Swimming has been banned from sections of a Nantucket wildlife refuge after a gruesome scene offshore of seals being eaten alive by sharks floating near shore.
In recent days, sharks are believed to have killed five seals, prompting officials from the Trustees of Reserves and the US Fish and Wildlife Service to close the Coskata-Coatue Wildlife Refuge, a remote barrier beach, in the popular tourist region of Massachusetts.
Swimming is no longer allowed in the area and will remain in place ‘until further notice’.
‘This is not a decision we have taken lightly. Visitor safety is our utmost concern, especially given the remote location of this beach should a serious incident occur,” said Sarah Cassell, spokesperson for the trustees.
“We will continue to monitor shark activity in partnership with the US Fish and Wildlife Service.”
The trustees say the swimming ban is a “more proactive” measure rather than a full beach closure that often occurs after shark sightings.
Swimming has been banned from sections of a wildlife refuge in Nantucket, Massachusetts, after great white sharks were seen preying on seals just offshore.
Swimming is now prohibited in the area until further notice, although the beach remains open and bathing will continue to be allowed in other parts of the refuge (file photo)
Videos posted online show sharks preying on seals along Great Point beach.
“Those videos are quite concerning and no human could survive that, we know,” said Diane Lang, the trustees’ administration manager. Nantucket Stream.
‘The policy is in place now. We tell our visitors not to swim at Great Point. I have been in contact with US Fish & Wildlife and they are in full agreement.
“We saw people jumping into the water on the Fourth of July,” Lang said. “We have visitors who come out and are naive to their surroundings.”
The population of great white sharks has grown as has the number of seals. Sharks usually hunt mammals in shallow water.
Although shark attacks on humans are extremely rare and have occurred on Nantucket, the growing shark population has now prompted cities to reconsider their policies on what is safe for those who venture into the waters.
Now, a swimming ban is in effect on parts of the beach.
The wildlife service says there is “currently no projected timetable” for how long the swimming ban will be in effect (file photo)
Swimmers are still allowed in other parts of the refuge, but have been advised to use caution. They are advised to stay away from swimming near the seal area.
The wildlife service says there is “currently no projected timeline” for how long the swimming ban will be in effect.
The seals have left the tip of the refuge, known as Great Point, since the shark attacked them, but they are expected to return.
Great Point is known to have a massive population of seals year-round, although even they appear to have been spooked by shark attacks.
“I’ve seen maybe three seals since this happened,” Lang told the Current. ‘They left. They saw.’
As summer heats up, the United States continues to lead the world in number of shark attacks
Last year, the country saw 41 of 57 confirmed cases worldwide, representing a staggering 72 percent of the global total by 2022, according to the International Shark Attack File.
More specifically, Florida is by far the shark capital of the world, recording 16 unprovoked non-fatal bites last year, the most attacks of any state or anywhere, for that matter.
The state’s Volusia County, known as a shark hotspot, saw 44 percent of the total attacks.
New York saw the next most attacks last year, with eight in total. Hawaii was next, with five bites in all, one of which was fatal.
Forced mages obtained by DailyMail.com show at least three sharks swimming just offshore in Southampton, New York, on Saturday.
However, the global total number of shark attacks last year was less than the average of 70 cases worldwide for the previous five years. The total number of cases in the US also decreased last year from the reported 47 attacks in 2021.
Additionally, in 2022 there were five fatal unprovoked shark bites: two in Egypt, two in South Africa, and one in Hawaii.
As of July 10, there have already been seven fatal unprovoked shark attacks this year, including three in Australia and two in Egypt.
ISAF defines an unprovoked shark attack as ‘incidents in which a bite occurs on a living human being in the shark’s natural habitat without human provocation by the shark’.
And the nation is on track to record the most shark bites in the world this year again; it has seen 23 of 42 reported attacks globally.
The New York area is particularly on high alert this summer.
Last week, a 15-year-old boy was attacked by a shark off the coast of Fire Island. The surfer said the shark had sunk its teeth into his left heel and toes, but they were still intact.
Three more people were bitten the next day, including a 47-year-old man who was swimming in chest-deep water off Quogue Village Beach, police said. He had cuts on the knee.
The other two, a 49-year-old man in Pines Beach and a woman in Cherry Grove, suffered non-life-threatening injuries, police said.
Fire Island will now remain on high alert for the remainder of the summer after six shark attacks occurred in three weeks in the area last summer.
According to ISAF, ‘Year-to-year variability in oceanographic, socioeconomic and meteorological conditions significantly influences the local abundance of sharks and humans in the water.’
Most unprovoked shark attacks were reported in the US and Australia last year, however individual bites also occurred in New Zealand, Thailand and Brazil.
Since the year 2000, the year 2015 holds the record for the most shark attacks in one year, with 111 unprovoked attacks.
The International Shark Attack File has recorded 1,604 unprovoked shark attacks in the US since the 16th century. The next country with the most attacks, Australia, has seen less than half that of the United States, 691.
The number of annual shark attacks has increased over the past 70 years; In 1950, there were 50 reports of shark attacks worldwide, and by 2020, the average number of bites per year had risen to 70.
An increase in shark sightings could suggest a healthier ecosystem, some say. Cleaner waters allow the small fish that sharks feed on to flourish. More small fish swimming closer to shore means more sharks biting their tails.
