A swimmer at Jones Beach on Long Island was bitten on Friday by “unknown marine life” and was treated for a non-life-threatening foot injury, state officials said, in what was believed to be New York’s first shark attack of the season.
The swimmer, who was not identified, was attacked around noon in the water off the island’s South Shore and sustained “lacerations to the right foot,” according to a statement from the State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. The swimmer was treated at Nassau County University Medical Center Hospital, the statement said.
Swimming was immediately suspended at the beach but resumed an hour later after “no sharks or other dangerous marine life were observed,” according to the statement.
Officials could not confirm on Friday that the bite came from a shark. But a spate of shark sightings in recent days has prompted officials to close parts of New York beaches, denying some sunbathers a reprieve from the brutal heat wave coinciding with the Fourth of July holiday weekend. Sightings at Rockaway Beach in Queens and Point Lookout Beach on Long Island have led to intermittent closures.
The attack on Friday came as New York has embraced the use of advanced drone technology to surveil the waters for sharks. The technology has led to an increase in shark sightings in recent years.
In May, Gov. Kathy Hochul said that state agencies had added 16 camera-equipped drones — for a total of 46 — to probe the waters for sharks or large schools of fish that may attract them.
Shark attacks remain exceedingly rare — less common than being struck by lightning or being bitten by a dog. There were just 25 attacks last year in the United States, including one fatal incident, that were unprovoked by humans, according to an annual report by the Florida Museum of Natural History’s International Shark Attack File.
Jones Beach was also the site of what is believed to be the last shark attack at a New York State beach, in June 2025. In that incident, a 20-year-old woman had minor cuts to her leg while she was swimming in waist-deep water at the Central Mall beachfront. State officials said she was most likely bitten by a juvenile sand tiger shark.
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