More drones in the sky monitoring beaches means more shark sightings that force swimmers out of the water.
Visitors to Rockaway Beach have learned that firsthand since July 1, as city-operated drones have spotted sharks on nine separate occasions, resulting in temporary beach closures totaling 12 hours, according to the parks department. The repeated suspensions of swimming put the city on pace to eclipse the totals of previous years – and beach season only began Memorial Day weekend.
But experts said the closures due to sharks – including one daily from Thursday to Sunday – are not a sign that the toothy predators are suddenly coming in larger numbers to the Rockaways. Instead, there are just more drones in the sky looking for them.
“The people flying these drones are now seeing what we’ve known and what we’ve been observing on these whale watching boats for a long time, is a really vibrant ecosystem just off the shore of New York City,” said Chris St. Lawrence, a researcher with Gotham Whale who works as a naturalist aboard whale watching boats.
He said more abundant bait fish may also be contributing to increased shark sightings.
The closures make for a big disruption to a day at the beach. On Sunday, lifeguards summoned swimmers out of the water after fire department drones spotted a shark at Beach 102nd Street. The hour-long closure covered 37 blocks.
In 2022, when the city had no drones monitoring the beaches, there were only two shark sightings.
But in 2023, a swimmer at Rockaway was bitten by a shark and badly injured. New York City officials responded by expanding the use of drones to monitor the waters and order swimmers to the shore when sharks are spotted.
Last summer, drone operators from the fire department alone spotted 11 sharks.
There are currently four or more drone teams monitoring the ocean on busy beach days, according to Aries Dela Cruz, an official with the city’s emergency management office.
The species of sharks recently spotted along the Rockaways isn’t known. The state parks department attributed a minor shark bite at Jones Beach on June 25 to a juvenile sand tiger shark.
St. Lawrence said the waters near the city host thresher, sandbar, blacktip, and sand tiger sharks, among other species.
Top police officials told reporters just days after the 2023 attack that increased sightings of sharks were a direct result of increased surveillance.
“The more we look for them – sharks has always been out there… but finding them is not a bad thing,” said Inspector Frank DiGiacomo, who at the time ran the Technical Assistant Response Unit for the NYPD.
Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Kaz Daughtry, who championed the use of drones during his tenure at the NYPD, said that city officials were in touch with shark experts to learn more about why there have been so many sightings.
He defended the practice of shutting down swimming for one hour once a shark was spotted.
“I get criticized a lot because people say ‘the shark is in their natural habitat,’” Daughtry said.
“If I was in the water and there was a shark about 100 feet away from me, I would like to know about it.”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
