The Shark Migration Is Back
 

The migration is on and I there seems to be some larger sharks mixed in with the blacktips in the video shot off Palm Beach. Perhaps bulls or tigers. Steve Schafer suffered a fatal attack almost a year ago just north of this area.

"Thousands of sharks spotted off Palm Beach

Posted: 01/31/2011
Last Updated: 48 minutes ago

By: Mollie Reynolds
PALM BEACH, Fla. - Pilot Steve Irwin has quite a fish tale, and he wasn't even fishing.

Irwin is a pilot with "Island Marine Services" based in Fort Pierce.

He said he was flying about 100 yards off of Palm Beach, at 80 mph, when he spotted thousands of sharks.

He pulled out his iPhone 4 and began taking pictures. He recorded the spectacular sight and wanted to share it.

This is the time of year when sharks migrate and head for warmer waters. They also typically swim close to the shore while chasing after bait fish."

http://www.wptv.com/dpp/news/local_n...off-palm-beach

There is also a video at:

http://www.fksa.org/albums/album566/sharks_from_air.jpg

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/media/ph...2/59180398.jpg

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/pal...,6985985.photo


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Toby had this question on kiteforum:

I debated about throwing this up but figured why not? I would take a good look at the clip. It is best at 720p with a popped out screen for better detail. This was likely shot in the first few months of 2010 during the normal winter spinner migration. The location was in Delray Beach, Florida, 65 miles south of Hutchenson Island where Steve Schafer was attacked. The migration may go for a couple of months on and off along the SE coast of South Florida. Although not identified in a lot of fatal attacks, spinners and blacktips account for the majority of unprovoked shark attacks in Florida.* They may often be "hit and run" attacks, take a bite, find it isn't fish and move on.



I originally thought it was more like "kiter chases dozens of sharks." Taking a closer look at the clip, I see this isn't entirely accurate. Early on the sharks ignore the kiter, later in the clip you will see quite a few turn and accelerate towards him. It is a good thing he is riding a strapless surfboard, no one ever slides off one of those by accident?! Even with straps there are lots of things that will send us into the water at times. Just because you go into the water doesn't mean a blacktop will hit you. Then again, it does happen that way at times. If you splash going in or are in for an extended period the odds of a problem go up. There are also the larger more aggressive sharks riding herd on the smaller tasty blacktops to think about. There were a few larger shadows in the clip.

We had a guy trying to teach himself how to kite in Hutchinson Island years back with bait kicking up and during the migration. He as attacked pretty intensively but survived, recovered and elected to move inland far from the ocean after.

Like I said, I rode with these guys for four days once, thick like this too much of the time. Unlike in this video shot from the kite, the only time I noticed them making a run on me was around feeding time, sunset. Their dorsal fins were on the surface making detection pretty easy. I suspect there may have been a lot of other times that I may have missed. Thinking things over, I think I will pass on future opportunities. Opportunities lost in this case might be a good thing.


* http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/sharks...iesattacks.htm

The northbound blacktop shark migration is back. Thousands were seen off the Breakers Hotel in West Palm Beach yesterday from the air.
This may continued on and off for several weeks or more.




http://www.fksa.org/albums/album04/5...tonemapped.jpg
A sunset session shot of the Breakers Hotel from last November 2011.

Steve Schafer was likely attacked off Hutchinson Island by a larger, more aggressive bull or tiger shark feeding on this migration in February 2010.

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The shark migration is a regular thing, first they go south in the fall and then they head back north. Often they are seen moving north in March but a mass sighting was made a few days ago south of Lake Worth Inlet.


http://www.fksa.org/gallery3/var/res...g?m=1358805469

"( Sun Sentinel / January 17, 2013 )

Migrating blacktip sharks photographed south of Palm Beach Inlet by Stephen Kajiura, associate professor of biology at Florida Atlantic University, who is studying shark migration patterns. Kajiura's study involves flights every two weeks along the Palm Beach County coast to videotape the sharks."
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/pal...,5572881.photo



