Great white shark – Page 3 – Syndication Server

Woman bitten by presumed great white shark off Del Mar, Ca

A 50-year-old woman was bitten by a shark while swimming Friday morning at Del Mar, Calif., prompting authorities to close the beach to surfing and swimming.

A 50-year-old woman was bitten by a shark Friday morning while swimming in Del Mar, Calif., prompting authorities to close the area to surfing and swimming.

The unidentified woman was bitten on the upper thigh and treated by lifeguards before being taken to a hospital, where she was listed in stable condition.

According to NBC News, lifeguards used a float tube and swim fins to assist the woman.

The San Diego Union-Tribune reported that lifeguards saw the woman and her companion waving their arms to request assistance.

The incident occurred near 17th Street at about 10 a.m.

It was not immediately clear what type of shark bit the woman, but the several juvenile great white sharks have been feeding in the area, just beyond the surf, for weeks.

Last Sunday, the carcass of an 8-foot white shark was discovered on the beach at Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve and Beach, just south of Del Mar.

The shark is believed to have died of wounds caused by fishing activity.

The beach closure at 17th Street will remain in effect until 9 a.m. Sunday.

–Image shows the coastline of Del Mar as seen from Torrey Pines State Beach. Credit: ©Pete Thomas

In San Diego, a dead great white shark and a plea to anglers

A great white shark was found dead Sunday near San Diego with wounds caused by fishing gear, and experts suspect that anglers are illegally targeting the species.

The carcass of an 8-foot juvenile white shark was discovered at Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve and Beach, between Del Mar and La Jolla, and temporarily placed on display.

“She had succumbed to injuries sustained from fishing activities,” the reserve stated on Facebook. “Great whites are protected and must be safely released if accidentally caught. We took the opportunity to turn this unfortunate event into an educational opportunity for our visitors.”

Juvenile white sharks feed on stingrays and other bottom fishes off Southern California and some areas become aggregation sites. These sites vary over time and Torrey Pines is presently one of them.

The shark found Sunday was tagged Aug. 12 by a crew from the Shark Lab at California State University Long Beach. It had regularly been detected between Del Mar and Black’s Beach – directly off Torrey Pines.

Discarded fishing gear, including large hooks designed for big-game fishing, was found near the stranding site.

Chris Lowe, director of the Shark Lab, told FTW Outdoors that nearly 40% of Torrey Pines white sharks are trailing fishing gear. “So there will be more problems,” Lowe predicted.

One of the hooks found near the stranding site.

Targeting white sharks is illegal, but enforcing the law is difficult because anglers can simply claim to be fishing for other species. Possessing white sharks also is against the law; white sharks that become hooked must be set free instantly upon identification.

“These fishers are pretty brazen and don’t think they’re doing any harm, but when you see the size of the tackle and how many are breaking off with 100 feet of line and lead trailing, you can understand why these sharks die from these interactions,” Lowe said.

“They aren’t fishing for bat rays with this heavy duty terminal tackle and baits – it sure looks like they are targeting these white sharks, which is illegal.”

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife performed a necropsy on the shark Monday but results have yet to be revealed.

Said Lowe: “There was clear indication of jaw hooking and tearing through the jaw.”

–Generic image showing a juvenile white shark is courtesy of Pete Thomas

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Great white shark ‘Tough Guy’ pings near infamous Ca. surf spot

A tagged great white shark nicknamed Tough Guy has been tracked to an area where at least three attacks on surfers have occurred since 2010.

The male shark, which measured 12 feet when he was tagged in November 2021, pinged this week off Minuteman Beach, 20 miles north of Surf Beach.

Both are on Vandenberg Air Force Base, north of Santa Barbara. Both are open to the public.

Fatal shark attacks occurred at Surf Beach almost exactly two years apart in October 2010 and 2012. A nonfatal bite, also attributed to a white shark, occurred in the same area in 2014.

