A Jamaican fisherman is recovering after losing his right arm to a tiger shark.
Michael Simpson, 29, who makes his living from fishing, was working off the coast June 24 when disaster struck. He had been on the water since 8 a.m. with several other colleagues. In most cases, fisherman are dropped off in the water as one person stays on the boat and monitors the situation from the surface.
A little after 2 p.m. the group was between Half Moon Cay and Miller Bay when he felt something strike him.
At first, he thought it was one of his friends playing with him, as they all liked to joke around, but then he saw the shark.
He tried to stab it with his speargun but lost his grip and the gun sank. With no weapon, he began fighting the shark with his left hand, hitting it trying to force it to release his arm.
The Clarendon resident was able to cry for help and the boat driver headed his way. As the boat was coming, Simpson continued fighting with the shark. He said the shark was using his arm as an anchor as it shook him from side to side and believes it became more aggressive as the boat got closer.
He said the boat driver crashed into the shark which gave Simpson more shake which severed his arm. Simpson was pulled from the water and rushed to Lionel Town hospital before being transported to May Pen Hospital.
Despite losing massive amounts of blood, Simpson survived and gives thanks to God for his survival. While he feels proud he fought hard and survived, he is worried about his family’s future as he was right hand dominant. His son is about to graduate from high school and Simpson is the sole breadwinner for his family.
He has started the hard journey of learning to survive using only his left hand and, hopefully, will find a way to support his family.
Despite his own struggles, he hopes other fisherman in the area will be alert and careful when at sea so this doesn’t happen to them.
Fatal shark attack in Jamaica
Another fisherman was attacked by a shark in Jamaica in 2021.
Donovan Haywood, 53, was with a group of 10 fishermen May 1 when he lost his arm to a tiger shark.
The group was in Little Bay after 8 a.m. when the shark attacked Haywood. He fought the shark as his friends tried to pull him into the boat.
One person in the group shot the shark in the head, which eventually released Haywood after severing his arm at the elbow. The group tried to stop the bleeding as they rushed back to shore.
Video taken from the beach appears to show an unresponsive Haywood being loaded into a truck before being taken to the hospital. Unfortunately, the injury was too severe, and the fisherman died.
In 2018 a fisherman was killed by a shark. Nicholas Malcolm, 43, was fishing off James Bond Beach Sept. 19 when he disappeared. His shark-bitten dive gear was recovered during a search.
All locations can be found on the 2022 Shark Attack map.
