Parts of Rockaway Beach were shut down for swimming Monday after several shark sightings. 

At least three shark sightings were reported. 

The first was at 10:50 a.m. at Beach 97, which was closed from Beach 77th Street to Beach 119th until 11:50 a.m. 

At 11:14 a.m., another shark was spotted at Beach 92. All of Rockaway Beach closed for swimming until 12:14 p.m. 

A third shark was spotted at Beach 99, which extended the swimming closure until 1:02 p.m. The beach remained open while beachgoers waited to be allowed back in the water. 

Shark sighting protocol is to shut down swimming for an hour approximately one mile in each direction of where the sighting occurred. 

"I was kind of curious when I got here and nobody was in the water. I asked the fire department. They told me in just a few minutes they'd be letting them back in," Jamaica resident Lucky Phoenix said. 

"It's always in the back of your head that you never know," beachgoer Andrew Verdugo said. 

This is not the first time sharks shut down Rockaway Beach this summer. It happened several times in July, including on July 4th. 

A woman who works at the beach shop said she's noticing a trend. 

"I've lived here my whole life and I feel this summer in particular there's been a lot, a lot of shark sightings, but a lot of requirements of people having to get out of the water," she said. 

Shark attacks are rare. Data from 2024 shows 28 shark bites across the U.S., with one person killed. 

Experts said it was a juvenile sand tiger shark that bit a woman in the waters off Jones Beach in June.