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A post shared by Dr. Michael Domeier (@doc_domeier)

Tough Guy was tagged by the Marine Conservation Science Institute, run by Michael Domeier.

On Tuesday, Domeier posted Tough Guy’s position via Instagram and asked his followers: “Who can name this notorious beach? Our tagged great white shark, Tough Guy, pinged from here a few days ago.”

Some of Domeier’s followers are familiar with the area. One correctly guessed Minuteman Beach, while others knew of the area’s shark-attack history.

“The month of October has a reputation at Surf Beach,” one follower wrote, adding crying-face emojis for emphasis.

“Sharktober is real around here,” reads another comment.

Vandenberg is about 30 miles north of Point Conception, a feeding area for white sharks and a tagging area for the Marine Conservation Science Institute.

Great white sharks tagged by MCSI off California and Mexico can be tracked by the public via the Expedition White Shark App.

As of Wednesday morning, Tough Guy’s position off Minuteman Beach had not changed.

–Generic white shark image courtesy of Michael Domeier

‘Sharknado’ moment commands spotlight at surfing contest

A great white shark leaped into the spotlight during a Southern California surfing contest Saturday, breaching free of the surface just beyond the breakers.

A great white shark leaped into the spotlight during a Southern California surfing contest Saturday, breaching free of the surface just beyond one of the surfers.

Jordan Anast, who captured the accompanying image, told the Orange County Register that he thought the splash in his viewfinder was caused by a dolphin.

While inspecting his images, however, Anast realized he had just photographed a white shark as it photobombed surfer Tyler Warren.

“It’s a shot I’ll never get again,” Anast said. “It just looks like ‘Sharknado,’ it doesn’t look real.”

The spectacle occurred during the San Onofre Surfing Club’s annual contest at San Onofre, south of San Clemente. Anast told FTW Outdoors that the contest was not postponed and Warren did not see the shark as he rode his wave in choppy conditions.

The San Onofre Surfing Club joked about the “uninvited guest” on Facebook, writing: “Surfers in the water said that it was going for the pelican in the upper righthand corner of the photo. Scored a 10 by all judges!”

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The imagery helps to illustrate that Southern California surfers share their playground with the world’s most notorious apex predator. And the casual attitude expressed by the surfing club shows how accepting surfers have become of this coexistence.

Juvenile white sharks, measuring to about 11 feet, feed in and near the surf zone on stingrays and other bottom fishes. They mass-congregate in areas that vary over time.

While San Onofre is not currently one of those areas, juvenile white sharks are spotted from the beach sporadically during the summer and fall.

Anast said the shark he photographed measured 12 to 14 feet.

However, Chris Lowe, who runs the Shark Lab at California State University Long Beach, estimated the shark’s length at about nine feet, based on its girth in the image.

Lowe and his team have been tagging juvenile white sharks off Southern California as part of ongoing research.

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Watch: Great white shark looks huge until second shark appears

Video footage showing a large great white shark dwarfed by an enormous white shark has produced some classic, albeit predictable, responses.

The accompanying footage, tweeted Saturday by The Depths Below, is intended to show the “size difference between a 3m (10-foot) great white and a 5m (16-foot) great white.”

Both sharks were attracted to bait during an unidentified cage-diving operation and the footage, with no credit given, has garnered more than 1 million views.

Predictably, one of the comments is a GIF showing Capt. Quint (Robert Shaw) from “Jaws,” behind a fishing rod.

Size difference between 3m great white and 5m great white pic.twitter.com/AAfIhlMW2J

— The Depths Below (@DepthsBeIow) September 10, 2022

Another shows Police Chief Martin Brody (Roy Scheider) in the boat cabin with Quint, nervously smoking a cigarette as the GIF text reads, “We’re gonna need a bigger boat.”

There was a famous Quint quote from the same 1975 thriller: “Y’know the thing about a shark, he’s got… lifeless eyes, black eyes, like a doll’s eyes….”

One commenter proclaimed to be “done with the ocean. Forever.”

