Oceanic Marina owner Pete Pawlikowski says he’s never seen, or heard of, sharks in the Navesink River.
Are there, or have there been, sharks in the Navesink River lately?
How about shark-mangled seals?
An Associated Press story earlier this week reported that bull sharks — aggressive predators up to 12 feet long that can tolerate freshwaters
have been known to swim in the section of the Navesink River where the 15 wayward dolphins have most recently been staying, said Bob Schoelkopf, co-director of the Marine Mammal Stranding Center in Brigantine.
“In that area are bull sharks that go in there quite frequently,” he said. “You never know what you might be looking at; it could be a dolphin or it could be a shark.”
The story, meant to serve as a warning to dolphin-watchers, also reported that while no one has documented the presence of a bull shark in the river “in recent weeks,”
“quite a few” injured seals were found in the area showing evidence of having been attacked by sharks.
Really?
“I have been here 25 years, and I have never, ever heard of or seen a shark” in the vicinity, says Pete Pawlikowski, owner of the Oceanic Marina.
The marina is near the southern anchorage of the Oceanic Bridge, just a few hundred yards from where the pod of dolphins, estimated to have 13 adults and three subadult members, is still feeding more than two months after entering inland waters via Sandy Hook Bay.
Mark Wellner, Rumson’s Public Works supervisor, who’s been on the river for 35 years, says he, too, has never seen or heard of a shark in the area. But he and his coworkers had heard the AP report, which left them scratching their heads, he said.
Pawlikowski says there was a seal a few years back that took to sunning itself on his dock. The seal didn’t get out of the river before the winter freeze and died, he says.
But shark-bit seals? “People have seen seals recently, but not dead ones” or injured ones, he says.
More from the AP story:
Schoelkopf said it might have been a shark that one man recently tried swimming after [sic] seeing something big break the surface of the water; the man’s wife later reported the encounter. The animal probably was not a dolphin because it never resurfaced, which dolphins must do regularly to breathe, Schoelkopf said.
redbankgreen has a call in to Schoelkopf to ask him for more details on what he’s heard about sharks and seals here. We’ll update this story once we’ve heard back from him.
As first reported on this site, the dolphins entered the Shrewsbury River on Father’s Day and spent the next three weeks swimming between the Highlands Bridge and the Rumson-Sea Bright Bridge.
On July 7, they moved upriver to the the vicinity of the Oceanic Bridge. Other than one reported foray as far west as the midriver osprey nest near the Red Bank-Fair Haven border, the animals are believed to have largely stayed put within half a mile of the Oceanic Bridge’s western flank, often drawing small clusters of admiring boaters, jet-skiers and kayakers.
Schoelkopf and other marine experts have consistently warned that the proximity of the powered vessels is a danger to the pod.
Marine experts say the mammals were feeding on huge schools of bunkerfish — a favorite of he Atlantic bottlenose.
Historically, the sharks do come up area rivers, the most notorious event is described here: http://www.sharkattackphotos.com/1916_Shark_Attack.htm
And just because you don't see them doesn't mean they aren't there.
Sharks don't normally come to the surface ( unlike the dolphins which must come to the surface regularly ) and they do follow the fish up river here ( if the blues can come up river, the sharks can too ).
"We're gonna need a bigger boat!"
I call bull on his bull shark story.
"Y'all know me. Know how I earn a livin'. I'll catch this bird for you, but it ain't gonna be easy. Bad fish. Not like going down to the pond and chasing bluegills and tommycocks.
This shark, swallow you whole. No shakin', no tenderizin', down you go. And we gotta do it quick, that'll bring back your tourists, put all your businesses on a payin' basis.
But it's not gonna be pleasant. I value my neck a lot more than three thousand bucks, chief. I'll find him for three, but I'll catch him, and kill him, for ten. But you've gotta make up your minds. If you want to stay alive, then ante up. If you want to play it cheap, be on welfare the whole winter.
I don't want no volunteers, I don't want no mates, there's too many captains on this island. Ten thousand dollars for me by myself. For that you get the head, the tail, the whole damn thing."
Quint
If you go to answers.com and type in Navesink River you will see this in the last paragraph about the river…
"With an opening to the Atlantic, the Navesink provides excellent fishing. It can even bring in some species of larger fish such as tuna and sharks which enter the mouth of the river to mate and feed on smaller fish swimming outward. Beware of sand tigers, makos, and bull sharks late in the season."
The jerk who was trying to swim (with what he apparently thought was a dolphin, and most likely was) should get locked up for stupidity. Forget sharks, if the dolphin wanted to kill him it could have, leave them alone, and go to Sea World Benny. I've lived on the river all my life and have never seen a shark, but that doesn't mean they are never there. You still got a better chance of getting killed with a deer antler though.
3 years ago my brother and I wrestled a spider crab to its death in Clay Pit Cove. This crab's body was 6' in diameter and had a claw-to-claw length of over 14'.
We were able to finally overcome the great beast and as we stood in the mud, side by side, the monster uttered its final words:
"I killed John Mulhern."
"Here lies the body of Mary Lee; died at the age of a hundred and three. For fifteen years she kept her virginity; not a bad record for this vicinity."
quint
3 years ago my mother and i came across a bull shark in the metedaconk river in Bricktownship, right near the river intake of the BTMUA water treatment plant.
My Mom fell in and got eat up…. ever since then ive been ok…. at least thats what im tellen everyone,,
Besides..
I like to go swimmin with bowl legged women and swim between their legs.!!