Surfer Attacked by Shark Along the Sonoma Coast

A surfer was airlifted to the hospital at Salmon Creek Beach along the Sonoma Coast Sunday morning after being bitten by a shark.

According to surfers in the water during the attack, the shark approached the surfer from behind and bit into his leg and surfboard, causing a significant gash. Nearby surfers brought him into the shore and carried him to the parking lot on a longboard. A makeshift tourniquet was created by a bystander to stop blood loss until the firefighters, paramedics and other emergency officials arrived.

The surfer is expected to survive, but one bystander said the the injury was severe. He was transported via helicopter to a nearby hospital to treat his significant wound.

Salmon Creek Beach is part of NorCal’s Red Triangle, the stretch of coastline from Sonoma to Monterey Bay that accounts for nearly 40 percent of all great white shark attacks in the United States. The area is a favorite for great white shark due to its dense populations of marine mammals, the shark’s favorite food group. When the Marine Mammal Act of 1972 ended the slaughter of seals, marine biologists have noticed an increase in Red Triangle shark populations, due to the protected all-you-can-eat buffet of marine mammals in the area. The predators have been protected in California waters ever since 1994.