Topline:
Sunset Beach in Huntington Beach will be closed until 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday due to aggressive shark activity. Beachgoers can still be on the sand, but they’re being asked to stay off the shoreline and out of the ocean.
Should you be worried? Jennifer Carey, spokesperson for the city of Huntington Beach, says shark sightings in the area are not uncommon. “The ocean is a natural habitat for marine life, so it isn't uncommon for sharks to be off the shore, but they typically don't exhibit any sort of aggressive behavior."
The backstory: The injured whale, a pygmy sperm whale, was humanely euthanized by a team from the Pacific Marine Mammal Center. An examination showed the whale was already quite sick.
"That's why it was trying to beach itself and the shark bite was probably just an incidental thing with a shark taking an opportunity when it came across an injured marine mammal," said Alissa Deming of the Pacific Marine Mammal Center.
Reported aggressive shark activity has shut down Sunset Beach — from Warner Avenue to Surfside Beach — in Huntington Beach until 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday.
Beachgoers can still be on the sand, but they’re being asked to stay off the shoreline and out of the ocean.
On Sunday afternoon, beachgoers reported an injured and beached whale near Lifeguard Tower 22, between 24th Street and Admiralty Drive. The city reported that bite marks from a shark were seen on the animal and that beachgoers saw “splashing and aggressive shark activity” before the whale washed ashore.
Jennifer Carey, city spokesperson, says shark sightings in the area are not uncommon.
“The ocean is a natural habitat for marine life, so it isn't uncommon for sharks to be off the shore, but they typically don't exhibit any sort of aggressive behavior,” she said. “The only time that we really initiate some sort of closure or take necessary precautions is when that aggressive behavior is noticed, and this obviously warranted that type of closure.”
Sharks mostly coexist peacefully with surfers and swimmers, Carey said. However, in some instances, they display aggressive behaviors such thrashing and splashing in the water, making contact with or bumping a surfer, or swimming at a fast pace towards a swimmer. When that happens, it warrants a closure.
Expert says whale was already sick
The whale, a pygmy sperm whale, was humanely euthanized by a team from the Pacific Marine Mammal Center.
Alissa Deming, the center's vice president of conservation, medicine, and science, said the shark bite was not the primary reason the mammal was stranded on shore.
After assessing the whale, Deming and her team found the animal to be “very sick, underweight” and “its condition was very poor and rapidly declining," adding that the mammal also had episodes of cardiac arrest. The center will perform a necropsy on Monday to determine what caused it to initially become sick.
"We collected a blood sample and we ran his blood work, and it looked like the animal had something called sepsis,” she said. “Which means it had a bacterial infection spreading through its entire body, which often can lead to multi organ failure.”
This species of whale, Deming said, typically dive very deep “so we suspect this animal was very ill and that's why it was trying to beach itself and the shark bite was probably just an incidental thing with a shark taking an opportunity when it came across an injured marine mammal.”
Given that pygmy sperm whales tend to be fairly solitary, Deming said it is unlikely whatever was causing it to be sick was a larger problem.
Public safety
Deming and Carey both advised beachgoers to pay attention to their surroundings and listen to instructions from lifeguards.
“I think the public should always be vigilant about their surroundings, not just with sharks, but with any wildlife that could be in the ocean sharing the same space as them when they're enjoying their surfing or paddle boarding or swimming,” Deming said.
Carey also recommended beachgoers download the Safe Beach Day app, which gives real-time beach conditions and notifies swimmers and surfers of circumstances such as shark activity, rip currents and stingray activity.
