{"id":547803,"date":"2026-03-27T04:53:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-27T04:53:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/547803\/"},"modified":"2026-03-27T04:53:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T04:53:11","slug":"8-foot-great-white-shark-spotted-circling-surfer-off-west-newport-beach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/547803\/","title":{"rendered":"8-foot great white shark spotted circling surfer off West Newport Beach"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Newport Beach Fire Department Lifeguards <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DWXL0ySkgc0\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:confirmed;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;confirmed&quot;}\" class=\"link \">confirmed<\/a> that an approximately 8-foot great white shark was sighted circling a surfer in West Newport on Thursday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">In response to the reported sighting, which occurred at approximately 1:15 p.m. off 35th Street, the water was cleared one mile east and west of the last known location. The closure will last a minimum of four hours while tower and patrol lifeguards monitor the water.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Officials did not give any details about the surfer who was in the water when the shark was spotted.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The Newport Beach Police Department and Orange County Sheriff\u2019s Department were notified of the incident. A surveillance vessel was requested, and an NBLG Sea Watch rescue vessel was deployed to help search for the shark.<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"Newport Beach rescue boat\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"960\" height=\"540\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"rounded-lg\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/36fde5d470ac029b0269d254ef2adb32.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>A lifeguard rescue boat was spotted patrolling the coast of Newport Beach for a shark on Thursday, March 26, 2026. (KTLA)<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"Newport Beach shark sighting sign\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"960\" height=\"540\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"rounded-lg\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/b3ec8344cb3a3a16ff81e7be980909f9.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\u201cShark sighted\u201d signs were posted along West Newport Beach on Thursday, March 26, 2026 in response to a shark sighting. (Newport Beach FD)<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"West Newport Beach coastline\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"960\" height=\"540\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"rounded-lg\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/242b8c04b20ed8ae82b4ca8283f27ae0.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Sky5 was over West Newport Beach on Thursday, March 26, 2026. (KTLA)<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"West Newport Beach coastline\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"960\" height=\"540\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"rounded-lg\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/ca015316b719db4ead3c44d903984f8e.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Sky5 was over West Newport Beach on Thursday, March 26, 2026. (KTLA)<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Newport Beach fire officials said that shark sightings are rare along their coastline, and, when observed, they\u2019re typically just traveling through the area.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The public is asked to avoid the water in the area until the all-clear is issued.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">No further details were provided about the incident.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\"><a href=\"https:\/\/ktla.com\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTLA.;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTLA.&quot;}\" class=\"link \"> For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTLA. <\/a><\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Newport Beach Fire Department Lifeguards confirmed that an approximately 8-foot great white shark was sighted circling a surfer&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":547804,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[11342,36829,244196,79,61714,201],"class_list":{"0":"post-547803","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-great-white-shark","9":"tag-newport-beach","10":"tag-orange-county-sheriffs-department","11":"tag-science","12":"tag-shark-sighting","13":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/547803","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=547803"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/547803\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/547804"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=547803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=547803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=547803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}