A couple of days ago, there was a fake shark scare in Newport Beach, CA.

The Orange County Register reports:  

source

“NEWPORT BEACH – The warning was clear: A big, aggressive great white shark is on the loose along the shores in Newport Beach, and beachgoers are advised to stay away from the water.”

Problem was, local lifeguards and the U.S. Coast Guard never heard of any shark danger. 

“I guess it was one of the local guys; someone who wanted to keep the crowds down at a break out there,” Coast Guard search and rescue controller Sandy Needle said about the notice. “There was nothing from the Coast Guard.” 

The warning – which appeared on official-looking letterhead that said “United States Coast Guard” in the notification dated Wednesday – was floating around on Facebook, claiming that three incidents should put beachgoers on high alert.

The article goes on to give the details of the warning which contained the following paragraph:

The third sighting, the notice read, came when two lifeguards got a call about an adult-sized shark that bumped two kayakers and swam away after the boaters struck it “with an oar in the gill area of the fish.”

So far so good, it looks like the media is responsible for once and instead of hyping up a shark scare, are trying to calm the public.

The article then states, how they recognized the warning as fake.

“Although the flier looked official, there were a lot of clues that it was a fake.
“There’s a lot of misspellings, and it called a shark a fish,” Needle said.”
Well there you have it. It called the shark a fish!  No self respecting Coast Guard representative would call a shark a fish! Everyone knows it’s not a fish, it’s a…. hmm, no not that, it’s a …… , I’m stumped! Any of you know?

Maybe I should be asking an expert in these matters.

You can read the entire article here

Cheers,
Martin Graf
CEO
Shark Diver

About Shark Diver. As a global leader in commercial shark diving and conservation initiatives Shark Diver has spent the past decade engaged for sharks around the world. Our blog highlights all aspects of both of these dynamic and shifting worlds. You can reach us directly at staff@sharkdiver.com.