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A 65-year-old woman was bitten by a shark Monday afternoon at Rockaway Beach, the authorities said, in what appears to have been the first confirmed shark bite in New York City in decades.
A shark bit the woman on her left leg as she swam near Beach 59th Street, a spokeswoman for the New York City parks department said. The woman had been swimming alone and lifeguards heard her screaming for help, according to a police report.
Lifeguards removed her from the water, applied a tourniquet, and administered first aid before emergency responders took the woman to Jamaica Hospital in critical condition.
“We hope for a full recovery for this swimmer,” the spokeswoman, Meghan Lalor, said in a statement. “Though this was a frightening event, we want to remind New Yorkers that shark bites in Rockaway are extremely rare.”
A spokesman for the New York City Police Department said on Tuesday morning that the woman’s condition was “serious but stable.” The woman is believed to have lost about 20 pounds of flesh because of the bite, according to the police report. (The parks department initially misreported that she was 50 years old.)
Lifeguards ordered everyone to exit the water after the woman was bitten, and helicopters searched for sharks but did not spot any. The beach was closed for swimming and surfing on Tuesday.
Park officials described Monday’s shark bite as the first on Rockaway Beach “in recent memory.”
“It’s not very common that we would see this,” said Gavin Naylor, the program director of the International Shark Attack File.
But he noted that bait fish, such as blue fish and bunker fish, had become more plentiful in recent years in the Long Island region, and that the water quality appeared to be improving.
“That brings in a lot of animals that belong there that haven’t been there for a while, and with that, we get the animals that prey on them,” Mr. Naylor said.
“We can expect that as the ecosystem recovers that we’re going to see a bit more of that,” he said, adding that people should be more educated about the increased risks of being in the water.
Mr. Naylor said that it would be possible to identify the type of shark that bit the woman on Monday once more was known about her injury and how deep the water was where she was swimming.
By midday Tuesday, Beach 59th Street was largely deserted. A Police Department helicopter whirred overhead, and police vehicles moved slowly down the boardwalk, lights flashing. Red flags prohibiting swimming flapped in the wind along the length of the shore.
But a few beachgoers were making the most of the sunny day.
Nancy Ugalde, 58, a Brooklyn resident, was set up on a colorful beach blanket with two relatives. They had planned to swim on Tuesday, she said, and they were alarmed to hear that a woman had been bitten by a shark.
Beach 59th Street is her favorite stretch of the Rockaways, Ms. Ugalde said, describing it as a quiet area that is secluded from the crowds further down the shore. In her 30 years of visiting the beach, she had never heard of another shark attack.
“I’m not going in there today until they say it’s OK to go in,” Ms. Ugalde said. “It’s very scary.”
All of Rockaway’s beaches were closed for one day last July because of shark sightings, leaving only the boardwalk open to beachgoers.
The last known potential shark bite at Rockaway was in 2017, according to Patch.com, which reported that a surfer, Michah Behrend, required 40 stitches in his right foot after the incident.
A baby great white shark was spotted near where Mr. Behrend had been surfing, but one expert told Patch that the wounds didn’t appear to have been caused by a shark.
Mr. Behrend, 38, said Tuesday that he never found out what exactly caused the wound on his foot. He said that he was out surfing at Rockaway as recently as Saturday, and had heard of recent shark sightings in the area.
“The water temperatures are warmer than usual, I think that’s been drawing the sharks in,” Mr. Behrend said. But he said that the sightings and Monday’s attack wouldn’t deter him from surfing when the beach reopens.
“I don’t think sharks technically like humans, but I think you just need to be careful when going out at certain times of day,” Mr. Behrend said, adding that he loved the ocean and visited the beach every week.
“You have to be respectful of the ocean and the things inside of it and be mindful of when you’re out there,” he said.
While shark bites in New York City are almost unheard of, they are somewhat less rare on Long Island, where five people were bitten over two weeks last summer, according to The Long Island Press.
Eliza Fawcett and Chelsia Rose Marcius contributed reporting.
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