ST. AUGUSTINE BEACH, Fla. – Three sharks were spotted Wednesday afternoon near the St. Augustine Beach pier.
According to St. Johns County Fire Rescue, the sharks were not acting aggressively, but were moving north parallel to shore.
People were not ordered out of the water by lifeguards, but many headed for shore on their own, officials said.
One beachgoer estimated one of the sharks was a 6- to 7-foot-long blacktip shark.
"There are sharks out here all the time. They followed the bait pods and we've had some serious bait pods out here the last week or so," said Mike Boyer, who was fishing.
Chris Lowe, the pier coordinator, said the sharks may have been trying to mate.
"They were close to shore. And they were swimming along, inside the swimmers, which was unnerving for a lot of folks. I don't think they're looking for swimmers, but they were probably feeding on some big fish," Lowe said.
Boyer caught a baby blacktip shark while speaking to News4Jax. He said the sharks don't pose a threat, so he threw the shark back into the water.
"I've been a diver since '72, so sharks are our friends. They clean the bottom up and they claim they're sick and dying up. They're our friends," Boyer said.
Three people have been bitten by sharks in northeast Florida beaches so far this year.