Long Island Sound Shark Attack Stats are Wild, Could Top Last Year

Last year was a record breaking year for shark attacks on the Long Island sound.

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According to Insider, there were 8 shark attacks in New York's Long Island Sound in 2022, shattering the previous record of 1 shark attack. 2023, is on pace to top that record, according to the New York Post five people have been bitten in the Sound this summer.

The Post spoke to a professor at the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences named Bradley Peterson who urged folks to stay calm, saying:

Step back a little from the hysteria. You have to realize that you had a beautiful holiday Fourth weekend, you had hundreds of thousands of people standing in the water on the beaches of New York and two people got scratched on their leg. We’re not talking about anybody losing their life. No one lost their limb. No one was taken to the hospital.

Later, Peterson said:

There were 12,000 bites in the state of New York last year that required hospitalization and all of them came from humans. So realistically, the people on the beach should be more scared about the person who’s swimming next to you.

Why are we seeing this surge in shark encounters and attacks? The Insider says researchers believe it's due in part to "successful conservation efforts, as well as cleaner and warmer waters and an increase in the fish sharks prey on."

The problem is not unique to New York's Long Island Sound, shark encounters seem to have spiked up and down the East Coast. In May, a 15 year old girl was bitten while swimming in New Jersey and there have been a rash of encounters in Cape Cod.

I'm a little boy when it comes to sharks, I just want to see them up and close and personal. I know that is not what I should be hoping for but that is how I feel. Before you judge me, remembers every feeling is valid and must be appreciated, even the dumb ones.

We touched on the rise in aquatic madness on the I-95 Morning Show Wednesday morning. You can listen to some of what we had to say below.

We'll get a more complete picture of what is happening with sharks when we speak with our wildlife expert on Friday morning. Jen "The Zookeeper" Kotkin will be our guest on Friday (7/28/23) at 9:20 to discuss the rise in shark encounters and attacks.

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