Jersey Shore Shark attacks!

[bababooey]

Anyone else hear about this? Supposedly washed ashore in that town.

[basshunter]

looks like someone dumped it there. Highly doubt one would come in that far.

[LennyD]

nice!

[bababooey]

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

[cracklepopper]

The article does say the customers reported more than one. Even with no weigh ins, I would think that increases the credibility, no?

[porgy75]

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

[surferman]

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.


http://www.nj.com/shore/blogs/fishin...t_off_man.html

[fishinmission78]

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."

[stripermania]

I heard there was a shark alert from Atlantic City to Maine.

[clamchucker]

Some sharks were sighted in Seaside yesterday.





Seaside Park beaches temporarily close after shark sightings

Published: Wednesday, July 14, 2010, 8:05 PM

Updated: Thursday, July 15, 2010, 6:17 AM

Judy Peet



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.

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/201...temporari.html

[wish4fish]

sharks are looking for the bunkers, no big deal

[storminsteve]

Yeah, but you have to keep the tourists safe, right?

[Pebbles]

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.

[plugcrazy]

Anyone want to venture a guess as to when they will attack someone in new jersey?

http://xfinity.comcast.net/video/sha...ast/2094158596

[bababooey]

They are nasty, I wouldn't want to run into one in the surf.

[stripercrazy]

Most bloodthirsty sharks in the ocean, I think they are worse than great whites. Wasn't that a bull shark that attacked that child in one of the jersey bays in the early 1900s?

[jonthepain]

another shark attack in NC yesterday, knee deep surf. i think that's 4 so far this year.

boyfriend of victim said it was a 6 footer, but who knows

[captnemo]

Wasn't that a bull shark that attacked that child in one of the jersey bays in the early 1900s?

Probably, here is the story -




Over a 10-day period during July 1916, five shark attacks occurred along the New Jersey shore. Four of the victims died and the fifth was seriously injured. This extraordinary cluster of attacks was almost certainly the inspiration for JAWS and is among the most notorious events in the long and grim history of shark-human interactions.
The particulars of each attack — who got bitten, when, where, and how badly — have been told and re-told many times in popular shark books and documentaries. These facts are well established and most of them need not concern us here. What does seem in need of a more thorough investigation is whether one or more sharks were involved in these attacks and of what species was — or were — most likely responsible.

White Shark (Carcharodon carcharias) — since the infamous series of attacks seemed to stop with the capture of a young White Shark, reportedly with human remains in its stomach, it was widely assumed this animal was the culprit; other researchers are not so sure.

Two days after the fifth attack, an 8.5-foot (2.6-metre) shark was caught in Raritan Bay, some 4 miles (6.5 kilometres) away from the mouth of Matawan Creek. It was identified as a White Shark (Carcharodon carcharias) by Dr. Frederick Lucas, who was director of the American Museum of Natural History at the time. Upon examining its stomach contents, Lucas found "the shinbone of a boy and what appeared to be part of a human rib". Since the animal's gut contained incriminating evidence and no subsequent attacks occurred, it was widely assumed that this individual was the shark responsible for the recent spate of attacks. No one seemed to be bothered that the three most recent attacks occurred 2.5 miles (4 kilometres) up tiny Matawan Creek, a very unusual habitat for a White Shark.
Nearly 60 years later, artist-author Richard Ellis uncovered some intriguing evidence that made him seriously question many long-standing assumptions about the identity of so-called 'New Jersey Man-Eater'. In his 1976 Book of Sharks, Ellis points out:

• the first two attacks took place in the ocean, 70 and 25 miles (113 and 40 kilometres), respectively, from Matawan Creek; to assume that these distant attacks were perpetrated by the same shark that attacked three swimmers in Matawan Creek is stretching the 'rogue shark' theory beyond reasonable limits
• the White Shark is relatively rare in New Jersey waters and is not known to enter brackish or fresh water; conversely, the Bull Shark (Carcharhinus leucas) is more abundant in New Jersey waters than the White Shark and is well known to haunt river mouths and to penetrate far up freshwater rivers
• two days after the Matawan attacks, the New York Times reported that "the man-eating shark that killed [two swimmers] . . . was trapped in the upper reaches of Matawan Creek", a most unusual habitat for a White Shark but quite common for the Bull Shark
• the same edition of the New York Times went on to say that, "Matawan Creek . . . was alive with sharks yesterday, according to the score of men who went out to hunt them with rifles, shotguns, boat hooks, harpoons, pikes and dynamite", implying that more than one of them may have been involved in the attacks there
• three days after the Matawan attacks, the New York Times reported that, "a giant shark plunged through the chicken wire net that penned it in at Matawan Creek and escaped into the ocean last night", demonstrating that at least one shark swam between the Creek and the Atlantic Ocean
• Six days after the attacks, a 7-foot, 230-pound (2.1-metre, 105-kilogram) shark was caught in Matawan Creek; Ellis suggests that this is a reasonable length-weight ratio for a carcharhinid shark, such as the Bull Shark, taking this as evidence that such a shark occurred in the Creek

Bull Shark (Carcharhinus leucas) — this species is notorious for entering fresh water and attacking people there,
a reputation that makes it an obvious suspect in the Matawan Creek attacks.

