WPTV is reporting that a 6-year-old boy bitten by a shark off a Florida beach is expected to regain full use of his leg. Nickolaus Bieber was bitten on his upper-thigh near Juno Beach Pier on Tuesday (6/26) evening.

Dr. David Rankin told WPTV that Bieber will be walking again after “some work is done.” Rankin expects that it will be at least a week and possibly up to two months before Beiber will be walking again. Beiber’s parents told the press that their son is doing well.

While the species involved in the attack has not been determined, 6-year-old Bieber says he saw the shark as it approached and is “positive” it was a bull shark (Carcharhinus leucas).

For the full story, head on over to WPTV.

Hawaii’s WAFB is reporting that the Maui’s Kahana Beach is back open to the public. The beach was the site of a shark attack on Tuesday morning that left California teen Sage St. Clair with a non-life-threatening injury to her calf. St. Clair was treated on-site by fire personnel and driven to the hospital by her family.

St. Clair was sitting in shallow water near the shore when the bite occurred. While the species has not been identified, officials have stated that the animal involved was likely a small reef shark.

You can check out the full story at WABF.

Will the Shark Week 2012 programming will give sharks something to smile about?

Entertainment Weekly has published this year’s programming lineup for Discovery’s Shark Week. Shark Week 2012 will mark the 25th anniversary of the week-long shark-themed television event.

In recent years, the network has drawn some criticism for some of its sensationalistic programming, some of which played out more like horror movies than educational programming. However, based on EW‘s description of the new lineup, it looks promising that this year’s programming will focus less on blood and gore and more on educational shark documentaries.

• “Air Jaws Apocalypse” looks to follow in the footsteps of previous “Air Jaws” shows featuring Chris Fallows at Seal Island as he documents white shark predation events.
• “Shark Week’s 25 Best Bites” does not have a synopsis but presumably will be a “best of” type show counting down some of the top moments in Shark Week history over the past 25 years.
• “MythBusters’ Jawsome Shark Special” will feature the hosts from Discovery’s Mythbusters analyzing the top-25 shark myths.
• “Sharkzilla” will  the Mythbusters team attempting to recreate the prehistoric Megalodon.
• “How Jaws Changed the World” will take a look at the impact of the 1975 blockbuster “Jaws”  on society.
• “Shark Fight” will chronicle shark attack survivors who have gone out to fight for shark conservation awareness.
• “Great White Highway” will focus on research and technology being used to track white sharks in real-time.
• “Adrift: 47 Days with Sharks” rounds out the week of programming with a story of survival from two American pilots who spent 47 in the waters of the Pacific Ocean after their plane crashed into the water.

Nowhere to be seen in the 2012 progamming are titles like “Top 5 Eaten Alive,” “Killer Sharks,” “10 Deadliest Sharks,” or any other programming that hints at re-creations of “Rogue Sharks” wreaking havoc on unsuspecting coastal communities.

Perhaps, those who have become jaded with Discovery’s Shark Week programming choices over the past few years will be drawn back to the week-long shark celebration with this year’s lineup.

It’s that time of year again, and it should come as no surprise that great white sharks (Carcharodon carcharias) have returned to Cape Cod for the summer. The Cape Cod Times reported last week that signals (transmitted from tracking tags) were received off Chatham, MA from two white sharks tagged last year in Cape Cod waters.

For the past few years, the presence of white sharks in the area during the summer months has been making news. It is believed that the large population of grey seals (Halichoerus grypus), a natural food source for the sharks, is part of the reason that the sharks congregate in the waters off of Chatham during this time period.

Thanks to the Shark Diver blog for pointing out this feeding event video, “Sharks attack whale” from Rachel Campbell on Vimeo. The video was shot in Western Australia at Warroora Station. Campbell describes the presence of initially “about thirty sharks, most of which seemed to be tiger sharks” and after scanning the beach she said there seemed to be about 100 sharks in the general vicinity of the whale carcass.

You can read more about Campbell’s experience with the sharks over at her 365 Days of Thankfulness blog.

A 16-year-old boy suffered a sting from a stingray yesterday at Myrtle Beach, SC, according to a report from WMBF News. The injury was originally reported as a shark bite by multiple local news outlets. However, doctors informed the victim, Matthew Breen, that he had suffered a sting from a stingray and not a bite from a shark.

Breen was swimming in waist deep water when the incident occurred. He said he saw a large amount of blood in the water and knew he needed to get to shore. It wasn’t until he was treated at a local hospital that he learned a stingray barb was the cause of his injuries. Breen is expected to make a full recovery.

UPDATE: WPED News Channel 15 has since reported that police confirmed “sharks” were responsible for the bites but had no confirmation of species.

According to a WPED News Channel 15, four people were bitten yesterday by an unidentified marine animal (or animals) while swimming/bathing at Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. The victims suffered various injuries to the legs, feet, and hands. However, none of the injuries were life-threatening.

The species involved in the attacks has/have not been identified. However, other media outlets, including ABC News have reported the incident as a “probable shark attack.”

Myrtle Beach Online reports that the bites took place over a ten-minute span between 72nd Avenue north and 82nd Avenue North, during the early afternoon. The bites were reported around 1:20pm. According to the report, photos of the bite marks are being sent to researchers at the University of Florida for review.

WARNING Video contains language that some might find offensive.

YouTube user ozfishwa posted the video above which documents a large shortfin mako (Isurus oxyrinchus) having a few goes at a fishing boat. According to the video description, the shark had been accidentally struck by Damo & Teeny Dwyer’s boat off Dampier, Western Australia. When they stopped the boat the shark made multiple approaches and bit the boat’s propeller.

One of the persons on-board is attempting to hook the mako in the latter part of the video using a piece of tuna as bait. While the mako does grab onto the line at one point, the fisherman is never successful at actually hooking the shark in the footage shown.

“Kids Ocean Day” saw multiple organized celebration events on the California coast, which were sponsored, in part, by the California Coastal Commission.

The event seen in the video above took place on the South Spit of Humboldt Bay at the Mike Thompson Wildlife Area and was filmed and shared on YouTube by Chad Johnson. The children at this event formed a giant eel along with the message of “Defend our Seas.” The event was organized by Friends of the Dunes.

At an event held at Dockweiler State Beach in Los Angeles, an estimated 5,000 children joined to form another “human mosiac,” according to a Contra Costa Times article. The mosaic took the form of shark holding a shield which read “Defend the Sea” and was based off artwork submitted by 6th grader, Breann Mancilla of Robert Frost Middle School. Artist John Quigley used Breann’s sketch to organize the human mosaic aerial artwork. The L.A. event was organized by the Malibu Foundation for Environmental Education.

Another event at Huntington Beach involved 875 Orange County elementary school students joining together to form a smiling fish with the message “clean seas, please.” OrangeCounty.com has the full-story along with a photo of the children’s artwork.

Children involved in the events also helped to clean up the beaches by picking up litter. Congratulations to all the children involved for their great work!

Dan Crowell shared the video above which documents researchers from the University of Miami’s R.J. Dunlap Marine Conservation Program tagging a 10′ (3m) bull shark (Carcharhinus leucas). The team successfully and safely tagged and released the large bull shark, which was estimated to weigh between 800-1,000lbs (360-450kg), according to a Miami Herald report.