Talks Of Sharks, Rip Currents And Bacteria Complicate Beach Days

Between rain, thunderstorms and low air quality, Long Island residents are taking any warm and sunny day they can get to head out to the beach. But nothing in life is easy, of course, as news stories keep popping up, warning of shark sightings and bites, dangerous rip currents and bacteria-laden water.
As of press time, five swimmers have reported that they were bitten by sharks at South Shore beaches. In 2022, there were eight shark attacks.
Following the increase of shark sightings, New York State Gov. Kathy Hochul announced that new shark-monitoring drones would be deployed to local beach communities on Long Island and in New York City.
Since the movie Jaws came out in 1975, a fear of getting attacked by a great white shark has been instilled into the masses. But according to Bradley Peterson, Ph.D, an associate professor at the Stony Brook University School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, Long Island beach-goers are not confronting those types of sharks.
Instead, the swimmers are likely confronting sand tiger or dusky sharks.
“It’s incredibly rare that anybody will be interacting with a shark and none of the interactions so far has caused life threatening injuries or loss of limb.,” Peterson said. “The other thing is, this year we have 100 times more eyes looking into the water from above looking into the water this year, meaning all the drones, all the helicopters. The sharks were there, and have been there, over the last decades… the numbers may have risen on the South Shore of Long Island over the last decade, as the bunker has increased over the last decade.”
Peterson added that the sharks are going into more shallow water because the easiest way for them to get their prey is to drive fish there, since there is less volume of water for the fish to escape.
“When they have bitten a person out there, they haven’t tried to take out a piece of flesh from that person, they recognize ‘oh, this isn’t the fish I was looking for’ and move on,” Peterson said. “We are not looking at, off the coast of Massachusetts, large predatory sharks that are life-threatening. We are looking at small sharks.”
While there is no reason to panic, it is important for swimmers and surfers to know how to protect themselves and their families.
“Right now, there is a lot of infrastructure to keep their eyes open for potential sharks in the area,” Peterson said. “If I was in the water and I was splashing around, having a great time with the family and I saw a school of bunker come to where I am, I would simply step out of the water, because the predators moving around those fish to try to get a meal, they may actually think I’m one of those fish when they are going after something else. And those fish move on. You could step out of the water and watch the bunker move on, then I’d just step back in with my family.”
If a person does confront a shark, Peterson recommends facing the shark and then walking or swimming backwards towards the land.
Chris Holub, the director of the Eastern Surfing Association-New York District, said that all surfers know that sharks just come with the territory of spending time in the ocean.
“They live there,” Holub said. “We’re their visitors… It’s not uncommon for surfers to see a shark.”
When surfers do encounter a shark, they’re often smaller sharks.
But, Holub added, it is important that surfers and swimmers take certain conditions into mind. Surfers and swimmers should always follow the directions of lifeguards.
“There are some precautions that are common sense,” Holub said. “Any fish, including sharks, do feed in the morning and at dusk, at night. So if there are some signs that if you believe there are schools of bait fish… and/or the water is murky, and it’s probably very early morning or very late in the afternoon, you should probably use some judgment.”
Rip currents have also made waves in the news cycle. Earlier in July, two teens were rescued after being pulled away by a rip current in Cutchogue. On July 5, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, alongside resident Josephine de Moura, who lost her daughter, Alexandra, to a rip current while on vacation in Mexico, installed a sign warning of rip currents at Nickerson Beach. He also signed a resolution designating July as “Rip Current Awareness Month.”
On average, 71 people die in rip current drownings each year, according to the National Weather Service.
According to the United States Lifesaving Association, rip currents are channelized currents of water flowing away from shore at surf beaches, and have the ability to pull people away from the shore. The best way to stay safe from rip currents is to swim in areas protected by lifeguards and to learn how to swim in the surf and identify rip currents. If caught in a rip current, the swimmer should relax and not swim against the current, and instead swim in the direction following the shore line or towards breaking waves, then at an angle towards the beach. Swimmers could also try escaping by floating or treading water if the current circulates them back towards the shore, and if the swimmer feels that they are unable to reach the shore, they should draw attention to themselves by waving for assistance.
Holub explained that surfers use rip currents to paddle out and catch waves.
“I would think that a swimmer would be way more concerned about a rip current because that will take them into deeper water,” Holub said. “It can cause some distress, and that can become problematic when people start to get distressed in the water. That’s not great. From a swimmer’s perspective, you need to swim where the lifeguards are.”
She added that surfers should always evaluate the water before going in to make sure the conditions are within their skill levels.
Advisories against bathing due to bacteria is also something beach-goers should have in mind. On July 10, due to heavy rainfall, the Nassau County Department of Health issued an advisory against bathing at 18 beaches that are known to be impacted by stormwater runoff.
Including stormwater runoff, there are several conditions that can negatively affect water quality and put bathers at risk of sickness or other adverse responses.
The Nassau County Department of Health’s Office of Recreational Facilities conducts a Bathing Beach water monitoring program from April through September, and in the event of elevated bacteria levels, the Nassau County Department of Health will direct a beach to close and then follow up by conducting additional samples to determine when a beach may re-open.
For up-to-date recorded information on beach openings and closings, call 516-227-9700.
To learn more about beach water quality,
visit https://www.nassaucountyny.gov/5244/Swimming-Pools-Bathing-Beaches.