Suspected shark bite at Norton

Updated Sept. 2, 10:52 am.

A woman in her late 20s was pulled from the water off Norton Point Monday afternoon with wounds to her lower leg that police said were “consistent with a potential shark bite.” 

No shark or other marine animal, however, was seen or confirmed in connection with the 1:40 pm incident, according to a town statement. 

A transcript of Martha’s Vineyard Public Safety Radio said that “a female party that was pulled from water is bleeding.” At 1:49 pm, someone over the radio said “reporting possible shark bites.” Her injuries were reported as “non-life-threatening,” according to the press release, and no limbs were lost.

Edgartown Fire, EMS, and rangers from the town’s parks department treated the woman at the scene, and she was transported to the hospital for further evaluation and treatment. James Hagerty, Edgartown town administrator, said that she was pulled from the water by other people on the beach, and rangers from the parks department were there shortly afterward. Lifeguards at South Beach have mostly left for the season, he added. He said he believes the woman is a visitor to the Island, and doesn’t live here year-round.

In accordance with Edgartown town protocol, following the suspected shark bite, swimming at South Beach and Norton Point was suspended for several hours as a precaution, according to the release. Police and emergency officials blocked off the entrance to drive onto Norton Point. The beach reopened around 4 pm, Hagerty said. There is no further investigation to be done by local police, Edgartown Police Chief Chris Dolby said.

“Beachgoers are reminded to remain aware of their surroundings while in the water, and to comply with instructions from lifeguards and any posted beach advisories,” Hagerty said in the press release. 

A beachgoer, who was parked near where the incident occurred at the end of Norton Point’s oversand vehicle access, told The Times that “someone was bit by something” in shallow water.

At 3 pm, Edgartown parks department rangers, who manage Norton Point, were driving around warning people that “there were shark sightings.” Planes, including the red biplane, were doing flyovers. Mike Creato of Classic Aviators in Katama flies the red biplane, and is often the one called by beach managers on the south shore to look for shadows in the water. Creato said that he didn’t see anything at the time, and the water was a little murky Monday.

If confirmed, this would be the first unprovoked shark bite recorded on the Island in recent memory. Greg Skomal, a marine biologist with the state Division of Marine Fisheries and a shark expert, said that the last shark bite in Massachusetts was in September 2018. A man was fatally bitten by a great white shark off Newcomb Hollow Beach in Wellfleet; it was the first fatality in the state in 80 years. 

Skomal, who lived and studied sharks on the Island for more than two decades, said he remembers one shark-related incident in the late ’80s and early ’90s. He was at his office at the hatchery, and got a phone call that someone was bitten on East Beach. Skomal went to the hospital and met with the victim. Unlike Monday’s suspected shark bite, this incident was a provoked shark attack, because after a sandbar shark was reeled in by another angler, the victim grabbed the shark’s tail, which then proceeded to turn around and bite him in the calf, Skomal said.

Skomal, who’s seen every major shark bite in New England in recent years, said in order to determine the species of this bite, he ideally would see photos of the wound and speak to the victim. He would need to know the extent of the damage, nature of the wound, number of stitches needed, and distance from the beach where the incident occurred, among other details.

On his list of suspects, however, are a sandbar shark (a.k.a. brown shark) and a sand tiger shark, both of which are mostly harmless, but have been implicated in “nips” on people who are inadvertently in their area. Both have been seen recently in Island waters. Great white sharks aren’t seen as often around the Island as they are on Cape Cod because there isn’t a huge number of seals to attract them.

According to the International Shark Attack File, a comprehensive database of more than 6,800 known shark attacks from the early 1500s to the present from the University of Florida, there have been only six unprovoked shark attacks in Massachusetts since 1837. The same database estimates that there’s a 1 in 11.5 million chance that a person is attacked by a shark, and a less than 1 in 2.641 million chance that a shark attack is fatal.

Wendy Benchley, wife of “Jaws” author Peter Benchley, told The Times that she recognizes fear that might come from a suspected shark bite, and added that even she is careful when she swims. “The fear of a shark bite or death by shark is, of course, very strong in humans,” she said.

But as someone who advocates for the ocean and sharks, she said that as opposed to decades ago, when sharks weren’t seen as much along the East Coast, the “ocean is a bit healthier now because seals are protected, and sharks are coming back.” 

Editor’s note: Updated to include more information about the beach closure and interviews with Greg Skomal, Wendy Benchley, and James Hagerty as well as data from the International Shark Attack File.