A more sensible observation: “The big one uses its tail to give a little warning to the teenager.”

Perhaps not surprisingly, dozens of viewers did not seem impressed and commented, dryly, that the difference between 3 meters and 5 meters is, of course, 2 meters.

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Watch: Ferocious mako shark, fisherman engage in tug of war

A prominent Southern California shark tagger has documented his tug of war with a ferocious mako shark, he said, to showcase the species’ “beauty, power, and strength.”

“I’m their ambassador,” Poe told FTW Outdoors.

The accompanying footage shows the 12-foot shark refusing to release a bonito tied to a rope and fighting for possession with head shakes, much in the way a dog might refuse to let go of a stuffed toy.

(There was no hook in the bait; the shark could have let go at any time.)

The footage opens with Poe tapping the shark’s head, as if to signal the start of a competition, as the shark surfaces with the bonito inches from his boat.

The competition ends after about a minute, when the shark releases the bonito and Poe declares, “That’s right, it’s my fish baby! Come back again when you want to play!”

Poe tags white sharks and mako sharks for the Marine Conservation Science Institute. He typically keeps hookless baits in the water to let him know when sharks arrive in the chum slick.

“When I want to tag a white shark or a mako shark, I use a hook and a hand line,” Poe explained.

The MCSI team, including Poe, are featured in the National Geographic documentary “Counting Jaws,” which examines a newly discovered great white shark aggregation site off California.

Poe also will appear in several episodes of the Discovery series, “Shark Week,” which begins July 24.

Watch: Mako shark goes ballistic after taking hookless bait

A Southern California fisherman who tags sharks for research recorded what he described as a “monster mako splashdown” late Sunday near Santa Catalina Island.

A Southern California angler who tags sharks for research recorded what he described as a “monster mako splashdown” late Sunday near Santa Catalina Island.

Interestingly, the adult female mako shark took a live mackerel tied to a fishing line and jumped seven times against the drag of heavy tackle despite not being hooked.

The accompanying footage, captured by Keith Poe, shows four of the seven jumps.

A second video shows mako sharks taking Poe’s hookless baits and leaping in the dark to rock music.

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Poe, who tags sharks for the Marine Conservation Science Institute, told FTW Outdoors that he keeps hookless baits in the water to alert him when sharks arrive in the chum slick.

“When I want to tag a white shark or a mako shark, I use a hook and a handline,” Poe said.

Watch: Diver grabs tail of a great white shark in second encounter

While freediving, Nick Bailey spotted a great white shark for the first time and wished it could happen again so he could touch it. Then it did.

While freediving off Florida, Nick Bailey spotted a great white shark for the first time and, after watching video of his close encounter, wished it could happen again so he could touch it.

His wish came true the next day. This time, he swam toward the great white, and reached out and grabbed its tail, prompting the shark to calmly kick a bit stronger to get out of his reach.

Bailey kicked to the surface to announce his achievement.

“I touched a great white!” he exclaimed in the video. “Dude, two great whites in two days. That’s insane…Unreal experience.”

Bailey posted a video on Instagram that showed both encounters.

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A post shared by Nick Bailey (@nick__bailey15)

Bailey and Justin Shaw were diving about 4 miles off the coast of Stewart in 60 feet of water when Nick spotted the first great white shark and turned on his video, according to WPBF.

“I thought I saw a bull shark but really quickly I realized it was not a bull shark,” Bailey told WPBF.

“After I looked at the video, I realized I was like, man, I was so close to it. I was like, I really wish this could happen again and I could touch it like that would’ve been so cool.”

The next day while diving off the coast of Jupiter, it did happen again.

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“When I realized what it was, I was like, wow, this is happening,” Bailey told WPBF.

Shaw told WPBF the shark was just cruising the bottom “and Nick went down and I just follow behind them. I was just like super surprised. I’ve never seen them before and we see like hundreds of sharks every day we go out.”

WPBF said Bailey admitted it wasn’t smart to grab its tail. But he seemed to justify it.