In truth, 230 pounds is about 35% too heavy for a 7-foot carcharhinid and about 15% too heavy for a 7-foot White Shark. Thus, the length-weight ratio given is more consistent with that of a White Shark — but fishermen are notorious for overestimating the weight of their catches and none of the foregoing proves that this shark, captured in Matawan Creek nearly a week after the most recent attack there, was responsible for any attack on a swimmer either in the Creek or along the New Jersey seashore. Another possibility is that a Tiger Shark (Galeocerdo cuvier) may have been involved in one or more of the attacks, perhaps even in Matawan Creek. This carcharhinid species is well known to be dangerous, to enter river mouths during summer months in North Carolina and other coastal states farther south along the east coast of North America, and to travel northward along the Atlantic seaboard during summer months, regularly riding the Gulf Stream to New Jersey and even as far north as Nova Scotia, Canada.

Tiger Shark (Galeocerdo cuvier) — could this species be the New Jersey Maneater? It seems possible but unlikely.

So what are we to make of all this? Only that large sharks along the New Jersey coast - and even in such unexpected places as Matawan Creek — are not that unusual. The capture of an 8.5-foot White Shark in Raritan Bay two days after the spate of attacks nearby may merely be a coincidence. Although its stomach contents appeared to contain human remains, these could easily have been scavenged from the body of a drowning victim. Even during the early part of the 20th Century, dozens of drownings occurred along the New Jersey shore each year. An 8.5-foot White Shark is about 4 years old and, at that life history stage in the western North Atlantic, feeds primarily on bottom-dwelling fishes such as searobins, hakes, and skates. It seems unlikely that it was the shark responsible for all five attacks in New Jersey during July 1916. Analysis of the wounds on the victims suggest that at least three, different-sized sharks were responsible for these attacks. Based on the available data, the White Shark shows little or no inclination to enter brackish or fresh water (although a close relative of the White Shark, the Porbeagle [Lamna nasus], has recently been reported in brackish water in Argentina). So it seems unlikely that a White Shark was responsible for any of the attacks in Matawan Creek. In short: the case against the 8.5-foot White Shark captured in Raritan Bay as the sole perpetrator of the July 1916 attacks in New Jersey is entirely coincidental and, ultimately, unconvincing.
In the final analysis, it seems highly unlikely that a single shark perpetrated all the attacks blamed on the New Jersey Man-Eater. Whether the attacking sharks included a Bull, Tiger or White Shark cannot be concluded at this time, and may well remain forever open to speculation and debate. But what seems most remarkable about the evidence turned up while investigating the New Jersey Man-Eater is this: while large sharks — including species known to be dangerous — regularly occur along the New Jersey shore and in some of its tidal creeks, attacks against humans are surprisingly rare. After all, if these sharks really were inclined to attack people, incidents like that of the New Jersey Man-Eater would be commonplace and unremarkable. The notoriety — indeed, celebrity — of such incidents is due largely to their rarity.




http://www.elasmo-research.org/educa...j_maneater.htm

[seamonkey]

Wow, awesome catch!



Seven-foot shark captured off Ocean City beach

August 16, 2012|By Sam Wood, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

• [IMG]http://media.philly.com/images/600*450/ssh.jpg[/IMG]

"Shark Tony" stands next to his catch on the 58th Street beach in Ocean City,… (Mark Miedama/ Special to…)


A South Jersey man on Wednesday pulled a seven-foot thresher shark from the waters just off the shore of Ocean City.
Just in time for Shark Week.

The man, known as "Shark Tony," landed the 7-foot long beast after hooking it from a kayak and backpaddling to the beach near the 59th Street Pier.

Mark Miedama, who worked as a member of the Ocean City beach patrol this summer, was sitting on the sand with friends about 7:30 p.m. waiting for Shark Tony to return to shore. Miedama noticed him struggling with a big catch.

"It was pretty frisky," Miedama said.It took three men to bring the beast out of the water, Miedama said.


"It didn't want to be beached, for sure." Miedama said. "I helped him pull it up."

Nearly every night at dusk, Shark Tony paddles out into the ocean on his kayak with a bucket of chum, Miedama said.
Usually, Shark Tony's catch is limited to small sand sharks.
Not Wednesday.

"That's the biggest he's pulled up," Miedama said. "It was pretty intimidating."
Distinguished by a long tail fin used to stun prey, thresher sharks are solitary creatures and known to leap out of the water. Threshers are not considered dangerous to man and attacks are exceptionally rare.
Bill Kazmarck, a lifeguard who watches over the 58th Street beach and Miedama's friend, said it's common knowledge that sharks swim off the shore.

"It's their home, too," Kazmarck said. "People ask all the time if there are sharks out there. I'm honest with them. Of course there are. But if they wanted to attack, they'd attack every day
"They don't."

The waters remain safe, said Lt. Brian Booth of the beach patrol. The beach on Thursday remained crowded with vacationers and sunworshippers taking in the last days of summer.

"There were people in the water all day today because it was gorgeous," said Booth. "There's absolutely no cause for concern. There's fish all through the ocean and sharks are part of it. We went in today, so I'm not worried about it."
Kazmarck isn't rattled by the prospect of a shark encounter.

You don't give 'em much thought," he said. "Otherwise, you'd scare yourself right out of the water."
Miedama concurred.
After Shark Tony released it back into the ocean, there was only one thing left to do.
"We went swimming," Miedama said.


http://articles.philly.com/2012-08-1...rks-shark-week

[jigfreak]

nice