Incident Mar. 24, 2012 - Florida - Joey Coppola

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March 24, 2012
Joey Coppola
New Smyrna Beach, Florida

At approximately 2pm, Joey Coppola, 21, was surfing in about 4-feet of water near the south jetty at New Smyrna Beach when he was bitten on the foot by an unidentified shark. He had minor lacerations and declined medical treatment after the bite but planned on having a friend drive him to the hospital.

Source:
www.news-journalonline.com

Incident Mar. 20, 2012 - Australia - Billy O'Leary

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March 20, 2012
Billy O'Leary
Nobbys Beach, Gold Coast, Australia

Billy O'Leary, 20, was surfing at Nobbys beach on the Gold Coast with his best friend Tyson Kolkka. O'Leary attempted a trick known as a "floater" but when he fell he landed on a large shark. The shark turned and bit O'Leary on the back of his left leg. Noel Kolkka, Tyson's father saw a comotion down on the beach and came to see what had happened:

"I just ran down the beach and I saw Billy lying on the sand. The lifeguards had got to him fairly quickly and were binding up all of his wounds and stopping the blood flow."

O'Leary sustained two significant lacerations to his leg. See a picture of his injury here.

Warren Young, chief lifeguard, said the suspect shark was probably a bull shark, lured in by baitfish and murky water.

Nobbys Beach
Source

Source:
www.news.com.au

Incident Mar. 15, 2012 - Florida - Frank A. Wacha Jr.

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March 15, 2012
Frank A. Wacha Jr.
Jensen Public Beach, Florida

61 year-old Frank A. Wacha Jr. has been surfing for the past 50 years. Thursday was the first time he had ever been bitten by a shark. Wacha was surfing in choppy, murky water 120-150 yards off of Jensen Public beach when he felt something attach itself to his left arm.

"It felt just like I had been hit," said Wacha "My arm was out of the water," he said. "I looked over and saw this shark. We were eye to eye."

Immediately after biting him, the 5-foot bull shark let go and disappeared beneath the murky water.

"The first thing I thought was, 'I need to get a wave and get to shore,'" Wacha said. "Then I thought, 'I hope I don't lose function in this arm.' I knew I wasn't going to lose the arm because it was still attached."

Wacha was able to stay on his surfboard and paddle into shore. Lifeguards were able to stop the bleeding and his wife drove him to the hospital. The bite mark reaches from his forearm to his upper arm, thankfully there was no permanent damage.

Incident Mar. 14, 2012 - Florida - Sydney Levy

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March 14, 2012
Sydney Levy
New Smyrna beach, Florida

Valeh Levy and her 15-year-old daughter Sydney had just paddled out on their surfboards when Sydney was suddenly pulled off her board and disappeared beneath the water.

She surfaced again, a moment later and got back on her board as her mother watched in horror.

"She got back on her board, and there was her ankle … She put her ankle up, and she looked at it, and there was blood coming off of it"

The shark then grabbed her a second time.
Valeh Levy then sprang into action:

"I said, 'There's no way this thing is going to kill my daughter,' and I grabbed her shoulders, and I pulled her up on my board."

Mother and daughter were assisted back to the beach by two other surfers who saw the attack and came to their aid.

An ambulance was already at the beach because another surfer, 17-year-old Nick Romano, had been attacked be a shark moments before. Sydney was rushed into surgery but relased later that night.

Sources:
www.huffingtonpost.com
www.news.com.au

Incident Mar. 14, 2012 - Florida - Nick Romano

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Nick Romano, 17, was surfing in chest-deep water near the jetty at popular New Smyrna Beach in Florida, when a shark bit him on the back of his leg.

"I sat on my board and felt this tug, and I kind of jerked over and the shark bit on my leg. He said his first reaction was to try to bat the shark away. "I caught his tail, and I kind of pushed him off."

Romano recieved nasty lacerations to his calf. He was able to drive himself to the hospital and was released later that same night. Romano needed 17 stitches to close the eight inch gash on his calf. Here is video interview done by WFTV Channel 9 with Nick Romano.

