You’ve heard of heavyweight wrestling but never like this. A viral video doing the rounds online shows a man wrestling with the iconic finned fish with little fear. The video’s soundtrack is the shocked, “Holy sh—!” of onlookers as the man reels the shark in with his bare hands.
During record-high shark attacks, sightings, and shark-related beach closures in the New York Long Island area, this video was especially stunning for its conclusion. Although shark movies don’t usually have this heart-warming message, this was one fisherman who meant goodwill to what he had hooked.
Filmed Sunday, August 14th, 2022, by eyewitness Emily Murray, the video shows an unidentified fisherman standing in shallow water, struggling with the animal as the water rushes in and out. Murray was on a walk at Smith Point Beach on Fire Island when she stumbled across the scene. Smith Point Beach happens to be the scene of two shocking shark attacks last month.
Upon seeing the man fighting the shark, Murray pulled out her cellphone to record the next installment of “Jaws.” A crowd of onlookers convened to watch the man pull the shark out of the water by its tail, losing his grip a few times and jumping back to avoid the business end.
As the fisherman pulls the shark far enough onto the sand to get his footing and beach the beast, he turns to someone behind the camera and asks for bolt cutters. “He [the man] had been fishing and caught the shark by accident,” Murray explained to The New York Post. “He was attempting to unhook it and cut it free.”
Murray also shared a picture she snapped after the video of a second person assisting the fisherman in pulling the shark onto the sand because he realized, in the absence of a bigger boat, a best bud was his best bet. The two eventually unhooked and released the shark.
Although it hasn’t been confirmed, the shark is believed to have been a sand tiger shark, a non-aggressive species that only attack humans when bothered first, kind of like most of us.
Despite two separate attacks last month, Murray said in her interview that the beach was not closed to swimmers, stating with zero traces of irony, “I feel like we’ve all gotten used to it [shark sightings].”
While locals seem to be growing more comfortable with sharks, officials are warning people about the sharks ahead of summer vacations, which are expected to see many more people coming to the beach. “As New Yorkers and visitors alike head to our beautiful Long Island beaches to enjoy the summer, our top priority is their safety,” New York Governor Kathy Hochul said in a press release. “We are taking action to expand patrols for sharks and protect beachgoers from potentially dangerous situations. I encourage all New Yorkers to listen to local authorities and take precautions to help ensure safe and responsible beach trips this summer.”
This warning comes on the fins of a marked increase in attacks. On July 3rd, a young lifeguard was attacked by a shark estimated to be five feet long. The guard was doing training exercises when attacked, fighting the shark off with his bare hands before getting back to shore.
Then, a July 13th attack left a 41-year-old surfer with a four-inch gash on his leg. He was rushed to hospital after being bitten while on the water on his board, but still lives.
Another swimmer was attacked the same day, although that attack occurred at nearby Seaview Beach, and little is known about that incident.
Although Long Island officials claim shark attacks “are extremely rare,” the past two years had more shark sightings than the whole previous decade combined. With two attacks in 10 days just last month, and four other incidents across Long Island, we wonder if Long Island officials might need a refresher on the definition of “extremely rare.”
To be fair to those officials, Long Island lifeguards are good enough to patrol the water with paddle boards, Jet Skis, and drones for the safety of swimmers, so every effort short of getting a bigger boat has been made to mitigate these attacks.
Long Island isn’t the only part of the East Coast to see a Jaws resurgence. Florida has been the subject of several sightings and attacks.
While most of the beachgoers in New York can agree that more shark sightings aren’t a good thing, experts have come out saying that a rise in sightings means the waters are getting cleaner, and shark numbers are finally rebounding after nearly being wiped out.
Although that may not feel like a win when you’re wondering what’s under the waves, remember that not all sharks are out to attack. Sometimes, they just get accidentally caught and forced into a wrestling contest.