New Jersey Shark Attacks

Dan Radel Asbury Park Press  The news story is about shark attacks on the rise, one of them in New Jersey last year, though not fatal. I wanted to add to the record, though the two incidents happened decades ago in the 1980's. I was attacked by a shark, but of course I never reported it. Nor did an acquaintance of mine, after I witnessed him get attacked. Both incidents were nothing to alarm authorities about.

We were clam treaders. I held a commercial license, my acquaintance recreational. Both incidents happened along a deep channel where large boats travel. I clammed alone minutes from sunset, up to my shoulders in brine where I worked the edge of the drop off lowering down into 15-foot depths. My back was turned towards those depths for a moment, when a tremendous pressure wave knocked me forward. I knew that had to be a brown shark, but a big one. They have teeth but don't use those teeth on people. But they will careen into you with great force. 

That's more like what happened to the other guy. The shark came at him at waist level, and he actually got his forearms underneath it, lifting it out of the water, which I witnessed. Not a very big shark. It appeared to be about four feet long.

Since it happened after the big one had me walking steadily to my boat, I immediately remembered that solitary incident. I had never panicked, but it made me feel uneasy. The size of the shark felt scary. Its pectoral fin must have come very close to clipping me with a lot of force. 

It's funny, but I remember the sun from just after it happened to me. Big and red, but still just a little sky underneath it, summertime. I walked towards the sun as I walked towards my boat. It's as if, on an unconscious level, I took enough of a scare to feel especially drawn to the life force.