SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS RADIO) – Two shark attacks in the span of two months along the Central Coast last summer have fueled fears for surfers and swimmers.
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Both attacks, by two different Great White sharks, occurred off Lovers Point in Monterey County.
The first encounter on June 22 nearly killed the victim, an ocean swimmer, whose surgeon that treated him for his injuries told the San Jose Mercury News he's "probably one of the luckiest patients I've seen in the last decade."
The second attack on Aug. 10 involved a paddle boarder and his dog, both of whom escaped unharmed.
Sean Van Sommeran, executive director of the Pelagic Shark Foundation, said swimmers should take both attacks into consideration if they plan to get into the water at Lovers Point.
"The ocean's the last place you should go and expect to be careless," he told KCBS Radio. "People should never forget that it's the ocean. It's a wild environment."
The last two incidents were the first at Lover’s Point since a shark killed a swimmer in 1952.
Van Sommeran said he has been hearing more about shark sightings of late, including recently from two different kayakers at Lovers Point.
"There is a marginal increase in (shark attack) statistics and I think more of an acute attention to the shark hazard," he explained.
However, Van Sommeran maintained that these attacks remain "few and far between, they're sporadic."
"Keep in context, the statistics for people falling off the cliffs, being washed out to sea by rogue waves, accidental drowning, those statistics are all rising at a far more alarming rate," he said.
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