NY sends shark monitor drones across Long Island, NYC beaches

New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced the state is deploying 60 drones to Long Island, New York City, and Westchester beaches to help with shark spotting after five attacks this year.

The number of sharks dotting the New York shoreline has grown significantly in the last 10 years, Hochul admitted on Friday afternoon at Jones Beach in Nassau County, coinciding with National Shark Awareness Day.

“People didn’t think a lot about sharks until 1975 until Jaws premiered in all the theaters,’ the governor said. “We went from having once shark encounter in 2012 to eight a decade later.”

The drones will provide an unblinking “eye in the sky” to enhance safety for beachgoers. On Friday, 13 sharks were seen lingering off the coast of Long Island, according to Ocearch Shark Tracker, with most of them being white sharks.

Five people over the July 4 holiday were bitten off the coast of Long Island with limited injuries.

The increased number of sharks lingering along the coastline is due to cleaner water off the New York coast and their food supply moving closer inland — namely seals and fish.

As part of the $1 million plan, New York State has deployed scores of drones — adding dozens to the already existing set of 18.

The money will also go toward training and certifying drone operators to use the equipment, which sports a red and black casing, which Hochul showed off at the press conference.

The drones make three sweeps a day, scanning the water when the beach opens, around midday, and at closing.

In addition, pay rates for lifeguards have gone up to encourage the youth to “work here instead of flipping hamburgers,” so there’s more eyes on the expansive ocean.

“We need you, we need you, we need you to help protect our families and our children in particular,” Hochul said, regarding the lifesaving support of lifeguards.

“The state wanted to step up and do our part,” the democratic governor said at the press conference. “We want to ensure that none of our communities appear on Shark Week.

“[We’re] making sure we’re doing everything we can to literally take the bite out of any shark encounters.”

Hochul made sure to say she wasn’t ‘deterring’ anyone from coming to New York’s beaches, but that it was a “public awareness moment.”

Erik Kulleseid, the New York State Office of Parks’ Recreation and Historic Preservation Commissioner, said there are 13 species of sharks that swim near the New York coastline, saying that “they’ve always been there and we have to share the ocean with them.”

Nassau County Executive, Bruce Blakeman, also said the county was working with state and park police, as well as the US Coast Guard, to monitor the shorelines, especially along Long Island.

“What we’re trying to do today is make [beaches] safer,” Blakeman said. “If you take proper precaution… you’re going to be completely safe.”