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08/28/2014 - Mathew Vickers - Maryland-Virginia

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alb
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08/28/2014 - Mathew Vickers - Maryland-Virginia

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Fisherman speaks out after shark bite on Assateague

Mathew Vickers walked into the water to grab the shark being reeled in, just as he'd done with the last two sharks he and his fishing partner had hooked Thursday morning.

When he reached down to grab the three-foot shark at Assateague Island National Seashore, though, he realized he'd made a mistake. While the last two animals had been weary from fighting the anglers on the way to shore, this one wasn't.

Before Vickers could get out of the way, the shark panicked.

"He whipped around and grabbed me on the foot," Vickers said. "It happened within a matter of seconds. It wasn't painful because it was so quick."

Vickers, 33, was taken by ambulance to Peninsula Regional Medical Center, where he had surgery Thursday night to repair the artery and tendon in his foot that were cut by the shark. He expects to have a skin graft in the next couple days.

"I'm OK," he said via telephone from his hospital room Friday. "I'm in pretty good spirits."

Vickers, who, with his friend, used the strap of his surfboard to make a tourniquet for his foot, says he's lucky that paramedics were in the area and he was able to get to the hospital quickly. Nevertheless, the recent Salisbury University grad — currently employed as a bar-back at Seacrets – says he faces a 6-8 week recovery period.

While this is the first such incident at Assateague Island National Seashore in recent history, park officials say injuries like this aren't unheard of.

"It's not extremely common, but we've had incidents similar to this," said Tracy Ammerman, chief of interpretation at the park. "It's happened with other fish."

Ammerman, who said the shark was released before officials could determine what kind it was, says it's not a good idea to go into the water as a fish or shark is being reeled in.

"That's a dangerous situation," she said. "Water is the fish's element. They've got a lot of maneuverability and strength when they're in the water."

Bill Justice, president of the Assateague Mobile Sportsfishermen's Association, agreed. He said while he can't recall any other shark bites at Assateague that had required medical attention, he wasn't surprised to hear of Thursday's incident.

Justice said releasing sizable fish and sharks can always be dangerous.

"You can take the highest level of care, but he's going to defend himself," Justice said. "When you've got something, he's under a lot of stress. He's going to do whatever he can do to survive."

Justice said most sharks reeled in at Assateague are sandbar sharks, but added he has seen hammerheads and even a few thresher sharks landed. Because the national seashore is a popular spot for surf fishing, sharks and other fish frequent it.

"When you keep feeding something in the same area," he said, "it knows where to come for food."

Alan Henningsen, fishes research specialist at the National Aquarium, said sandbar sharks, like the one that bit a child at Cape Henlopen State Park earlier this summer, are extremely common in the waters off Assateague. Juveniles, he said, are typically 3 to 4 feet, while mature adult sandbar sharks are about 7 feet long.

Henningsen said while he's heard of other fishermen getting bitten by sharks, it is not common. He said was unaware of it having happened in Maryland before.

Vickers said since moving to the Eastern Shore four years ago, he'd been shark fishing several times and had never had any issues.

"This one just wasn't as tired as I thought," he said.

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