A aerial video clip of the 2010 migration off Singer Island


Kiters will remember that Stephen Schaffer was lost in 2010 during the annual migration as a result of a shark attack off south Hutchinson Island while kitesurfing. It is thought that larger sharks such as bull or tiger sharks preying on the smaller blacktop sharks of the migration may have attacked Steve. Spinner and similar blacktop sharks have been given credit for attacks on in the past. "Blacktip sharks are responsible for roughly 16% of the attacks that occur in Florida waters, often striking surfers."

http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/galler...ktipshark.html
http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/galler...nnershark.html


So, it may be prudent to assume that spinners and the larger, more aggressive trailing sharks may be present off parts of SE Florida for the foreseeable future. There are holes in the migration but it may be difficult to know whether a hole is passing through your area or not. The thing about sharks is that they can bite and statistically will do just that where humans are involved through time particularly in opportunistic circumstances. It is worth keeping that in mind and acting accordingly.


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The Sunsentinel carried a full article on the shark migration, see below. There is also an informative video clip there worth watching.

"Thousands of sharks share South Florida's surf

By David Fleshler, Sun Sentinel
2:46 p.m. EST, January 18, 2013

The sharks stream in the thousands up South Florida's coast, a sight that might terrify the people playing in the surf less than a football field away.

From a Cessna 172 flying slowly along the beach, Stephen Kajiura videotapes this procession of oceanic predators as they engage in their annual migration from North Carolina.

Kajiura, an associate professor of biology at Florida Atlantic University, is conducting the first systematic study of the migrations of blacktip sharks, a pattern that has led lifeguards to close beaches and may be linked to increases in shark bites.

"Every year we see the same thing, large numbers of sharks off South Florida," he said. "We've got this really strong, seasonal influx of sharks. They spend the winter here and go up north again. We've known about the phenomenon for years, but no one's ever studied it."

The migrations run from roughly Cape Hatteras, N.C., to Broward County, or possibly northern Miami-Dade County, Kajiura said. The sharks start arriving in December, with numbers peaking in January and February before tapering off. By April, very few are left in South Florida. They're following their prey, largely schools of mullet.

Since February of 2011, Kajiura or a friend has piloted the Cessna every two weeks on a route from Boca Raton to Jupiter Inlet with a video camera mounted on the plane. Back at the office, he analyzes the tapes, counting the sharks and noting their locations.

The numbers are shocking. On the strip of ocean he studies, running from shore to about two football fields out, he has counted 15,000 sharks on a single trip."

Continued at: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/pal...,3383821.story

I communicated with graduate student Shari Tellman working under Professor Stephen Kajiura on the areal shark video survey. She told me that they have been performing a study of the blacktip shark population off Palm Beach County between February 2011 and March 2013. They hope to acquire baseline abundance data for comparison to findings in future studies to monitor environmental effects such as climate change on the distribution and relative numbers of this important apex predator.

She indicated that the blacktips, very similar to appearance to spinner sharks but still a different species, migrate south into Broward and Miami-Dade Counties in the fall. The sharks remain offshore in deeper water in the fall and early winter. This may account for the lower quantities of sightings spread out in deeper, sometimes turbid water. Then in the spring they migrate northward to Georgia and the Carolinas to breed. In their survey they have noticed sharks to be prevalent off Palm Beach county in late January into early March. So, the appearance of masses of sharks south of Lake Worth Inlet at this time of year isn't unusual.


http://secoora.org/sites/default/fil...appendixbb.png
A figure provided by Ms. Tellman showing the narrow shelf off Palm Beach County compared to points south.


Ms. Tellman indicated that the sharks follow and prey upon large schools of baitfish such as mullet which in large measure explains their distribution at various times of the year. She indicated that the narrow continental shelf off Palm Beach County serves to concentrate larger masses of sharks closer to shore. Adding in the better water visibility and influence of the Gulfstream under certain conditions, the sharks are even more noticeable than they might be spread out in more turbid waters in the two southern counties.

