This summer in the Rockaways, many an idyllic summer beach day has been ruined by a single fin. No, not a fin slicing through the water towards a swimmer as a John Williams soundtrack grows louder and louder. Instead, it's a fin in the form of a hand signal above the head of a City lifeguard as they blow on their whistle and order beachgoers out of the water because somebody flying a surveillance drone spotted a shark swimming nearby.
As a swimmer at a New York City beach, you have about a 0.0000001 percent chance of getting bit by a shark, according to one shark researcher's back-of-the-napkin estimate. Since 1950, it's happened to an average of less than one person per decade. Why, then, have City beaches already been closed 45 times this summer to avoid sharks?
Contrary to what one might expect, the uptick in beach closures isn't not happening because we know there are more sharks in the water. It's happening because of the drones City agencies are using to spot them.