The Dorsal Fin

Sad news out of California yesterday as a 19-year-old University of California Santa Barbara student has died due to wounds from a shark attack, which occurred just after 9AM local time. The man was boogie boarding about 100 yards from shore when he was bitten on the leg by what has been described by officials as a shark that is “14 to 20 feet in length,” according to ABC News.

The species of shark involved has not been officially identified, according to a CBS report, which speculates the species was a great white shark. Drew Sugars, of the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office, told CBS that they hope to have the species identified by Monday and that they plan to use teeth marks from the boogie board to determine the species.

Matthew Garcia, a friend of the victim, was only a few feet away when the attack occurred. Garcia attempted to rescue his friend and brought him into shore. Unfortunately, the victim was pronounced dead after further resuscitation attempts after he was brought to shore.

The victim was described by one friend as “the happiest kid in the world,” and by another who said he was a nice guy who “loved life.” My thoughts and prayers go out to the victim and all of his friends and family.

White shark attacks on sea otters along the central coast of California hit record numbers for the month of August, this year, according to a 760KFBM.com report. The average number of shark attacks on sea otters for the month of August over a ten-year period is seven. In August of this year, scientists recovered 19 otters with apparent shark bite wounds.

Typically, when a white shark attack does occur on a sea otter, the shark will bite and then release the sea otter upon realizing that it a preferred prey item, according to Mike Harris of the California Department of Fish and Game. Harris goes on to note that unfortunately most of these attacks still prove fatal. Due to the nature of the severity of the bites and the anatomy of the sea otters, even an exploratory bite or a bite of “mistaken identity” can result in injuries that the sea otters cannot recover from.

The 760KFMB article notes that some researchers are speculating that unusually mild summer temperatures in the area might explain the increase in the incidences involving white sharks attacking sea otters, as the cooler ocean temperatures make area waters preferable to white sharks.

In addition to the shark attacks on sea otters, a New York Times article is reporting that a University of California, Santa Cruz report has linked sea otter deaths in California to a freshwater toxin. The toxin microcystin is produced by blue-green algae, and the report suggests that the toxin has leaked into the Pacific. Researchers involved in the study say that least 21 sea otter deaths were linked to the toxin.

Both sea otters and white sharks are listed as threatened species on the IUCN red list. Sea otters are classified as “endangered,” while great white sharks are currently classified as “vulnerable.”

Skier/surfer/snowboarder/(insert extreme sport here) athlete Chuck Patterson recently added the video above to his Vimeo channel. According to Patterson’s video description he had encounters with multiple white sharks while SUP boarding the day before this video was shot, so he decided to bring his GoPro camera with him mounted on a 10′ pole. Patterson estimated the great white in the video to be about 9′ in length and wrote that he encountered another smaller white shark a minute later.

The Tribune of San Luis Obispo serves up some sensationlism in the article, ,13-foot shark slashes seal while boaters watch off Cambria; After fishing and diving off Cambria, North County trio gets a chilling, up-close look at a feeding great white. The story details the account of three divers who witnessed a white shark feeding on a seal off the coast of Cambria, Ca. The divers witnessed the event while aboard a Zodiac. While the article itself remains fairly objective and is well-written, the headline and secondary title take a natural feeding event and turn it into a “chilling” encounter for the witnesses, as the shark “slashes” through the seal. Can’t a white shark just eat a meal without it being likened to a scene from a horror movie? I’m glad my meals aren’t documented by the media, I can see the headline now…

According to a report on NBC San Diego, a woman was bitten repeatedly by a juvenile great white shark, yet sustained injuries that “didn’t even cut the skin.” Bethany Edmunds described feeling a sharp pain in her foot while taking underwater photos. She initially shrugged it off as having possibly kicked the reef, when she felt the same pain a second time. She then began to swim away from the area when she was "hit on the upper right thigh" and knocked about 1′ out of the water. It was at this point that she attempted to head for shore. While heading for shore, Edmunds says she, "felt the same sharp pain in my left calf, but this time I was dragged under water and shaken for 4 – 5 seconds." Edmunds stated that during this struggle she accidentally kicked the shark prompting the shark to release her.

According to Encinatas lifeguard, Elena Tellechea, a shark specialist confirmed the bites were from a juvenile great white shark based on the injuries. Thankfully, Edmunds, was not seriously injured as a result of the multiple bites. According to information at the Shark Research Committee website the bite marks, which produced no obvious signs of bleeding when Edmunds exited the water, are indicative of a juvenile white shark approximately 5-6′ (1.5-1.8m) in length. The site also has two images of the bite marks.