I had wondered about the appearance, disappearance and eventual reappearance of the shark aggregations off beaches in Palm Beach County. Specifically I was curious about significant factors influencing shark local distribution during the migration. She responded the nearshore distribution of the blacktips is patchy and speculated it may be attributable to food availability and sea state. In heavier seas the sharks may move to deeper water to where they may be less noticeable. Where there is an abundance of baitfish the sharks may be quite concentrated. I asked if they had impressions about the relative abundance of larger sharks such as bulls and tigers escorting and feeding upon the blacktip migration. She stated that their video imaging doesn't allow for identification of various shark species but that larger individuals were noted which might be bull and tiger sharks. I want to thank Shari Tellman for taking the time to provide detailed responses to my questions and wish them all success with their study and eventual publication.


What follows are some personal observations. So, the migration is on, have a care out there. Fatal shark attacks on kiters worldwide are infrequent. Certainly they are far less common that squall/wind related fatal kiting accidents. Then again, what percentage of the global kiter population ride in shark migrations for extended periods of time such as may be the case off here and now. By comparison, shark attacks on surfers are far more common particularly in Florida. I understand from other sources that our "taste" isn't to most shark's liking, not "fishy" enough. Blacktips may strike and then leave particularly in conditions of poorer visibility. Usually the injuries have been fairly minor with the smaller shark size and fleeting presence. Apparently we aren't on the favorites list with bulls or tigers either. The problem is a larger shark/bite radius the more damage that can be done. The location of the bite is also particularly relevant. Sharks may strike your thigh area to apparently disable locomotion, putting your femoral artery at risk as has happened in a number of severe attacks in various parts of the world. Multiple bites further compound the injury if such occurs.

Remember the sharks chasing the kiter after transitions. Also, if you bust a landing near a shark or slide off your strapless board it may strike out of impulse then move on or it may just ignore you entirely. It is fair to say, the odds of a negative encounter increase kiting during the migration, in areas with visible sharks, in areas with jumping bait and feeding birds and in my personal experience, near sunset. How much do they increase, who knows? For my part if there are visible shark signs of the migration, I will probably not go kiting at that location, at that time. It doesn't remove risk but it may serve to reduce it. It is worth thinking over.


http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...._limbatus.JPG
Blacktip sharks
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:C._limbatus.JPG


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Yeah...I'm with you Rick on passing on the opportunity to kite with thousands of sharks. Last week in 18 kt winds the wind INSTANTLY died and my kite fell straight out of the sky. No warning...not even a slight lull. Straight up cut off like someone flipped a switch. It picked back up literally 10 seconds later but by that point I was already in a channel and had to wait for the kite to drift into the wind window before I could power it up again.

Imagine that scenario on top of this many sharks. Game over.

Attacks on kiters are very rare, even more so while on plane. Then again, the population of kiters riding in the migration is pretty small so the odds of problems likely differ. On the other hand attacks on surfers are fairly common. Once you go into the water, you become fairly surfer-like. So I agree with your concerns about going into the water for an extended period. Surfers do it, many have no problems, some are bitten though. Most kiter attacks seem to have happened with kiters in the water and off plane. It is all about awareness and choices. I will still kite down here during the migration just not in massive schools of blacktips any more or if there are obvious signs of shark activity, diving birds, jumping bait fish, etc..

Cole Taschman, a 16 year old surfer was bitten on the hand at Bathtub Reef on Feb. 9, 2013. He was just entering the water to go surfing and was in about waist deep water when he estimated a 4 to 5 ft. shark hit his hand. He was fortunate the damage was pretty limited as you can see below but did receive 12 stitches to close the wounds.

He was surfing for a fund raiser for a former neighbor of mine, Brooke Thabit who was paralyzed in a diving accident. More about the attack including photos (shown below) and a video at: http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/ne...shark-b/nWMGm/

and more about Brooke at:
http://www.fksa.org/showthread.php?p=50577



http://media.cmgdigital.com/shared/i.../sharkbite.JPG


http://media.cmgdigital.com/shared/i.../09/surfer.jpg
The victim, Cole surfing recently.

