Shark Attack Kills Man in Santa Barbara, California

An unidentified man was killed earlier today in a shark attack off the California coastline not far from Vandenberg Air Force Base.

The 911 call was made at 11 Tuesday morning to the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s dispatch center that told of a man being attacked and killed by a shark in Surf Beach, Lompoc.

A friend of the man was able to pull the body from the water, he administered basic first aid while another beachgoer called 911. The emergency services of the Vandenberg Air Force Base arrived on the scene shortly after.  They pronounced the man dead at the scene of the incident.

The man has been identified as 39 year old Francisco Javier Solorio (pictured below), 39, he died after being bitten in the torso. Lt. Erik Raney, of the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Dept told Associated Press that Solorio’s board had “visible signs of bite marks”.

Surf beach has been closed by officials from the Vandenberg Air Force base until further notice with the public asked to avoid the area for safety reasons.

This attack comes almost exactly two years to the day when James Ransom was killed on the same beach by a Great White Shark. He died of massive blood loss from the attack while surfing. In September, warning signs were displayed at Santa Barbara harbor when a 14-foot Great White Shark was spotted lurking in the water.

There have been other attacks along the California coastline over the past four months, in July a man was attacked in a kayak by a Great White in Santa Cruz, he survived. A similar incident occurred not in Cambria.

The International Shark Attack File (ISAF), which is compiled by the Florida Museum of Natural History, has confirmed that shark attacks are on the rise worldwide, despite having dropped in the US. In 2011, there were 75 shark attacks, 12 of which were fatal, that number was up six from 2010. According to the ISAF:

The numerical growth in shark interactions does not necessarily mean that there is an increase in the rate of shark attack; rather it most likely reflects the ever-increasing amount of time spent in the sea by humans, which increases the opportunities for interaction between the two affected parties.

The decrease in shark attacks in the US has been, strangely, credited to the recession, by the ISAF, who say that fewer are traveling within America. The reasons for increased attacks worldwide are varied, but primarily the ISAF are saying that tourists are traveling to new destinations that feature non-traditional recreational beaches.