{"id":285192,"date":"2026-07-02T19:52:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-02T19:52:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/285192\/"},"modified":"2026-07-02T19:52:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-02T19:52:11","slug":"swarm-of-bull-sharks-shut-down-nycs-rockaway-beach-during-4th-of-july-weekend-heatwave","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/285192\/","title":{"rendered":"Swarm of bull sharks shut down NYC&#8217;s Rockaway Beach during 4th of July weekend heatwave"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A swarm of bull sharks shut down Rockaway Beach Thursday\u00a0\u2014 much to the disappointment of swimmers looking to escape the gruelling heat wave.<\/p>\n<p>Multiple sightings of the aggressive predators forced lifeguards to raise the red flags across the entire coast around 1 p.m., the Parks Department confirmed.<\/p>\n<p>The sharks\u00a0have\u00a0been playing in the waves for hours, officials said \u2014 there has been at least one sighting per hour since the initial fin was spotted.<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.49926794;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"39870221\" width=\"885\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/KevinCDowns_Sharks_Rockawaays_704479.jpg\" alt=\"Rockaway Beach\" class=\"wp-image-39870221\"  \/>A swarm of bull sharks shut down Rockaway Beach on Thursday after multiple sightings. Kevin C Downs for NY Post<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.07563025;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"39870223\" width=\"635\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/shark-attack-victim-094.jpg\" alt=\"Woman treated for shark attack on Rockaway Beach\" class=\"wp-image-39870223\"  \/>A woman is treated after an August 2023 shark attack at   Rockaway Beach. NY Post<\/p>\n<p>That meant the cool waters were cruelly out of reach for bathers during the hottest part of the afternoon when real feel temperatures reached 105 degrees.<\/p>\n<p>Beach lifeguards and staff have been monitoring the seas with drones to evaluate when it would be safe for bathers to splash again.<\/p>\n<p>Bull sharks are the same species that experts say attacked\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2025\/08\/09\/us-news\/nyc-bite-victim-celebrates-breakthrough-two-years-after-rockaway-shark-attack\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">a mother\u00a0who was\u00a0swimming at Beach 59th Street<\/a>\u00a0in August 2023, though officials say a thresher or great white could also have been responsible.<\/p>\n<p>Parks Department protocol requires an entire beach shutdown for multiple shark sightings, with closures extending one hour per additional sighting.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\tStart your day with all you need to know\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p class=\"inline-module__cta\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMorning Report delivers the latest news, videos, photos and more.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\tThanks for signing up!\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>Just one shark sighting would have meant a one-hour beach closure for the mile in either direction of that vicinity.<\/p>\n<p>The disappointment comes hours after a massive 9-foot shark was spotted at Point Lookout, just 15 miles east of the Rockaways.<\/p>\n<p>The big fish typically show up on the stretch of shores from the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2025\/07\/05\/us-news\/another-shark-spotted-100-feet-away-from-swimmers-at-rockaway-beach-prompting-closure\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Rockaways to Montauk around July 4<\/a>, which is when the waters warm up for the cold-blooded hunters and their scaly prey.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A swarm of bull sharks shut down Rockaway Beach Thursday\u00a0\u2014 much to the disappointment of swimmers looking to&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":285193,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7631,57,9,24,11,10,294,16200,58],"class_list":["post-285192","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-beaches","tag-metro","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-rockaway-beach","tag-sharks","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285192","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=285192"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285192\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/285193"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=285192"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=285192"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=285192"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}