(Photos from Palm Beach Post)

I heard from Professor Kajiura from FAU in regard to the Blacktip migration. He had been traveling extensively in recent weeks. The professor offered a few comments in addition to the information provided by his graduate student, Shari Tellman. He added that between the close proximity of the Gulf Stream to shore and presence of calm water allows the blacktips to mass at times close to shore. He also observed that the presence of large numbers of blacktips nearshore in Palm Beach County may be a little late this year due to the unusually warm winter conditions so far this year.

Their important research has run out of funding and so will end this spring. This is unfortunate as there is still more to learn about this important shark species and the migration. Continued research might even impact the occurrence of attacks such as suffered by young Cole Taschman in time.

http://media.tcpalm.com/media/img/ph...44058_t607.JPG
From: KRISTA SIMPSON via http://www.tcpalm.com/

An update on the migration from the Sunsentinel. I believe this is the southerly migration of spinner sharks which precedes the more well publicized northerly movement in the spring. The article doesn't discuss larger sharks such as bulls, tigers and hammerheads which escort the migration which reportedly were responsible for Steve Schafer's fatal accident while kiteboarding off Stuart, FL in the spring migration of 2010..


http://media2.wptv.com//photo/2013/0...18_320_240.JPG
From: http://www.wptv.com/


"By David Fleshler, Sun Sentinel
November 30, 2013

Thousands of blacktip and spinner sharks will swim into South Florida in the next few weeks in an annual migration that yields spectacular aerial videos and occasional beach closures."

"The sharks swim as far south as southern Broward or northern Miami-Dade County, said Stephen Kajiura, associate professor of biology at FAU, who has studied the migration. They head north in March, reaching as far as North Carolina.

Scientists say the danger to people is low, despite scary aerial videos that show vast swarms of sharks within yards of clueless swimmers. Blacktips and spinners, which typically reach lengths of five or six feet, eat mullet, grouper, snook and other fish, nothing as large as a human being."

More at:
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/pal...,3721824.story


More about the migration from http://www.tcpalm.com at :
http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2013/oct/...t/?partner=RSS


http://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphoto...18107786_n.jpg
From: Spinner off Juno Pier, Photo: Nadja Neptune via http://www.wptv.com/

Channel 5 has an article on how to tell the difference between spinner and blacktip sharks, both which can be present in quantity during the migration. They reported that the spinner shark has a black tip on the corner of their pectoral fin while ironically, blacktip sharks do not. More at: http://www.wptv.com/dpp/sports/recre...the-difference

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Heads up, the northbound blacktip shark migration is back for 2014.

http://fksa.org/gallery3/var/resizes...g?m=1391914015

Photographer Steve Huskisson posted the following image from Juno Beach and comments on his Facebook page today.

"Waves, surfers, paddleboards and sharks... Yes sharks. Headed over to walkway 36 and met up with Lori Griffith and Jeffrey Barron Biege to shoot some surfing. The Spinner Sharks were plentiful and I was content on shooting surfers until Lori said "get a shot with a shark in it..." Last time I take on that challenge. I stood, fixated on the ocean beyond the surfers waiting and watching shark after shark to my left and right jumping. Captured plenty of after splashes of the sharks. Finally, one decided to jump where I was waiting. Here you go Lori, your shark..... No photoshop, just patience and a lot of shutter clicks of missed sharks. More of today's surf & paddle boards from Juno Beach, Coral Cove and Walkway 36 to come. "
https://www.facebook.com/shuskisson


Some related comments from the Sunsentinel:

"South Florida Is About To Be Swarmed By Sharks
Sun Sentinel | By David Fleshler
Posted: 11/28/2013 3:55 am EST | Updated: 01/27/2014 5:59 am EST

Thousands of blacktip and spinner sharks will swim into South Florida in the next few weeks in an annual migration that yields spectacular aerial videos and occasional beach closures.

Up to 15,000 have been counted on a single day off Palm Beach County by scientists from Florida Atlantic University, and these just represent the ones visible from one flight along the coast. Like birds and manatees, the sharks come south for the winter, arriving in December and January, with numbers peaking in late January and early February.

