By Angelica Martinez
UNION-TRIBUNE BREAKING NEWS TEAM
April 27, 2008
SOLANA BEACH – The family of the retired veterinarian killed in a shark attack spoke publicly for the first time at a news conference Sunday.
Jeff Martin said his father, David, “died doing what he liked, surrounded by friends, in a place he loved. Even through our grief, this gives us an inner peace.”
David Martin, 66, a longtime Solana Beach resident, was killed shortly after 7 a.m. Friday in Fletcher Cove while taking a training swim with eight members of the Triathlon Club of San Diego.
The county Medical Examiner’s Office conducted an autopsy Saturday and determined that Martin died from blood loss due to shark bites on his legs.
The wounds indicate it was a 12- to 16-foot great white shark, said Ralph Collier, a shark expert with the Los Angeles-based Shark Research Committee, who was present during the autopsy.
Solana Beach Lifeguard Captain Craig Miller said the attack “has affected the beach population immensely.” Typically, on a hot day, lifeguards would see thousands of people swimming, Miller said.
Sunday, there were a few dozen, most of whom heeded the warning and stayed out of the water. Because it was an advisory, lifeguards said they could not stop anyone from entering the water.
On Saturday, dozens of surfers ignored the warning and went in. Among them was Jeff Martin.
Nearly all white shark attacks on humans are “cases of mistaken identity,” said Richard Rosenblatt, a professor emeritus of marine biology at the Scripps Institute of Oceanography in La Jolla. White sharks prefer the blubbery flesh of marine mammals. Martin was wearing a full, black wet suit.
Martin had deep, jagged lacerations from his upper thighs to the lower shins, with a bite radius of about 22 inches.
The last fatal shark attack in California, according to data from the state Department of Fish and Game, took place Aug. 15, 2004, off Mendocino County. The victim was a man diving for shellfish with a friend.
Overall, shark attacks are extremely rare. There were 71 reported worldwide last year, up from 63 in 2006. [+]