Article updated at 2:12 p.m. on March 5
By Eric Heinz
About 10:30 a.m. on Monday, March 5, the city of San Clemente announced on Twitter that the waters it patrols would be closed due to a confirmed shark sighting near the Pier.
This is the first shark sighting of the calendar year. The shark was announced as a great white that was at least 8 feet long. The closure is marked from Lasuens Beach to North Beach.
— CityofSanClemente,CA (@CitySanClemente) March 5, 2018
The city closes its waters for four hours at a time during confirmed shark sightings. If no sharks are sighted after that, the closure is typically downgraded to a warning, but the waters are reopened. Today’s closure went into effect at 9:10 a.m. and was lifted at 1:10 p.m.
Intermittently throughout the spring and summer of 2017, shark sightings closed beaches from San Clemente to northern parts of Orange County. A woman was attacked by a shark at San Onofre State Beach in April, which was the start of closures and prompted studies of shark behavior throughout the area.
This is a developing story. More information will be provided when it becomes available.
Just one spelling correction: It’s “Lasuen”, not “Lausen”. 🙂
It’s “Lost Winds.”
Ha, ha. Yes, “Lost Winds”.
It seems like shark sightings are up recently. Both in SoCal and back here on the East Coast. Seems like we didn’t see them as much awhile back as we have in these last few years. Then again maybe it’s just me.