"When they're there, you can walk on them," said Josh Jorgensen, of Singer Island, director of the Blacktip Challenge, a five-day catch-and-release tournament along Florida's east coast that tags sharks for scientists. "I remember one time last year there must have been 500 that swam by in an hour, endless blacktips. They were 20 or 30 feet off the beach."

The sharks swim as far south as southern Broward or northern Miami-Dade County, said Stephen Kajiura, associate professor of biology at FAU, who has studied the migration. They head north in March, reaching as far as North Carolina.

Scientists say the danger to people is low, despite scary aerial videos that show vast swarms of sharks within yards of clueless swimmers. Blacktips and spinners, which typically reach lengths of five or six feet, eat mullet, grouper, snook and other fish, nothing as large as a human being.

"Those sharks are 100 or 200 yards away from thousands of bathers and they show no interest in them at all," said Brent Winner, research scientist for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission"

Continued at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/1...n_4353745.html

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https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.n...37139680_o.jpg

At the public beach at the south end of Singer Island I've seen about 10 black tip sharks jump in as many minutes. They are too far offshore to catch with an iPhone unfortunately. They have closed the public beach to swimming.

They took about a 20 minute break and the started spinning again. I think I saw three go together at the same time. If they are trying to panic and stun bait, it makes sense to go in groups.

A guy who works at a concession on the beach there said the sharks had been visible for about four days so far this season at Singer Island.

http://towleroad.typepad.com/photos/...7/10/shark.jpg
http://www.towleroad.com/2008/07/jumping-the-sha.html

GRAPHIC INJURY PHOTOS FOLLOW







The blacktip sharks migrate south in the late fall to Broward and Miami-Dade Counties and then head back north to the waters off the Carolinas in January to April to give birth. For some reason many of the incidents you hear about occur during the northerly migration. A surfer was bitten on the foot near the Deerfield Beach Pier, apparently by a five foot spinner or blacktip shark. The surfer didn't notice evidence of sharks in the area and was about 50 yards off the beach when his foot was struck. A five foot spinner shark then launched out of the water nearby spinning. He received 50 stitches to close the lacerations.

http://fksa.org/gallery3/var/resizes...g?m=1445454161 http://fksa.org/gallery3/var/resizes...g?m=1445454161
More at: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/local/br...019-story.html

Spinner and blacktip sharks aren't fond of the way we taste apparently, given the frequency in Florida of non-fatal, bite and run attacks like this. Still, when bait are running particularly during some of the larger migrations like the bluefish at present, sharks are likely following along in numbers. The shark may strike, decide it wants something fishier and moves on. The severity of the damage depends in large measure what is bitten and how intensely. Then there are the larger sharks which may prey upon the often smaller spinner and blacktip sharks following the bait migrations as well like hammerheads, tigers and bull sharks. The bite radius alone even in the case of a bite and run attack with these larger and at times more aggressive species can be far more dangerous given the amount of tissue damage that may be involved. Kiteboarder Steve Schafer died as a result of severe vascular wounds suffered off Stuart, FL in 2010 likely from a bull or tiger shark bite during the blacktip/spinner migration.

http://fksa.org/gallery3/var/resizes...g?m=1445454632
No joy for me at Boynton Inlet although the birds and fishermen seem to be having a good time.

Like many kiters I have been taking full advantage of this great first bout of wind we've been having in South Florida. Yesterday I was going to head off the Boynton Inlet but was dismayed to see a mass of seagulls and bait clouding the water right at the mouth of the cut. Lots of fishermen were pulling in bluefish as fast as they could cast their lines out. Looked like shark sign to me big time, so I headed further south. I stopped at a park almost a mile south and spoke to a kiter who had just come off the water. He said the bluefish were pretty thick off there being chased by some monster tarpon. He didn't see any sharks but unless they are spinning you often never do but they are likely still there.

http://fksa.org/gallery3/var/resizes...g?m=1445454778
Kiting last night off Hillsboro Inlet. Ironically, that could be a small shark about 40 ft. ahead of me slightly off to the right on a diagonal. I have picked up sharks before when I ran close to the north jetty and caught them on the kite camera.

