Thousands Flee From Santa Monica Shark Scare

Thousands of bathers rushed out of the ocean at Santa Monica Beach Saturday in a near-panic after being warned by a police helicopter that a shark was swimming along the surf line.

But when Los Angeles County lifeguards advised alarmed beachgoers that a dorsal fin seen knifing through the water probably belonged to a friendly porpoise, and not a shark, hundreds soon returned to the ocean. No injuries were reported.

Lifeguard Capt. Don Rohrer said that a Los Angeles Police Department helicopter was flying between Santa Monica Pier and Will Rogers Beach about 12:30 p.m. when the crew spotted what they thought was a shark and warned swimmers over the craft’s public address system.

“We probably had 2,000 to 3,000 in the water at that time,” Rohrer said. “There is a series of things (to do) when we want to clear the beach. The last thing we want is a panic situation . . . and we almost had a panic situation.”

The shark scare lasted only briefly, Rohrer said, because lifeguards had also seen a porpoise swimming off that section of the beach between lifeguard towers 9 and 10 and reassured their charges who had been frightened out of the water.

“We’ve had a lot of porpoises in the water for the last three or four years,” he said. “Sometimes when people see a dorsal fin they think we have shark, but porpoises swim up and down. Finning sharks stay on the surface for a longer period.”

The helicopter crew tried to reach the lifeguards first, according to Rohrer, but when their communications office did not immediately have the proper telephone number, they issued a warning.

“That won’t happen again,” promised Rohrer, who is in charge of the central section of Los Angeles County beaches. “We were fortunate that no one was hurt.”