Screams and squeals as LBI fishermen wrangle 7-foot shark

BEACH HAVEN — Watch out for those sharks!

On Sunday, fishermen in this Long Beach Island community reeled in a 7-foot sand tiger shark, which they briefly wrestled with on shore before letting it go. The moment was captured on video.

Off the coast of Cape May, meanwhile, officials this week were tracking a 10-foot white shark.

In May, Townsquare Media reported about the increasing number of sharks being noticed off the Jersey Shore.

Rutgers Marine Science Associate Professor Thomas Grothues said the sharks are being attracted by an increase in the seal population up and down the U.S. coast. The sharks are moving from the south to colder waters north of New Jersey.

Grothues said shark encounters are rare but swimmers should be aware and calmly leave the water if a shark swims by.

Sharks are not new to the Jersey Shore. In July 1916, five shark attacks were reported along Beach Haven, Spring Lake and Matawan — killing an 11-year-old boy and three young men ages 24, 25, and 27. The two weeks of bloody attacks spurred a panic that later inspired the story behind the 1975 blockbuster movie "Jaws."