I went all the way to Pompano and had a session seeing little bait except for a small pocket inside the south jetty of Hillsboro Inlet. Still, there are sharks frequently around all inlets and this one is no exception. I just didn't see a lot of bait, feeding birds, etc., yet. Still, as the photo below shows sharks can swim along at anytime in these waters. Fortunately, they usually ignore us. I tried to photograph them in the water but they always swam off out of visible range. Perhaps in the heat of chasing migrating bait they may get a bit worked up.

http://fksa.org/gallery3/var/resizes...g?m=1445455267


So, have a care out there. Avoid bait being worked evidenced by jumping fish, sea birds, spinning sharks, etc.. The reality is that attacks can occur outside of such areas. All you can do is use common sense to try to reduce the odds. Staying out of the water and on plane may help. Most of our problems in past years seemed to have happened when kiters are in the water and off their boards.

http://fksa.org/gallery3/var/resizes...g?m=1445524051

Here is an image looking south from the north jetty of the Boynton Inlet over the south jetty crowded with fishermen pulling up bluefish. You can see a small, fairly tightly packed group of surfers nearshore to the south. They were within about a 100 yards of the working birds and jumping bluefish. As tight as the surfers were packed, makes you wonder if they were staying closer together as a precaution against or in case of shark attack? You can make out a kite almost a mile south. This is the guy I later spoke to in the parking lot as I headed south myself. I ended up driving all the way down to Pompano Beach to kite. I didn't see any obvious shark sign or many fishermen either. Despite that four miles north of where I went kiting a surfer was bitten a little earlier that same day. I found out about the attack the afternoon of the following day. The bluefish are moving south along with the predators that dog the school until late winter, early spring when the spinners/blactips will head north again.


http://fksa.org/gallery3/var/resizes...g?m=1445524018
From http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...ne-surfer.html
I went looking for some good birds working schools of bait shots and came across this one from the Daily Mail. Those guys do a lot of good photojournalism. This was in Australia but the scene may not be much different here at time say with the blacktip/spinner shark migration. You can see the mass of the schooling fish, the overflying and diving birds and the holes the sharks create in the schools. Other larger predators like tarpon and jacks can create holes as well.


http://fksa.org/gallery3/var/resizes...g?m=1445524017
The bait and sharks themselves can come very close to shore. The sharks can be seen in bare inches of water flapping among bait on the sand at times. So, just because you are close to shore don't assume sharks can't work in close too. Again, take out the schools of fish particularly those been aggressively fed upon and things can be more sedate with the sharks. They may swim off in fact if you come close to them, in SE Florida, much of the time. This may or may not be the case elsewhere particularly if they are distracted by hunting prey, seals, etc..


http://fksa.org/gallery3/var/resizes...g?m=1445524017
That is a lot of sharks but at times we may have similar groupings around Florida. The fish school may be a lot easier to see than the sharks from the ground surface. Not all sharks jump that much or do the classic dorsal fin glide at the surface so popular on TV. Usually, it is hard to see them, you just assume under certain circumstances that they may be there.

The Daily Mail article made one amusing statement; "The rules are dead simple and every surfer knows them. Don't go out there when there are bait fish around because there will be plenty of sharks in the area who are ready to eat more than just the fish." This may be the case in Australia, maybe, where the shark attacks can result in severe injury and fatality rate are much higher than say in Florida. We have far more attacks but few fatalities by comparison. Our surfers seem more inclined to ignore obvious shark sign and take their bites. Hopefully, the bites will be minor with no fatalities or permanent disfigurements. The later can happen at times but forewarned is forearmed. I recommend avoiding schools of fish particularly those being worked by predators for all the reasons given above.

