By Queenie Wong
The Mercury News
MONTEREY, Calif. — A shark attacked a man who was spearfishing at the Stillwater Cove area of Pebble Beach on Friday afternoon, Cal Fire said.
The man was bitten in the leg around 1:40 p.m. and transported to the Natividad Hospital’s trauma center in Salinas.
Ryan Kearns, an engineer for Cal Fire, said that they believe it was a shark attack because of the bite marks, but did not know the species of the shark.
“It’s extremely rare,” he said.
The man was stable when he was transported to the hospital, but they did not know his current condition.
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Two off-duty deputies from the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office were wrapping up their day of fishing at Stillwater Cove when they heard someone had been bitten by a shark.
“One of the deputies on scene was trained in emergency field medicine and applied a tourniquet to the man’s leg stopping his massive blood loss,” wrote the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office in a Facebook post on Friday.
Officers in an airplane also searched the area and “spotted a large aquatic animal off Pescadero Point, which may have been a shark.”
The identity and age of the man has also not been released.
Signs were posted and the area was evacuated.
This news organization also reached out to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, which is reportedly investigating the attack, but have not received a response.
Sean Van Sommeran, executive director of the Pelagic Shark Research Foundation, said it’s the peak of the season for the adult white sharks to migrate near shore.
Fishing boats can attract sharks because they can smell the fish.
“Typically, they’re indifferent to humans or have a brief curiosity,” he said. “If there’s not any food or anything interesting to a shark then they typically pass right through.”
The Associated Press reported that according to state fire Capt. Josh Silveira, the man and his father were several hundred yards offshore Friday at Pebble Beach when the son was bitten in the right thigh.
Silveira said the man’s leg was intact but the bite was serious.
Silveira said there haven’t been any recent shark sightings at the Monterey County beach.
However, in March a great white shark attacked a kayak in Monterey Bay, knocking the kayaker into the water. He wasn’t bitten.
©2017 the San Jose Mercury News (San Jose, Calif.)