Shark Sightings Close Long Island Beaches

LONG BEACH, NY — Shark sightings shut down some Long Island beaches to swimmers Mondayon one of the hottest days of the summer.

At a news conference Monday afternoon, Hempstead town officials said that a "significant-sized shark" was spotted around 11 a.m. off Lido West Beach by a lifeguard at the town's beach.

"It came out of the water, spun around," lifeguard Logan Fitzgerald told CBS2’s Carolyn Gusoff abpit what authorities believe was an 8-to-10-foot bull shark. "Just didn't look like a dolphin. Definitely a shark."

The sighting caused Long Beach and Hempstead officials to close several beaches in the area. Beachgoers were allowed back in the water around 1 p.m., but they were ordered out of the water again after another another shark sighting about an hour later.

"Just another day in 2020," Nassau County Executive Laura Curran tweeted.

A woman died following an apparent shark attack Monday afternoon in Maine, Boston 25 reported. However, shark attacks on humans are extremely rare; the odds are about one in 12 million. Most shark attack victims survive; bites on humans by sharks are typically exploratory.

Worldwide, 200,000 sharks are killed per day; in contrast, about 10 to 12 human lives are lost yearly as a result of shark attacks, researchers told Patch in 2016.

Sharks, experts agree, are far less of a danger to people than mankind is to sharks.

"You have more risk of dying by a defective toaster or driving a car than a shark attack, but it's perception," Ocearch Chief Operating Officer Fernanda Ubatuba said.