“I know that sharks can change their behavior in a matter of seconds, but that thing, he was cool,” he told WPBF. “I knew what he wanted and he wanted nothing to do with me.”

Thankfully that was the case.

Angler jumps overboard to help land great white shark

A South Carolina-based sportfishing captain tagged and released a nearly 11-foot great white shark on Friday, but not without help from a brave passenger.

Capt. Chip Michalove, who’s permitted to tag white sharks for research, had just baited the shark when it turned and swam beneath his boat, causing the line to become snagged on a large barnacle.

Michalove jiggled the line with a gaff. He put the reel into free spool to help prevent the line from breaking. But he knew the only way to land the shark was for someone to jump overboard and free the line from the barnacle.

Ben Friedman admiring great white shark after swimming near predator

Moments later, Ben Friedman, angler and TikTok star, was in the water alongside the apex predator.

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“I told Ben that he’s going to have to jump in to free the line from the barnacle if he wants to land this girl, and before I finished my sentence he was taking his shoes off,” Michalove, who runs Outcast Sport Fishing, wrote on Facebook. “It’s February, it’s freezing, and this guy hops in and swims under the boat to free it. And then stays in and convinces his camera guy to jump in, too.”

Capt. Chip Michalove during the tag-and-release process

Michalove told FTW Outdoors that the 10-foot, 8-inch shark was fitted with satellite tags once it had been reeled alongside the boat. Its weight was estimated at 750 pounds.

He conceded that Friedman had asked if he could swim alongside a hooked shark even before the charter began.

The white shark measured 10 feet, 8 inches and weighed about 750 pounds

“He brought up getting in the water, and as crazy as it seems, it’s common to have this request,” Michalove said. “I usually try and talk them out of it.”

Michalove explained that, in this case, circumstances aligned. He added: “There really isn’t as much of a threat, as the shark is under control on the side of the boat. I actually think popping the hook [from aboard the boat] is more dangerous than swimming next to it after a fight.”

Ben Friedman exiting the water after freeing the line

Michalove said Friedman signed a waiver before the trip. At the time of this post, Friedman had not responded to a request for a quote, and had not shared his footage publicly.

Watch: Great white shark grabs spotlight at popular surf spot

A 12-year-old surfer has shared video footage showing a great white shark breaching just beyond where she and her brother were riding waves.

A 12-year-old surfer has shared footage showing a great white shark breaching just beyond where she and her brother were riding waves in San Diego County.

Kaydn Persidok, of Encinitas, posted the footage to Instagram on Tuesday. It shows Kaydn and her brother Reef ripping small waves when, at 27 seconds, a juvenile white shark leaps clear of the surface.

“Anybody else feel a little sharky vibe yesterday out in the lineup?” Kaydn wrote.

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A post shared by Kaydn Persidok (@liitlesurfergirl)

The footage was captured at Seaside Reef, a North San Diego County spot popular among up-and-coming stars. Kaydn, who is part of the USA Surfing Olympic Development Team, recalled her experience to The CW San Diego:

“A little while before we saw the shark breach, my friend said she saw something that looked like a shark swim right under her, and right then it got suspicious! The water was a little murky because of the rain and it just felt sharky. Then as we saw it breach my heart raced and I was amazed and stunned but also a bit scared because it wasn’t too far away from us!”

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Kaydn added: “I respect the ocean and all the wildlife and creatures in it! I think it’s really cool to see a shark breach while a surfer is riding a wave! I’ve never seen that before.”

Juvenile white sharks have been spotted sporadically for the past several months close to San Diego beaches, especially the Del Mar area.

Chris Lowe, who runs the Shark Lab at California State University, Long Beach, told FTW Outdoors:

“We’ve still got a dozen or so juvenile white sharks hanging out at Del Mar. Some have been there almost a year now.”

Juvenile white sharks, which can measure 10-plus feet, prey mostly on stingrays and other bottom fishes and are most commonly seen along the Southern California coast in summer and early fall.