Dead Shark Found Washed Ashore On Long Island Beach: DEC

LONG ISLAND, NY — Biologists confirmed a sand tiger shark washed ashore at Smith Point County Park in Shirley on Saturday; however, a necropsy was unable to be conducted to determine its cause of death before its carcass was disposed of, the state Department of Environmental Conservation told Patch.

Dead sharks and sturgeon will occasionally wash ashore with the mortalities occurring due to fishery interactions, boating, predation, parasitism, or other natural causes, a DEC spokesman said.

The agency collects information on the location, species, length, sex, and condition of the marine life, and if possible, the carcass is retrieved by staff and a necropsy is conducted to identify a potential cause of death.

Biological samples are collected and shared with several academic and scientific researchers in the state and across the country to facilitate multiple ongoing biological studies.

The efforts improve the understanding on the mortalities, which can help inform fisheries management.

The agency is asking that if anyone who encounters a dead shark or sturgeon, to not handle it and leave it where it is, as possession is prohibited. The DEC's salvage program can be helped by reporting observations of the fish to the DEC’s Marine Life Incident Report online survey or by calling 845-256-3073 for sturgeon found in the Hudson River Region or 631-444-0444, for sharks and sturgeon found in New York’s marine waters.

When reporting a shark or sturgeon, the agency asks for the exact coordinates, estimated total length, condition such as fresh or decomposed, as well as if there are any signs of trauma present, and photographs.