San Clementes marine safety chief, Bill Humphreys, describes for the City Council how the citys drone can help spot sharks. (Photo by Fred Swegles, Orange County Register/SCNG)

This photo taken by San Clemente lifeguards drone, dubbed Pelican 1, shows a shark on May 21 about half a piers distance offshore, north of Mariposa Point, officials said. (Photo by Fred Swegles, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Dr. Chris Lowe, director of the Shark Lab at California State University Long Beach, addresses San Clementes City Council about recent increases in shark sightings off the coast. (Photo by Fred Swegles; Orange County Register/SCNG)

Marine Safety Chief Bill Humphreys provides tips on avoiding sharks at a June 6 San Clemente City Council meeting. (Photo by Fred Swegles; Orange County Register/SCNG)

When San Clementes summer junior lifeguard program begins on Monday, June 12, it will be different from past years, in deference to the sudden presence of swarms of great white sharks off the coast.

Since May, weve have over 100 sightings of sharks and this isnt just due to more people on stand-up paddleboards or more drones, San Clementes marine safety chief, Bill Humphreys, said Tuesday, June 6 during a presentation to the City Council. Theres more sharks. Until a couple of years ago, I had never seen a white shark from lifeguarding. (Then) the first time I saw one, I walked out on the pier and I saw three. Its a new situation for us.

The parents of 260 boys and girls enrolled in the current session of junior lifeguards have been notified that the program will go on and that safety will be the No. 1 priority.

It can still be fun, Humphreys said. It can still be very educational. You can learn beach and ocean safety, although we may modify some programs or activities. Its going to depend upon the conditions. For next week, for example, weve had some shark sightings and shark activity, so were not going to do some of the long-distance activities that we would normally do.

The chief addressed these scenarios during thepresentation.

Next week, he said, when junior lifeguards normally would hold a distance swim test for prospective captains and lieutenants, we are going to hold the swim test at the Ole Hanson pool. No sense in sending a bunch of kids out to the end of the pier strung out a long distance.

If the city has a shark sighting, junior lifeguards will be confined to beach activities or classroom instruction, the chief said.

The public, he said, should look to see if lifeguards are flying a yellow or red warning flag at the beach, then ask a lifeguard why it is not green. It may be surf conditions or it may be a shark sighting.

Before going to the beach, hear the citys beach, weather and surf report at 949-492-1011. Alerts are on on weather boards posted at the pier entrance and on towers up and down the beach, also on shark-sighting signs or on the citys homepage at san-clemente.org, using a link in the lower right corner to live beach camera, surf and weather.

Lifeguards now have a drone to hover offshore, looking for sharks. Humphreys said lifeguards also will do morning and ongoing patrols for sharks, observing from towers and on the pier.

Lifeguards maintain contact with other lifeguard agencies and with the Sheriffs Department, which has helicopters fly the coast and a Harbor Patrol boat out of Dana Point Harbor. Lifeguards can also contact with commercial fishermen, Humphreys said.

We are asking the public, if you see something, to notify lifeguards, he said. We end up getting a lot of reports late in the day someone saw a shark in the morning or the next day. There is not a lot we can do about it. The sooner you can report it to us, the more help it can be for everybody.

Reach city lifeguards at 949-361-8219.

Lifeguards also are discouraging chumming by fishermen off the pier, are considering a ban on fishing behaviors that attract sharks and are coordinating beach-closure policies with neighboring lifeguard jurisdictions.

What we dont want to have is one beach closed and the next beach open, giving mixed messages, Humphreys said.

Tom Gudauskas, a San Clemente resident with a degree in marine science from UCLA and father of pro surfers Dane, Patrick and Tanner Gudauskas, attended the council meeting to ask if the city and other coastal cities might ask the California Division of Fish and Wildlife to lift a moratorium on fishing for great white sharks, a protected species.

My love for marine life is spiritual, Gudauskas said, and I do believe in observation, conservation and our human nature to control our environment. I think the short-term solution to the protection and safety of all our beachgoers is to open the moratorium on fishing the great white sharks and reduce their presence in our area.

Gudauskas said the shark presence already has resulted in near-death attacks at San Onofre and at Corona del Mar within the last year and economic impacts including cancellation of a local surf school, cancellations of reservations at a San Clemente surf lodging and reduced orders for new surfboards.

And of course the Hurley Pro is coming to town and who knows what the decisions will be to run or to not run the event, Gudauskas said. When lives are at risk and economic forces collide with Mother Nature, we know those are difficult situations. Im just trying to open the conversation.

Humphreys said the city is assisting the Shark Lab at California State University Long Beachs shark-tagging efforts, acquiring buoys that will help track sharks.

Dr. Chris Lowe, director of the Shark Lab, told the City Council that the San Clemente offshore area has long been a nursery habitat for young great whites. He also mentioned Huntington Beach, Santa Monica Bay and Ventura as hot spots. The pattern that we see is that theyll find a beach, theyll be at that beach for a few weeks to a few months and theyll move between beaches, he said.

Asked if a burgeoning sea lion population might account for more shark sightings, Lowe said that legislation protecting marine mammals including seals and sea lions has brought a major recovery to those populations, which had been endangered. They are food for great whites. But he said they mostly populate the channel islands.

Mayor Kathy Ward thanked Lowe for working with the city and thanked lifeguards for increased efforts to keep people safe. She pledged the councils help if lifeguards need more equipment.

Keep in mind, we dont currently have a hospital, the mayor said.

TIPS FOR BEACH SWIMMERS

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Sharks bring changes to San Clemente beaches this summer - OCRegister