Minor suffered an injury to the hand
An indi individual was bitten by a shark in the waters off Catalina Island Wednesday, June 30. The victim was transported by air to an unspecified hospital, according to Los Angeles County Lifeguards. The agency responded to the emergency call at 7:15 a.m., Wednesday.
Multiple news reports have identified the victim, a minor, as a male.
Public agencies genrerally release the names of minors.
“1 patient sustained an injury to their hand from an encounter with a shark,” according to the LA County Lifeguards’ Twitter announcement.
The size and type of shark responsible for the attack was not confirmed as of the Islander’s editorial deadline.
News reports differ about the specific location of the attack.
County Lifeguards reported responding to Parsons Landing, at the northern end of the Island.
However, a spokesman for the Western Los Angeles Council of the Boy Scouts of America reported the incident took place near Emerald Bay.
“We can confirm that a camp youth participant sustained a non-life-threatening bite injury from a shark while canoeing near Emerald Bay,” wrote Lee Harrison, Scout Executive and CEO, of the Western Council.
“Our onsite doctor and paramedic immediately provided first aid and called in additional medical personnel who transported the individual to a hospital,” Lee wrote.
“Our camp staff quickly removed all participants from the water following this incident, and we have canceled all water activities as we work with Los Angeles County Fire Department,” Lee wrote.
“Safety is integral to everything we do, and we place great importance on prevention and preparedness to create the most secure environment possible for our participants,” Lee wrote.
“We provide a chase boat, which goes out before every water activity that takes place outside of Emerald Bay to identify potential weather and wildlife hazards and follows each group of participants back to shore. No hazards were spotted this morning,” Lee wrote.
The Lifeguards reported that the victim was kayaking with their father when something bumped their boat.
The victim reportedly reached into the water and was bitten.
As of 11:54 a.m., Wednesday, Lifeguards reported that the victim was undergoing surgery for the injury to their hand.
According to the Lifeguards, a 1-mile area around the attack was closed for 24 hours.
Shark attacks in context
Shark attacks are rare—yes, the media always says that, but it’s true. According to the International Shark Attack File, in 2020 there were four shark attacks (one fatal) in the state of California.
Catalina Islander archives show a shark attack without injuries occurred near Catalina in May 2012: a 15-year-old girl was paddle-boarding 200 yards from Catalina when a shark bit her board.
The girl didn’t suffer a scratch.
The last Catalina-area shark encounter to make the news was in October 2019, when a shark identified as a great white left a couple of its teeth in a kayak occupied by two San Diego men as they were boating near Ship Rock.
At the time, Dr. Chris Lowe, a marine biologist and director of the California State University Long Beach Shark Lab, estimated the shark as 12 to 14 feet long, based on the bite marks and tooth size.
Before that, in 2008, a woman in a kayak was reported attacked by a shark off Catalina.
According to news accounts at the time, a shark hit the kayak so hard that she was knocked out of the boat, into the air, and onto the shark’s back.
The victim in the 2008 attack didn’t suffer any physical injuries from the experience.
