Successful conservation efforts may be behind increased NY shark attacks

People enjoy the water at Rockaway Beach, Tuesday, July 19, 2022, in the Queens borough of New York. A number of factors, including warming ocean temperatures, are contributing to an expected proliferation of sharks along the New York coastline this ... more >Legislative efforts to preserve a certain type of bait fish are apparently working — and it may be part of the reason why so many sharks have attacked beachgoers off the coast of Long Island, New York.

A 2019 law passed by New York’s legislature outlawed the use of drawstring-like nets to fish for Atlantic menhaden, which overfishing had significantly depleted in 2011. The fish are a common food source for whales, dolphins, seals and…