Rockaway Beach, a popular destination for swimmers, reopened on Wednesday, just two days after a shark attack occurred there. In response to the incident, the FDNY and NYPD announced that they would be using drones to monitor the waters for shark activity. The city Parks Department confirmed the beach's reopening on Wednesday morning. FDNY First Deputy Commissioner Joseph Pfeifer explained that the plan was to fly drones every morning before the beaches opened to scan for sharks. If a shark was spotted, the decision to close the beach would be made. The fire department's drones would focus on a 10-mile stretch of beach in the Rockaways. In addition to the morning scans, the drones would remain in the air during the day to ensure the safety of swimmers and would continue surveillance after hours. The NYPD, with its larger fleet of drones, would be scanning for sharks and other potential dangers at Rockaway Beach, Coney Island, Orchard Beach, and soon, Staten Island.

The drones would also be helpful in monitoring for schools of fish, which often attract sharks, according to Iris Rodriguez-Rosa, First Deputy Commissioner of the city Parks Department. Climate change has led to warmer and cleaner waters, resulting in an increase in schools of fish. On Tuesday, a potential sighting of a single shark was detected by the drones around 11:15 a.m. However, since the beach was closed at the time, there was no threat to swimmers. There have been no further shark sightings since then.

The shark attack occurred less than 24 hours before the beach reopened. Tatyana Koltunyuk, a 65-year-old Ukrainian immigrant from Astoria, was enjoying a routine swim near Beach 59th Street when a shark attacked her, biting a large portion of her left leg above the knee. Lifeguards quickly responded to her cries for help and pulled her to shore, where they applied a tourniquet to her leg to stem the bleeding. Koltunyuk was then taken to Jamaica Hospital, where she was reported to be in stable but critical condition on Tuesday. The attack is believed to be the first at Rockaway Beach since 1953.

Chief Lifeguard Jose Diaz praised the lifeguards for their quick thinking and heroic actions in saving Koltunyuk's life. They used a buoy rope as a tourniquet to prevent her from bleeding to death. Diaz stated that Koltunyuk seemed calm despite her severe injury. The lifeguards had a personal connection with her, as she was a regular beachgoer who they often interacted with. The lifeguards have been instructed to follow the directions of the NYPD and FDNY since the attack.

The family of Tatyana Koltunyuk expressed gratitude for her survival and thanked the lifeguards, emergency response workers, and the medical team at Jamaica Hospital. They asked for privacy as they focus on her recovery. Photos of Koltunyuk showed her looking dazed and pale while receiving aid on the beach and in an ambulance. Dr. Gavin Naylor, the Program Director at the Florida Program for Shark Research, confirmed that the wound was indeed from a shark bite. He noted that the clean bite marks and spacing between the teeth suggested it could be from a bull or thresher shark, although further examination would be needed to confirm the species.

Despite the shark attack, Rockaway Beach reopened on Wednesday. The NYPD and FDNY assured the public that they would continue to monitor the waters using drones and other methods to ensure the safety of swimmers. The incident has left many beachgoers apprehensive about entering the water, but Chief Lifeguard Diaz urged caution, emphasizing that this was the first shark attack he had witnessed in his 50 years of lifeguarding.