Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live At Daybreak

Santa Rosa Island Authority Director Discusses Shark Attacks

Aired July 17, 2001 - 07:23   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Three shark attacks over the weekend in Florida have raised awareness of the dangers of swimming in the ocean. Two of those attacks, one almost fatal to an eight-year-old boy, occurred in the Gulf of Mexico near Pensacola, Florida. The other was on Florida's east coast near the Georgia line.

CNN's David Mattingly is in Pensacola with more.

David, are people really beginning to think twice about going into the water now?

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, here on the Florida Panhandle the sun is just beginning to come up for what promises to be another hot, sunny, summery day here on the Panhandle here at Pensacola Beach. But it was just that kind of day that young Jessie Arbogast was attacked while walking in knee-deep water just a few miles down the beach here at Gulf Island National Seashore. And then again on Sunday, just off the waters here, a surfer by the name of Michael Waters, age 48, was bitten while on his surfboard just 100 yards off the surf.

Now the question is two sharks less than 10 days less than 10 miles apart, is there a problem here and should people be concerned? Well, to answer that question we have with us Monte Blews who is the director of the Santa Rosa Island Authority. And it is your responsibility to make sure the bathers here are safe. You maintain and run the guard stations here. Is there a problem on these beaches?

MONTE BLEWS, DIRECTOR, SANTA ROSA ISLAND AUTHORITY: No, there is not a problem on the beaches. It's been about 10 years since there's been a shark incident at Pensacola Beach, at least that we know of, and our records indicate it's been over 92 years since there's been a fatality, but there is not a problem.

MATTINGLY: You're a lifelong resident, you've grown up on these beaches,...

BLEWS: Right.

MATTINGLY: ... you've swum in these waters all your life.

BLEWS: Right.

MATTINGLY: Have you ever had a close encounter with a shark? BLEWS: Nope, never seen one in the water.

MATTINGLY: What's going on now that may not have been going on in the past that might have contributed to this?

BLEWS: What appears to be going on, we're not too sure, but there are incidents of sharks that congregate in the summertime along these stretches of beaches in -- probably within the Gulf of Mexico. We have a lot of people out. We have people out at the time that the animals are there. It just happens to be part of nature.

MATTINGLY: When you come out today -- when your guards are out here today, what are they looking for when they watch the water while the bathers are in there?

BLEWS: The guards will be looking for any activity that indicates there are sharks in the area or if they see congregations of bait fish that may attract them. And if they feel there's a dangerous situation or antagonistic attack modes, if you will, from the sharks, they'll pull the swimmers out of the water.

MATTINGLY: Now this surfer, Michael Waters, was attacked just about 100 yards off the surf from where we're standing.

BLEWS: No, not really. He was four miles down to my right.

MATTINGLY: Four miles.

BLEWS: Right. Out of the guarded area.

MATTINGLY: He complained that fisherman were throwing fish into the water and perhaps creating a situation where sharks would come into the area and feed. Was that happening?

BLEWS: That's not really an accurate description. We've had fisherman on these -- in fact, the pier behind me is a new one -- had been fishing off the pier for 50, 60 years. And in fact, they used to clean fish more aggressively and we don't allow fish to be cleaned there, only can be -- essentially be gutted, if you will. So we don't believe that contributed to the attack and we have no evidence that it did.

MATTINGLY: Last weekend was a big weekend for you. On Saturday, you had the Air Force Blue Angels performing over the beach. There were how many people on the beach -- hundreds of thousands?

BLEWS: Between 150,000 and 200,000 people were on this beach last Saturday.

MATTINGLY: But it was the next day, Sunday, that you had a regular crowd, say tens of thousands of people on the beach as opposed to hundreds of thousands,...

BLEWS: That's correct.

MATTINGLY: ... and that's when the attack occurred. BLEWS: That is correct.

MATTINGLY: Could you have anticipated this?

BLEWS: No, you really can't anticipate it. I think that Mr. Waters, the gentlemen that was -- I believe he had a shark encounter east of here, he swam over a school of bait fish and saw the shadow of what he believes to be a shark underneath it. That's a totally natural occurrence, and you really can't control Mother Nature.

MATTINGLY: In light of these two attacks, are you doing anything differently now that you perhaps weren't doing before?

BLEWS: The only thing we're doing different that we have now prohibited shark fishing on the pier behind me, which is the longest fishing pier in the Gulf of Mexico, but our program is good. We patrol, we protect and we think we have a good program to let people come down and have a good time.

MATTINGLY: There are approximately a thousand or so hotel rooms here. You're going to have -- expecting to have a capacity week and I understand this coming weekend.

BLEWS: Yes.

MATTINGLY: Will you be looking for anything special in the water this weekend?

BLEWS: We'll be looking like we all do, just to protect the people.

MATTINGLY: OK, thank you, Monte Blews, director of the Santa Rosa Island Authority.

And we'll toss it back to you now in Atlanta.

LIN: All right, thank you very much. Dave Mattingly is going to be part of CNN's special coverage all day.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com