Teens Reel In 5-Foot Long Shark In OCMD
OCEAN City, Md. (WJZ)—Social Media has captured another shark in Ocean City, but only after some teenagers caught it first.
Alex DeMetrick reports, this summer sharks are swimming closer to the spotlight than usual.
The photos on Facebook show a 5-foot shark reeled in by teens in Ocean City last week.
A friend sent these pictures to me last night around dusk from 149th street in Ocean City, MD. This happen right in...
Posted by Karla Perez on Thursday, July 2, 2015
"They start pulling this thing in, start seeing fins and I'm like, you've got to be kidding. We just got here and this shark's right in front of our condo," said Kandace Wallace.
"Sharks are definitely among us. We have a lot of species that come up into these waters in the summer from the south. But most of the time they're going be out there and swim right past you and you're not even going to know they're there," said Jack Cover, Curator National Aquarium.
That all changed two weeks ago in Ocean City.
That's when two Hammerhead sharks first surfaced. Both were believed to be females drawn to shallow water to give birth to their pups. One died doing just that after being caught by a fisherman, but the second—8-feet long and 300 pounds--cruised just off Ocean City and it's bay for a couple of days before vanishing.
But other summers have seen sharks here.
YouTube video from last year, shows a shark caught at almost the exact same spot as the teens' catch last week. The fisherman released it.
So did the teens last week.
"And when they're pulling him back in, there's a guy swimming there. And we go get out of the water, you could have yourself a very upset shark," Wallace said.
Unlike North Carolina, which has seen a rash of shark attacks on swimmers this summer, no one has ever been attacked in Ocean City. And while the water was cleared whenever that visiting Hammerhead came to close.
"Always check with your lifeguard. The lifeguard can tell you about rip currents, tell you about shore breaks, can tell you about dangerous marine life or any other hazards," said Capt. Butch Arbin, OC Beach Patrol.
Besides warmer water, experts say sharks are primarily drawn close to the shore to hunt schools of smaller fish.