https://scontent-mia1-1.xx.fbcdn.net...5b&oe=56CD6792

I finally made it off Boynton Beach Inlet tonight. It looked clear from the livecam at my office unlike in the last couple of days. By the time I got down near the end of the day, there was a ton of fishermen, a number of sea gulls flying around the area. I thought, not again. I walked down for a closer look and to talk to some of the fishermen. They said they hadn't seen any spinners (jumping sharks) nor thick patches of bluefish school. Looking at the birds they were grabbing what they could from the fishermen as opposed from the water, so I headed out. It was a nice session with good wind, waves and sun. I didn't see any sharks, jumping or otherwise, jumping bait or plunging sea birds. I had a couple of GoPros on my kite making spotting shallow sharks fairly easy. None showed up there either. I have little doubt sharks were in the area as always but they seemed to be in a low key mood. So, there was risk of a negative encounter, just not a high one this time in my view from what I had learned.

https://scontent-mia1-1.xx.fbcdn.net...7e&oe=56D161E7


http://www.kiteforum.com/download/file.php?id=69670&t=1


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Migration seems to be back, recent aerial video at: https://www.facebook.com/33042648382...5903037944124/

"The aerial survey flight yesterday revealed that large numbers of sharks have now arrived in southeast Florida. This video clip was captured off Palm Beach, just south of the Palm Beach Inlet. Looking forward to tagging some blacktips tomorrow. This is a greatly downsampled clip; the original 4K video is much clearer."

http://mediad.publicbroadcasting.net...hite_shark.jpg

NPR interviewed local shark researcher, Dr. Stephen M. Kajiura of FAU.

" Sharks, Sharks, Everywhere
By Luis Hernandez • 14 hours ago

There are literally tens of thousands of sharks that come down and spend the winter right off our beaches here in Southeast Florida. Add to that the fact that Florida beaches are very popular for tourists and locals. Those are the ingredients that have made Florida the world's leader in shark attacks.

Dr. Stephen M. Kajiura of the Elasmobranch Research Laboratory, Biological Sciences, Florida Atlantic University

Blacktip sharks are a medium sized shark. They’re maybe just about six feet long at the most. They are primarily fish eaters, and they will come down, spend the winter down here (South Florida) where the temperature is preferred. And then they'll follow that preferred temperature up the coast in the spring. So they migrate farther north and spend the summers off the Carolinas before coming back here again the next year.
Carcharhinus melanopterus: blacktip reef sharks are grey or brown on the dorsal area and white on the ventral. The tips of each of its fins are black with a lighter band lying just below the black
Credit https://bioweb.uwlax.edu/bio203/f201...adaptation.htm / Organismal Biology at University of Wisconsin - La Crosse

I'd imagine as a researcher that you spend a lot of your time up close with underwater species. Why did you want to get this bird's eye view of blacktip sharks?

Well, for many years I would get inquiries from the local media saying that their news helicopters had seen large numbers of the sharks (from above). I told them all it is is a migration that happens every year. No big deal. But when I had the opportunity to do the flying myself and see the animals I said this is really ripe for exploration. And the best way to address this, to cover a large area of the coast, is to do it by airplane and get this bird's eye view. And that's really the best way to count the numbers of sharks and see how many there are and when they're here. And that's what we started back in 2011.

And besides getting the count, what else do you learn from that vantage point?"

Continued at: http://wlrn.org/post/sharks-sharks-everywhere

PLUS link to in-depth radio interview

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Some drone imagery of a mullet migration being worked by tarpon and sharks.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zA5mn423F9g

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjdgFPKZsM8

There have been three shark attacks near shore since September during the northerly migration of both bait and sharks. In this instance a Lantana lifeguard was bitten on the foot about 20 ft. off the beach apparently by a spinner shark. The mullet migration was underway in this case. He suffered limited injury fortunately but still had some tendon damage in the bottom of his foot. All speed in healing Carlos and take care. This attack happened within two years almost to almost the day of the Deerfield Beach surfer accident detailed above.

More at about this case and the other three others in the area this season at the following link. A hammerhead and bull shark were suspected in two of the attacks. There was a tragic case of a three year old girl in late August within the partially enclosed swim area nearshore at Bathtub Reef. The child has had multiple surgeries and 100 stitches to preserve her knee.
http://www.wptv.com/news/region-c-pa...hark-this-week