This summer, shark bites brought national attention to North Carolina beaches. Two young people lost parts of their arms to sharks while swimming near Oak Island. During this week’s CoastLine Candidate Forum, all Oak Island Mayoral candidates agreed that more needs to be done to lower the risk of shark attacks.
All four mayoral candidates say this summer’s shark bites were a wakeup call for Oak Island. Cin Brochure, the current Tourism Director for the City of Southport, says the issue has been on her mind since she lives near one of the sites:
"As mayor of Oak Island, I would request and suggest to the city manager and city council that they immediately put in some type of crisis response team, or crisis plan – have it ready by next summer because we have to ensure our visitors, since our economic engine is tourism, that they’re safe and they can swim in our waters and we have a way of protecting them if they are there and visiting."
Oak Island businessman Richard D’Anjolell also calls for an emergency response plan. As an avid surfer, he says ocean goers should be informed of safe practices, such as avoiding swimming near shark fishing sites. Bill Moyer, owner of Termite Detection Systems, says the town handled the situation as best as they could at the time, but that a better response plan is necessary going forward.
Darrell Vickers is Secretary of Brunswick County’s GOP. He’s also a retired college administrator and engineer. He suggests an early warning system to detect sharks, possibly using drone technology:
"We need to have a protocol in place that says, as soon as you see one, beware that there may be others in the area. And we do have ambassadors up and down the beach with megaphones. The first thing I’d have us do in the protocol is notify the beach goers that there is a shark sighting and respond to that."