Man left in critical condition after being attacked by shark that he caught while fishing in Florida

A man was left in critical condition by a shark attack, suffering a severe bite to his right forearm while he was fishing in Florida yesterday morning.

The man, who is in his 40s, was on a boat off Fernandina Beach, north of Jacksonville, caught the shark while fishing and tossed the fish back in the water after it bit him, Action News Jax reported.

The Nassau County Sheriff’s Office Marine Unit received a distress call over its emergency radio at 11:15 a.m. and when they reached the boat, they found the man had “lost a lot of blood,” according to a Facebook video the sheriff posted.

“Upon arrival, NCSO deputies found the victim with a critical injury. Acting swiftly, a deputy boarded the vessel and applied a tourniquet to stop the bleeding,” NCSO said on Facebook.

“The victim was immediately airlifted to a nearby hospital. He is currently listed in critical condition but is expected to recover.”

Nassau County, Florida, is about 150 miles north of Volusia County, considered the “shark bite capital of the world,” where there were 17 bites in 2021, according to the Florida Museum of Natural History’s International Shark Attack File.

Individuals in the state suffered 16 attacks last year, or 44% of all of the attacks in the US.