Minutes after Romano was bitten, 15-year-old Sydney Levy was also attacked by a shark. The most likely suspects are Bull sharks.

There are more incidents of shark attacks in the concentrated area of New Smyrna Beach than any similar length of coastline in the world.

Source:
www.wftv.com

Incident Mar. 7, 2012 - New Zealand - Peter Garrett

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March 7, 2012
Peter Garrett
Arawhata Rd. surf break, Opunake, New Zealand

At approximately 7pm, 42-year-old Peter Garrett was surfing 100 meters off shore at the Arawhata Rd surf break a few kilometres north of Opunake when he was bitten by an unidentified species of shark. Garrett felt a bump on his board and when he looked down he saw a 3-foot shark on his leg. After kicking the shark off, Garrett made his way back to the beach. Two local vets, Matt Thomas and James Bruce, who were surfing at the time came to his aid. As they followed Garrett into the beach, the shark turned its attention toward them.

"We came in when it started circling us," Mr Thomas said. "It nudged my mate Brucey and tried to get his fins. Then I was like, bugger this, I'm going in."

After safely reaching shore, Thomas and Bruce were able to bandage up Garrett's injuries. Garrett sustained 10 lacerations, each about 2cm deep, to the back of his left calf.

Source:
www.sligochampion.ie
www.stuff.co.nz

Incident Jan. 18, 2012 - Australia - Glen Folkard

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January 18, 2012
Glen Folkard
Readhead Beach, Readhead, Australia

Glen Folkard, a 44-year-old tattoo artist was surfing beyond the breakers at Redhead Beach, something he has been doing daily for the past 30 years, when he was suddenly slammed into by a 10-foot long bull shark. The force of the blow threw him off his surfboard and as the shark bit into his thigh he was pulled under the water.

"He's hit me from underneath, he's grabbed me, he's turned me, took me under and then let go cause I think he had fiberglass in his mouth..."

As soon as the shark let go, Mr. Folkard climbed back onto his surfboard and started to paddle for the shore. With assistance from local surfer Nathan Visscher, Mr. Folkard managed to make it safely back to shore. Once on the beach, Mr. Visscher used his leg rope as a turniquet to help stop the bleeding.

Mr. Folkard spent several days in intensive care suffering from massive blood loss and needed 6 surgeries to rebuild his leg. Here is a picture of his leg 3 months after the attack.

Sources:
www.heraldsun.com.au
www.huffingtonpost.com

Incident Jan. 13, 2012 - Oregon - Steve Harnack

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January 13, 2012
Steve Harnack
Nelscott Reef, Lincoln City, Oregon

58 year old Steve Harnack is considering himself lucky after his surfboard was bitten by a shark. He was teathered to his surfboard by a 20-ft. long cord, after being hit by waves and seperated from his board for a time he made his way back to shore. Only once back on shore did Steve notice the damage to his board.

“I think during that time while my board was away from me a shark bit it,” he said, pointing to a deep puncture mark that travels through to the other side of the board. “All the surfers concurred that there’s nothing else that could have done this,” Harnack said, adding that, in 40-foot water, there is no way his board could have gone down far enough to hit the sea floor.

Here is a picture of Steve and his surfboard.

Source:
www.thenewsguard.com

Incident Jan. 3, 2012 - Australia - Michael Wells

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January 3, 2012
Michael Wells
North Avoca Beach, NSW, Australia

Michael Wells, 28, of North Avoca, was surfing shortly before 8pm on Tuesday when the animal latched on and pulled him down. He was able to swim to shore and raise the alarm after hitting it.
Mr Wells was rushed to Gosford Hospital where he was treated for a 5cm laceration on his forearm and a puncture to his wrist.

He believes that he was attacked by a bronze whaler. Witnesses reported the shark was brown and about 1.8 metres long.



Source:
www.news.com.au

www.smh.com.au