Did shark ram man off bodyboard at LBI beach?: ‘I saw the fin’ – Asbury Park Press

Posted On: August 7, 2019

Dan Radel, Asbury Park Press Published 5:00 a.m. ET Aug. 7, 2019

Could I endure 20 minutes underwater in a shark tank? Watch the video of my adventure at the Long Island Aquarium to find out. Full disclosure: The sharks weren’t the scariest part of this journey. Kelly-Jane Cotter, @KellyJaneCotter

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SHIP BOTTOM – Paul Sykes can never be 100 percent sure of what knocked him three feet off his bodyboard and under the water on May 20.

But the powerful force of the blow and the foot-long fin sticking out of the white foamy water has led him to believe it was a shark. The image and the panic he felt is perhaps ingrained in him for the rest of his life.

“This has shaken me up,” the 67-year-old Little Egg Harbor man told the Asbury Park Press.

Sykes, an Atlantic City lifeguard in his youth, said he hasn’t spoken much about the encounter. He did share emails with a Rutgers marine biology professor and he filed an incident report to the Global Shark Attack File, which is kept by the Princeton-based Shark Research Institute.

The Press learned of the incident through the file and contacted Sykes.

The institute’s executive director, Marie Levine, who reviewed the incident report, said they consider brushes to be a shark encounter and eligible for the file. The file has 6,441 shark attacks on file dating back to the 1840s. The attacks occurred worldwide.

The shark attack is the fourth in New Jersey waters in the last decade that has made the file — none of them fatal, and only one caused a minor injury to a person’s hand.

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Sykes was bodyboarding alone on the outer edge of a sandbar off the Eighth Avenue beach here. He was 80 to 100 yards from shore in seven to eight feet of water. The time was between noon and 12:15 p.m. The tide was going out.

“I had just paddled out after catching a wave. I was relaxing, catching my breath when I got blindsided,” he said. “When I turned back to look at the board, I saw the fin in a lot of white water.”

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Sykes was hit on his left hip but he was not bitten. He said he never saw the fish.

He immediately paddled to shore and was aided by a wave. The incident happened before the summer season. He said the beaches were empty and there were no lifeguards to report the encounter to.

“It definitely has affected me. Surfing was one of my favorite things to do. Now I’m hesitant to go back in the water unless there are more people,” Sykes said.

What type of shark?

The type of shark is not known but Levine said it was likely a sand tiger shark chasing bait near the shore. She could not rule out a great white shark.

“Sand tigers do often bump. I’ve been bumped by one before while diving,” Levine said.

Sand tiger sharks are fairly common to New Jersey’s surf from spring to fall. They have a mouthful of teeth but rarely are they known to bite people.

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Great white sharks, one the ocean’s apex predators, also frequent the coast here. The waters here have long been theorized to be a nursery for great white sharks.

Their numbers are on the rise along the East Coast, the result of exploding seal populations and federal protections. Great white shark sightings and beach closures, as a result, have become routine off Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

Last year, a 26-year-old man was killed by a great white shark while boogie-boarding at Newcomb Hollow Beach in Wellfleet, Massachusetts.

Last three N.J. shark attacks on file

July 23, 2017, Ventor. Isabella Smith received a minor injury to the hand from a 2-foot sand tiger shark.
Nov. 7, 2013, Bay Head. Quinn Gates was bodyboarding when a shark bit his swim fin. He was not injured. The shark was not identified.
July 25, 2011, Egg Harbor. Eric Aubrey’s boot was bitten while he was wade fishing at night. The shark was not identified.

When Jersey Shore native Dan Radel is not reporting the news, you can find him in a college classroom where is a history professor. Reach him @danielradelapp; 732-643-4072; dradel@gannettnj.com.

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