Shark attacks spear fisherman
Man transported to trauma center at Natividad Hospital
PEBBLE BEACH >> A shark attacked a man who was spearfishing at Stillwater Cove in Pebble Beach on Friday afternoon, Cal Fire said.
The man was bitten in the leg about 1:40 p.m. and transported to Natividad Hospital’s trauma center in Salinas.
Ryan Kearns, an engineer for Cal Fire, said that the agency believed it was a shark attack because of the bite marks but had not determined the species of the shark.
“It’s extremely rare,” Kearns said of the attack.
The man was stable when he was transported to the hospital, but Cal Fire did not know his current condition.
The Monterey County Sheriff’s Office said two off-duty deputies were wrapping up a day of fishing at Stillwater Cove when they heard someone had been bitten by a shark.
“One of the deputies on scene was trained in emergency field medicine and applied a tourniquet to the man’s leg stopping his massive blood loss,” the sheriff’s office wrote in a Facebook post on Friday.
Officers in an airplane also searched the area and “spotted a large aquatic animal off Pescadero Point, which may have been a shark,” according to the post.
Signs were posted and the area was evacuated, authorities said.
The identity and age of the man attacked were not released.
Sean Van Sommeran, executive director of the Pelagic Shark Research Foundation, said it’s the peak of the season for the adult white sharks to migrate near shore.
“Typically, they’re indifferent to humans or have a brief curiosity,” he said. “If there’s not any food or anything interesting to a shark, then they typically pass right through.”
State fire Capt. Josh Silveira told The Associated Press that the man and his father were several hundred yards offshore Friday at Pebble Beach when the son was bitten in the right thigh.
Silveira said the man’s leg was intact but that the bite was serious.
The fire captain said there hadn’t been any recent shark sightings at the Monterey County beach.
In March, however, a great white shark attacked a kayak in Monterey Bay, knocking the kayaker into the water. He wasn’t bitten.