FERNANDINA BEACH, Fla. — A man is recovering after getting bitten by a shark while fishing in a Nassau County river Friday, the sheriff said.
Nassau County Sheriff Bill Leeper said the man needed a tourniquet applied and was flown to a hospital in Jacksonville. Leeper said he was fishing on Amelia River near WestRock paper mill when he caught a shark around 11:00 a.m.
“When he got it up out of the water, it lunged and grabbed a hold of his forearm,” Leeper said. “Which had a pretty bad bite, lost a lot of blood. So he’s in serious condition.”
Leeper said several other people were on the boat when the sheriff’s marine unit had to apply the tourniquet around the man's arm and brought him to the Fort Clinch boat ramp. First Coast News learned from a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officer and a man who works at a nearby marina that the man bitten by the shark is a local charter boat captain.
Leeper wasn’t able to say how big nor what kind of shark it was that bit the man because he said it was tossed back in the water as everything was happening.
“Amelia River, particularly right there by Fort Clinch and Amelia Island, a fairly deep channel in there so you’ve got some fairly deep water and there’s a fairly easy access to offshore,” said Dr. Quinton White, executive director of Marine Science Research Institute at Jacksonville University.
White said there are more sharks in the water now, which is a good sign that shows fisheries are returning, but Florida’s population is also growing.
“So you have more people, you have more sharks, you get more bites,” White said.
According to the International Shark Attack File, most unprovoked shark attacks in Florida occur in September.
Fernandina Beach’s Ocean Rescue lieutenant told First Coast News they have not had any shark bites at the beach this year or last year.
On June 13, 2021, a 13-year-old child was bitten by a shark at Seaside Park, the Fernandina Beach Fire Department said. A 17-year-old male and a 30-year-old man were bitten by sharks in Fernandina Beach's Seaside Park in July 2018.
OCEARCH's last ping of a shark was a 1,437 pound white shark named Breton June 7 off the South Carolina coast, but none in the immediate area. He was located near the First Coast in December.
Gladee, a female great white shark, was pinged near Jacksonville in mid-December.