eventually it let go,” he said.
“The lifeguard pulled me out of the water and then dropped me in the sand,” Brodeur continued. “My right thigh was all torn open.”
Celine Brodeur, who was not present at the time but knows the story well, said the young lifeguard panicked. “It’s not every day you get a shark attack,” she said.
A Marine veteran named Norman Porter, from the Bronx, took his belt off and used it to apply a tourniquet to Brodeur’s leg to slow the bleeding until he could be taken to the hospital. Because his nerves were severed and he was in shock, Brodeur does not recall feeling much pain.
He still thinks highly of Porter. “He saved my life. I was a lucky man.”
Celine noted that Porter has passed away, “but he’s been my husband’s hero.”
Brodeur’s leg had to be amputated, and he spent three months recovering in the hospital. Now with a prosthetic leg, he can’t run, but he can walk, and he enjoys playing tennis.
“I still go to the beach,” he said. In fact, the Brodeurs and their children will be taking a family vacation in Cape May this summer.
“He never, ever let one thing stand in his way,” his wife said. “It was never a handicap to him.”
In spite of the attack, John said he has always loved swimming in the ocean. But he warns other swimmers to be careful, especially because it is not always true that sharks will only attack someone who is already bleeding.
“Make sure that there are lifeguards, and other people in the water,” Brodeur warned.
1000 post club!
Mako in south amboy?
although there was a shark attack in Matawan creek back in the early 1900's.
Howard Sefton, of Captain Howard’s Bait and Tackle in Egg Harbor City, uses a blackboard to inform his customers about reported bull shark landings in the Mullica River.
The article does say the customers reported more than one. Even with no weigh ins, I would think that increases the credibility, no?
This happened on the 28th, thought some haven't seen it yet. The shark was small only 2 feet. You should see all the online arguing it started. People who don't fish should do some research before they open their mouths.
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