Following a shark sighting off Ashdod on Friday, the city has enforced a comprehensive closure of all the city's beaches until further notice, operating under its established shark protocol while awaiting full confirmation, though the animal is believed to be a whale shark, which poses no threat to the public.
Video: The shark sighting near Ashdod / Credit: Ashdod Municipality
Bathers were forced to go out of the water, and a black flag was raised signalling the water was off limits in all the city's beaches. "All of the city's bathing beaches have been closed at this time, after the rescue teams located a shark in the water. The lifeguards are operating in accordance with the city's shark protocol and are performing additional scans to preserve the safety of the bathers. We request that the public adhere to the lifeguards' instructions and avoid entering the sea until a further update," the city said.
As a reminder, last April, a shark with an approximate length of 2 meters (6.56 feet) was seen swimming near the Hadera beach. At that time, the reason for the sharks' arrival was apparently a large concentration of dead fish that had been washed into the sea from estuaries. Furthermore, the recommendation was to keep a distance from the sharks, since they are not hazardous to people as long as they are not provoked.
