Shark Bite at Centerville Beach Sunday Sends Surfer to the Hospital With a Serious Injury
Stock photo of a white shark, but at this point we don’t know what type of shark was responsible for the bite. [CDFW photo by Liz Hellmers]
The FVFD post stated, “The patient was transported by City Ambulance to a hospital.”
Emergency personnel speaking over the scanner said that the surfer had “Code 3 trauma” with a hemorrhage in the upper thigh that was being controlled with a trauma tourniquet.
The VFD post pointed out, “To [the] recollection of our membership, we have not had an incident like this. This is a reminder that there are many hazards to be aware of when you are at the beach…Please be safe.”
INFORMATION ABOUT EARLIER SHARK ATTACKS IN OUR AREA
The last shark attack (on a boat in this case not a person) we remember in Humboldt County was on August 28, 2020 in Shelter Cove when a kayaker was thrown into the water after the large creature chomped his vessel.
The kayaker, David Alexander, said he saw the shark chomp down on either side of the tip of his vessel. He told us. “He had the front of my kayak literally in his mouth…It was like he was smoking it like a cigar…It was surreal.”
Simultaneous to seeing the shark, Alexander was being thrown from the kayak. “I hear the thud.. feel the push and I’m rolling to the right,” he said. With his gear and his glasses falling into the water with him, he went under then bobbed up.
“I was probably about 4 feet from the shark,” he told us. “I’m in the water…I don’t know if he is looking at me, but I’m looking at him….When he hit the boat, I fell off on the same side his face…I could see both eyes–one side more than the other…His eyes are so dark…I could see his teeth and his gums. You see those rows of teeth…that’s something else.”
Earlier that year on May 25, a shark bit a kayak so badly that that it sank. We also interviewed that kayaker, Michael Thallheimer, Jr. He told us, “I was in the water maybe 15 minutes…It never left my mind the whole time that [the shark] might be going to come back. I had a freshly killed fish dangling around my feet because it was clipped to my kayak…I kept telling myself, ‘Be calm. Panic is not going to do any good.’”
In July of 2018, a woman received a relatively small bite at Trinidad Beach.
In 2012, a shark bit a surfer off the North Jetty. He needed surgery after the encounter.
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In September 2007, a Great White washed up on Centerville Beach. The Times-Standard had an interesting article on it. I hiked to the area to find the creature without success.
https://www.times-standard.com/2007/09/18/shark-carcass-washes-up-on-ferndale-beach/
Thank you for that article farfromputin. As an aside, I understand folks in Alaska who want to can actually see Putin. I would have taken that trek to see the shark carcass.
I think it was in 2012 that a big one beached itself chasing seals at the Klamath Mouth. The tribe saw it as a gift from the creator as the salmon season was off to a very slow start. They butchered it and passed out the meat to the tribe. Fish and wildlife was all pissed off because they have no authority over the tribe “poaching a protected species “ and they could only stand and watch.
Good for the tribes for not wasting what was an obvious gift from our Creator. I am baffled as to why F&W would consider this an act of poaching, when clearly, if the creature had beached itself, it was not. Their response was uncalled-for.
The shark is a highly respected, even revered entity in native Hawaiian culture. The ancient Hawaiians believed that the shark was the furthest manifestation a human could attain – if you reached the highest level in your evolution, you might be reborn as a shark, which ruled the sea with no enemies. If a pregnant woman craved the eye of a tiger shark, it was a sign that the child to come would be a powerful warrior, and this was the experience of Keku’iapoiwa II, the mother of the great king Kamehameha.
In the past, when they have been bounty hunted in the Islands (usually after a fatal attack), their skins have been turned over to the kahuna, the priests/spiritual authorities, who will purify them and put them to use as drum skins. And as of last December, shark hunting has been banned in the state. I don’t know the impact of this, or if indeed there has been any – the risk of a shark attack has always been incredibly small in Hawaiian waters. Since 1828 there have been only 116 documented attacks, and only eight of them were fatal. Statistically, you are more likely to be trampled to death by an elephant (be afraid).
https://dlnr.hawaii.gov/blog/2021/12/30/nr21-242/
I met one of the descendants of the king, while on a trip to oahu a few years back. We hiked up to a place called the dumps, it was actually above the dumps. Great Guy.
uh huh
There have been several shark incidents near the Humboldt Bay entrance and in the Moonstone area. I also know of two attacks, one serious and one fatal, of abalone divers at Kibesela north of Fort Bragg and another at Bear Harbor. I used to dive regularly at Kibesela, but never ventured out too far since deep water is close there. You just never know. They are there. That’s for sure.
I really hope that the man that was bit will recover from his very serious injury to his leg. We seem to be having more shark attacks up and down the coast, which seems to be from warmer than usual waters near shore. If he continues to surf God only knows what is lying in wait for another possible meal. Time to sell his surf boards and take up ocean fishing from shore or on a party fishing boat. Those sharks scare the hell out of me!
I think it might be more related to more surfers and kayaks and protected pinipeds?
Or maybe do to shark over population
Dude, there are something like 3,500 great whites worldwide. I know they are far from the only species that attack people but I think it’s safe to say that overpopulation is not the problem.
If someone gets in a bad car wreck should they sell the car ? No, get on the board an surf again brotha.
Sharktober is upon us!
Be carful all…
I was at Centerville beach ~ 2 hours after this surfer was attacked and I believe i saw the shark in question attack something in the surf. It had a very tall dorsal fin and an elongated top-half to its tail fin. I estimate the shark was ~12′, and believe it was a hammerhead.
hammer head this far north uh huh. if the shark was near a sea lion population then so are orca’s
[…] confirmed shark attacks that have occurred without a live attack, as defined by the International Shark Attack File. The Department of Licensing and Regulation can be reached at [email protected]. On October […]
The water was abnormally warm along the beach that day. Easily could have been a hammer-head, or some other type of warm water shark that are not normally in these waters. Typically only great whites are the main concern while in the water here, but the water temps have been far from normal this season bringing all types of different marine species to the area. Hope the guy is ok and has a speedy recovery.
Ya almost tropical. Lol
FYI, the three highest months for shark attacks in California are Aug, Sept, and Oct. This per the Shark Research Committee. http://www.sharkresearchcommittee.com/statistics.htm
I spoke to a surfer around noon today at the Co-op in Eureka. He said the victim is recovering.
Glad you’re alive Jared holy shizz!!
dont forget About the poor guy who got his head bit off at ft Bragg awhile back