Fla. Pier Crackdown After Shark Attacks

P E N S A C O L A , Fla., July 18 -- An 8-year-old is showing steady signs of improvement from the shark attack that nearly killed him, doctors said today — as Florida authorities moved to prevent a similar tragedy from happening again.

Jessie Arbogast is now coughing, yawning and moving his head sideways, Dr. Rex Northup of Sacred Heart Children's Hospital said Tuesday.

Doctors said the Ocean Springs, Miss., boy was still in critical but stable condition, and intestinal bleeding that began Monday had stopped. Organs damaged by blood loss were improving, they said.

Jessie's arm was torn off by a shark at the Gulf Islands National Seashore on July 6. Almost immediately after it happened, Jessie's uncle managed to rescue him, drag the shark back to shore and assist in prying the severed arm from the shark's gullet.

Doctors surgically reattached the arm, but Jessie lost so much blood his internal organs are believed to have been damaged.

He remains in a light coma, occasionally opening and fluttering his eyes. Doctors initially thought he may have suffered brain damage, but they say it will be some time before they will know for sure.

Blood in the Water

Meanwhile, officials at a pier near the beach where the attack happened say they will more strictly enforce a ban against shark fishing in the area.

Many fishermen at the Pensacola Beach Pier catch shark through a practice called chumming — putting blood and chopped fish in the water to attract sharks. About 40 have been caught at the pier since May.

But after another beachgoer was bitten by a shark last weekend — just 2 miles from the pier and 6 miles from where Jessie was attacked — authorities say they are cracking down.

Michael Lee Waters, 48, said he had just put his surfboard in the water when a shark closed its jaws on his left foot. He said he suspected fish remains in the water was what might have attracted his attacker.

"I could smell it and taste it in the water," he said.

Monte Blews, general manager of the Santa Rosa Island Authority, which owns the pier, told The Associated Press he did not expect a ban on shark fishing to completely eliminate attacks. But he hoped it would minimize the risk.