A small shark bit a surfer July 2 in the water off Shell Beach. The shark attacked Derek Crane, 19, and caused a “triangular wound” consistent with a bite of an adolescent shark, said Tina Rose, information officer for Cal Fire and the Pismo Fire Department. Crane was taken to the hospital and treated.
Authorities posted notices at Shell Beach notifying beachgoers there had been a shark attack. If a great white shark had made the attack, Rose said, the beaches would likely have been shut down over the 4th of July weekend, a move that presumably would have upset many local retailers and politicians.
“The ocean is the shark’s home,” Rose explained. “Humans are going into the shark’s home. It’s a risk, however slight it may be, when you go in the ocean.”
This article appears in Jul 8-15, 2010.
