Florida Beaches Closed as Thousands of Sharks Come Close to Coastal Waters

The spring break in Florida started with a temporary closure of several beaches along South Florida's Atlantic coastline.

This is because thousands of blacktip and spinner sharks were seen migrating in waters of Deerfield Beach Thursday, offering a long pause to beachgoers. The temporary closure of the beaches was announced by Ocean Rescue Capt. Mike Brown.

Marine biologists were quoted in NBC Miami saying that since the beginning of March, sharks were migrating from Boca Raton to Jupiter. The sharks were traveling toward the north after migrating to the south for winter.

"The sharks are not predatory, at least as far as humans are concerned, and in clear water are far more likely to just swim away," Shari Tellman, of Florida Atlantic University's Elasmobranch Research Laboratory, told The Guardian.

She continues to say that the issue arrives when the water is murky and there is a case of mistaken identity. There are chances of the sharks bumping into a person, and sharks have very rough skin. With a school of sharks so close to the coastal area, there are chances that they attract the larger sharks. But there's only a small chance of any problem.

According to a marine scientist at Florida International University Dr. Mike Heithus, the sharks are not very big and their size might range somewhere between 5-5.5 feet. For safety purposes, they prefer to swim along the beach because there is a narrow band between the coast and deep waters. And deep waters are where they don't want to be. The school of thousands of sharks are seen in an area close to the coast, reports NBC Miami.

Red flags were raised by lifeguards at the Midtown Beach in the Palm Beach area after spotting spinner sharks in the area, and they cautioned beachgoers to stay out of the water. It seems like red flags will be a common sight for some time, till the sharks steer away.

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