A 39-year-old man is recovering in the hospital after being bitten by a shark while surfing off the California coast this week.
The incident occurred at approximately 5 p.m. near Big River Beach in Mendocino Headlands State Park. According to California State Parks officials, the surfer sustained injuries to both legs during the encounter.
The man, identified by ABC News as James Eastman, was helped by three off-duty lifeguards who were surfing in the vicinity at the time. Following their initial assistance, emergency responders from the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office, Cal Fire and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife arrived at the scene.
“So one of the thoughts was just like, ‘Oh my God, this is actually happening, this is an actual shark attack,’” Eastman told ABC News. “And I also thought of my wife and my kid and I was just, like, ‘I cannot die. I can’t die right now.’ I just went into that fight mode.”
Eastman was taken to Adventist Health in Fort Bragg. Authorities have not yet released an update on his status.
Under standard State Parks protocol, the beach was closed for 48 hours while the California Department of Fish and Wildlife conducted an investigation. In a statement to SFGate, officials noted that while sharks remain a vital component of the coastal ecosystem, such interactions with humans are “rare.”
Despite the historical rarity of these events, California recorded 10 known shark encounters last year, marking a record high for the state.
In October, British swimmer Chris Murray fought off a great white shark while swimming off the coast of Los Angeles. Murray had been attempting the 20-mile swim across the Catalina channel when the juvenile great white clamped its teeth into his outstretched hand.
Wednesday’s incident also follows a fatal incident in December, when 55-year-old Erica Fox was killed in Monterey Bay, the first such fatality involving a white shark in California since 2023.
In Mendocino County specifically, data shows only seven reported encounters since 1950. However, this is the second incident in the region this year — in January, a surfer survived an attack near the Gualala River, roughly 50 miles south of Wednesday’s site, which left his board snapped in half.
“Sharks are an important part of the coastal ecosystem,” State Parks officials told SFGate, though they reiterated that the department is continuing to monitor the area.
