Shark bites spiked on Hilton Head in July, lifeguards say. Which species is the culprit?

Hilton Head Island lifeguards received three reports of apparent shark bites in July. Although injuries were minor, the number represents an unusual spike relative to typical summer months.

“Typically, we get two or three bites a year. That’s our average (on Hilton Head),” said local “shark whisperer” Chip Michalove , a Hilton Head charter captain who catches, tags and releases great white sharks in partnership with the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy. “Occasionally we’ll have a blowup one season where we have half a dozen or so.”

Because all three bites occurred in shallow water, Michalove guessed that the culprits in July’s incidents — as well as in 99% of attacks in the Hilton Head area — were blacktip sharks, a relatively small species known to hang out near the shore as they feed on schools of fish. Most weigh about 50 pounds — “just not big enough to do the type of damage that a tiger shark, bull shark or great white could do,” according to Michalove.

“As those (schools of fish) get close to the beach, you get these blacktips that are zipping through the schools and competing with their buddies,” Michalove told The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette. “And our water is not real crystal clear; occasionally they’ll grab an arm or a leg and do a bit of damage.”

If anything, Michalove was surprised Hilton Head got through May and June of 2024 without any reported shark bites, he said. The captain also expressed concerns over stringrays, whose venomous barbs send hundreds of local swimmers to the hospital every year. Experts recommend doing the “stingray shuffle” by dragging your feet through the sand as you enter the water, which usually scares away the skittish fish.

While swimming in the ocean always comes with risks, Michalove says vacationers and locals shouldn’t be afraid of enjoying their beach trip. “We haven’t had a shark bite fatality in South Carolina in the modern era, much less in Hilton Head,” he said.

3 bites in July: How did they happen?

The first bite happened on July 4 around 3 p.m., when beachgoer Ashley Wise was waist-deep in the water at Sea Pines, WJCL reported early this month. Suddenly, she felt sharp teeth piercing the skin of her foot.

Wise was unable to walk, so a friend carried her to shore, she said. An ambulance took her to Hilton Head Hospital, where surgeons operated on sliced tendons on the bottom of her foot. She returned for a second surgery three days later.

Only five days separated two other likely shark encounters later that month: On July 22, a woman swimming near Beach Marker 26 in Sea Pines was bitten in the foot but quickly controlled the bleeding, telling beach patrol she did not want to be taken to the hospital.

On July 27, Statesboro resident Tyler Hall was wading chest-deep at Burkes Beach around 3:30 p.m. when he felt teeth “clamp down” on his foot . The injury called for nine stitches and a brief break from work.

Another tourist from North Augusta, SC experienced a close encounter while swimming at Alder Beach on July 5, about an hour after lifeguards had reopened the water following a suspected shark sighting. Feeling “several hard bumps” on both hips, the 62-year-old visitor reportedly looked down to see three lemon sharks in the water around him. He wasn’t bitten, but the run-in left him with scrapes and bruises to both hips, he told The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette.

The July 4 incident was also the first bite reported on Hilton Head this year, according to Mike Wagner of Shore Beach Service, the island’s privately contracted beach patrol .

Sharks are frequently present in the waters of South Carolina beaches, but they are mostly disinterested in humans, according to Bryan Frazier, the principal shark researcher at the state’s Department of Natural Resources.

“They are there most of the time. We don’t see them because the water is murky, but they are there,” Frazier told The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette last year. “They live in the ocean and they feed in that surf zone because there is bait in that surf zone.”

Lifeguards from Shore Beach Service are trained to monitor the water for sharks and provide medical care in the event of an attack. Staff also look out for fish jumping from the ocean, which is a sign that sharks are nearby.

Captain Michalove says swimmers should also avoid areas where pelicans are “dive-bombing” into the water, and especially near crab pots or shrimp boats that come close to shore. Sharks are known to cruise behind shrimp boats looking for an easy meal.

“I remember fishing off a beach, and when a shrimp boat was coming in close, all of our rods would go off with sharks, because those sharks follow the shrimp boats like crazy,” he said.