A shark attacked and killed a woman swimming near Bailey Island in Harpswell, Maine, Monday afternoon, marking the first such death that has been recorded in Maine's waters. An expert says it's his opinion that a great white shark was the culprit.
According to the Maine Marine Patrol, the woman, who is not being identified until her family is notified, was swimming when a witness saw she was being attacked by what appeared to be a shark, reports The Portland Press Herald.
Kayakers brought her and another woman to shore, and the victim died at the scene. The second woman was not injured.
"Shark interactions with humans are very rare in Maine," former University of New England professor and shark expert James Sulikowski said Monday night. "This is the first documented fatality ever in Maine."
He added that it's likely the woman was "mistaken as a food item" and his guess is that she was attacked by a great white shark, given how close to shore the incident occurred.
Sulikowski, whose research has been featured on the Discovery Channel’s “Shark Week” show, NBC’s “Today” show and “Ocean Mysteries” with Jeff Corwin, said it's clear to him that great white sharks are heading north to Maine from Cape Cod because their competition for food is growing.
He added that it was only a matter of time before a human was attacked because of Maine's seal population, and he believes the same shark may have attacked a seal nearby on Sunday. The seal was not eaten, but suffered a 19-inch-long bite mark that could only have come from a shark that was at least 11 feet long, he said.
He also warned that people should not swim near seals, because "we can easily be mistaken for a seal ... as a shark's dinner."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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