Lauren Rabaino
Three credible shark sightings have been reported along the coast of San Luis Obispo County within the past two weeks.
The latest shark sighting was reported last Friday morning at a popular surfing spot in San Simeon State Park, in front of the Santa Rosa day use parking lot on the south end of Moonstone Beach, according to State Park Ranger Rob Chambers.
According to reports, experienced surfers Richard Shannon, 51, and his son Paul Shannon, 18, of Atascadero, were in the water about 150 to 200 feet from shore when they saw a large gray fin 2 to 3 feet out of the water.
“At first I thought it was a dolphin and didn’t think anything of it,” Paul Shannon said. “But then I noticed the fin wasn’t moving up and down like a dolphin, but was moving side to side and my dad yelled out, ‘That’s a shark!'”
They quickly paddled out of the water and alerted authorities.
“I don’t know what type of shark it was, but it’s possible it was a great white,” Chambers said. “They’re known to be in this area because of the various marine life, like the elephant seals.”
There were no other witnesses to the shark sighting.
A warning sign was posted Friday but was taken down yesterday.
Chambers said that the sighting had people concerned and that some people who approached him said they were not going to surf for a couple of days.
This is the first known shark sighting in San Simeon that has been reported to Chambers during his nine years as a park ranger.
Another shark was spotted June 27 when a boater reported seeing a 15-foot shark around 7 p.m. between the Harford and Cal Poly piers in Avila.
The sighting prompted harbor officials to close the waters at Avila Beach, Olde Port and Fisherman’s beaches for five days. The closure is mandated by a district policy introduced in August 2003, after a great white shark bit and killed Nipomo resident Deborah Franzman, 50, while she was swimming off Avila Beach.
The waters off Avila Beach and Port San Luis reopened July 3.
At Pismo Beach, south of the Pismo Beach Pier, a surfer spotted a great white shark on the evening of June 30. The sighting prompted officials to post warnings, but the waters remained open to beachgoers.
“There are sharks in the water all the time,” Chambers said. “We just want to remind people to be cautious and that they are in the shark’s environment.”