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American Morning

Is New Smyrna Beach Safe From Shark Attacks?

Aired August 20, 2001 - 09:17   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.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A shark rammed into my ankle and knocked me over.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When I looked around me, there was probably 20, 25 sharks everywhere.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: And those are comments from just two of the people -- two of the surfers who are recovering today from shark attacks off the coast of Volusia County, Florida in and around Daytona Beach over the weekend.

To find out more about that, and is it safe to go in the water, we're talking with Captain Rob Horster. He is with the beach patrol in New Smyrna Beach, where two people were attacked.

Captain, good morning.

ROB HORSTER, CAPTAIN, NEW SMYRNA BEACH PATROL: Good morning to you.

KAGAN: Is it safe to be in the water today off your beach?

HORSTER: Yes, I believe it is safe to go in the water. I've been doing this for a long time. Most of the attacks have been -- or the bites, as I like to call them, are down by the inlet area. But most of the rest of the beach is all fine. We do have extra personnel in that area just in case we sight a shark. We will respond appropriately.

KAGAN: Well, what's going on in that area that you call the inlet area? Are you seeing more sharks there than usual? Or is this just normal for that area?

HORSTER: Well, in New Smyrna Beach, we are just south of the Ponce de Leon Inlet. And anytime you have an inlet area, you are going to have fish that spawn in and out of the inlet -- bait fish. And you are going to have predators out there in the ocean.

Well, the surf contest we had over the weekend was just on the south side of that inlet. We had some murky water. And we had a lot of bait fish in the water. And a lot of times when you have a lot of people in the water, and mix all those things together, you are going to have some bites, unfortunately.

KAGAN: Well, did anybody think about that before the contest went forward?

HORSTER: Well, basically, this doesn't happen on daily basis. It's not something -- I mean, we deal with sharks in the ocean all the time. Anywhere in the world you go in the ocean, you are going to have sharks.

It's not a major problem for us. Unfortunately, when you have three bites in a day, and then two the next day, you are going to have a lot of attention drawn towards you.

KAGAN: So are we talking more sharks or more surfers or neither?

HORSTER: I'm sorry?

KAGAN: Are you talking there's more sharks, more surfers because of the contest, becoming more populated, or neither, that this is just kind of a freak incident?

HORSTER: Well, no. I'm saying when there's a lot more people in the water -- I mean, the surf contest drew a lot of people down to that one particular area. I'm not a shark expert. I'm not certain why these sharks are biting on one day and not the rest of the days. But we haven't had any bites for such a long time.

And then all of the sudden, you have two days you have bites. I don't know why. All I know is that you do have the circumstances down there that will create that kind of problem. We closed beach for half a day yesterday, which is a lot more than we generally do for any kind of shark sighting. But we're prepared. They are probably a lot less crowded today. But the beach is open, as far as I'm concerned.

KAGAN: The beach is open and looking beautiful.

Good luck having a safe day out there at New Smyrna Beach. Thanks for joining us.

HORSTER: Thank you.

KAGAN: And that's Captain Rob Horster, joining us from New Smyrna Beach in Florida.

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