Spearfisherman speaks out after shark bite, warns of more shark encounters
A Florida man is speaking out and sharing how he survived a shark bite over the weekend.
Chance Armand, 28, was spearfishing off the coast of Florida on Saturday when he said he noticed an 8-foot bull shark. He said he had just caught a yellow jack fish and was hugging it to keep it from vibrating in the water to stir up the sharks while making his way toward the water's surface.
"I was making my way up ... and my spidey senses kicked in, and I looked down, and I saw this bull shark come flying up," Armand recalled to "Good Morning America." "By the time I realized that he was not going to stop, all I could do was just throw my knee in between him and my chest."
Armand said initially, no one in the group he was with noticed he was hurt.
"Nobody knew that I was bit," Armand said. "I just told them there was a shark down there, and so my buddy came over to help ... fight off the sharks, and with his mask in the water, he saw my knee filleted open. And that's when he realized -- he was like ... 'We need to get everybody in the boat.'"
Although the shark bite to Armand's leg left him bleeding, he said he only needed stitches afterward.
Armand said he spearfishes on a weekly basis and has noticed more sharks swimming near the shore.
"The problem we've kind of run into down here now is the Florida Wildlife Commission's recovery effort for sharks has worked phenomenally. We have a huge abundance of sharks down here now," said Armand.
Experts say the shark population is indeed rebounding, but the number of sharks is not near as high as it used to be in the past.
As their population recovers, the number of interactions between sharks and humans has also grown. Just last week, a beachgoer captured video of a shark close to shore at Panama City Beach, going head-to-head with a stingray.
Armand said he suggests others who are going out on a boat or going fishing not leave shore without a medical kit.
He said he didn't have a medical kit with him on Saturday, and if the shark bite he endured had been deeper, the outcome could have been much different.
