Baiting hooks with pieces of shrimp and casting them out into the wind and waves, Ashlie Scott Newbie and Payton Lane knew a shark could nibble their lines at any time. But they weren’t too concerned. After all, they had seen them before.
“There were a bunch of them last night by the cleaning station,” Newby said Thursday. “There were some that were 8 feet long.”
Though the cleaning station at the Oceanana Pier in Atlantic Beach is high above the waves, the sharks were easy to see, the girls said. Newby, 11, said the pair caught their own small shark off the pier the night before. Other fishermen helped them get it off the line, but their close encounter didn’t discourage them from coming back to fish the next day.
“It was about three feet long,” Lane, 15, said, gesturing with her hands. Both girls are from Goldsboro and come to the coast frequently to fish. The self-taught fisherwomen pulled in mostly smaller bait fish like pinfish to hand off to friends who fish for larger catches — including sharks.
News of eight shark attacks in North Carolina — more than in any year in recent memory — has done little to keep beachgoers like Lane and Newby from the shores of Atlantic Beach and nearby destinations popular with Greenville-area residents. In fact, folks who make their living at the beach said business is bustling this year, from the fishing pier to hotel and house rentals, to shops that offer surf gear and the state aquarium, which last week hauled in crowds with its Shark Week exhibits.
“Every day I have people come in who ask about sharks out there,” said Mike Gurrera, 45, owner of AB Watersport Adventures in Atlantic Beach. “There are always sharks in the ocean, but you just want to use common sense and be aware of your surroundings.”
Gurrera, who rents kayaks, paddle boards, jet skis and other equipment tells his customers to avoid swimming in the evening or at dawn, when sharks tend to be more active.
Experts also tell swimmers to avoid piers and areas where people have been fishing, prime spots for sharks as small fish they like to eat are attracted to bait and fish scraps. Flashy jewelry and swimming with open wounds also are bad ideas.
Despite the questions and curiosity, Gurrera said customers are enjoying the beach.
“We haven’t seen it deter business,” he said. “We’ve actually seen an increase in business.”
Don Carpenter, 58, owner of Island Water Sports Rentals on the sound side of the island in Indian Beach, said a majority of his guests come in asking about sharks, but he tells them not to worry.
“There are sharks in the ocean, but you just have to use common sense,” he said. “And I’ve been out here for 26 years and haven’t seen any in the sound.”
Carpenter guessed that some people may be avoiding the water, but maintained that his business isn’t suffering. “We’re pretty much neck and neck with last season.”
No attacks have been reported from Atlantic Beach to Emerald isle. The closest were at Surf City to the south near Jacksonville, and at Ocracoke, well to the north. No attacks have been reported since July 4 anywhere in the state.
Atlantic Beach Mayor Trace Cooper, who also runs the Oceanana Family Motel and Pier in Atlantic Beach, said the town has not issued any formal recommendations to visitors regarding sharks.
“We regret that attacks have happened, but these were terrible accidents and most people understand this is a very, very rare occurrence among the thousands of visitors North Carolina’s coasts see every year.”
Cooper also is chairman of the Crystal Coast Tourism Development Authority and communicates regularly with other business people on the coast.
“Everyone I’ve talked to said they’re having record years,” Cooper said. “Our county occupancy tax revenue and numbers for June were 6 percent over last June.”
After the first North Carolina shark attacks, Cooper said officials called around and polled properties to see if they had seen an increase in cancellations.
“No one said they were seeing cancellations,” he said. The only effect Cooper said he saw was on the Junior Life Guard Program, which typically hosts 100-160 children 7-17 years old each year for a weeklong program.
“We had two kids pull out,” Cooper said. “But out of 160, that’s negligible.”
Carol Lohr, executive director of the Tourism Development Authority, said things are going swimmingly for the Crystal Coast this year.
“We have had an awesome year and we are so blessed,” Lohr said. “It’s been a really great season for us at this point.”
Lohr said it is hard to tell how many people have visited so far this year, but if all attractions are full she said she believed that the population increases from about 72,000 to 175,000 during the peak season.
“This is definitely one of our top years in recent memory,” Lohr said. “We’ve all been on shark alert, but we’ve definitely tried to calm any fears out there by encouraging people to use common sense. We want to continue this success through into the fall when we have our best fishing season.”
Fishing at Oceanana is good year round, people said on Thursday, even if they need to walk down the beach a bit before jumping in the ocean.
“We’re not going swimming around the pier,” Newby said. “But we’ll still fish.”
Thomasenia Harris, 57, of Newport, said she has been coming to the pier for about 11 years.
“They’re out there,” Harris said. “But they’re not interested in an itty-bitty bite of shrimp.”
Local fishermen are more concerned with the limitations recent shark attacks have placed on them.
“You’re limited in where you can fish, and now they’re starting to blame fishermen for drawing in the sharks,” Harris said.
“But people should know better than to swim near the pier. Swimmers can go anywhere, we only have two piers.”
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