this is "nightline." >> tonight, shark summer. it seems like they're everywhere. >> a massachusetts beach temporarily closing today after a confirmed sighting of a white shark. >> the most feared predators of the deep, getting a little too close for comfort. >> i just felt it like bone crushing my foot. >> our fascination with these ancient creatures. why these encounters may be a good thing. plus, changing the conversation. the misconception about black women. >> when you hear the term "strong black woman." >> i reject it. i dislike it greatly. >> why it's harmful and offensive to so many. >> how do we thrive? >> being proud of who i am and

whose i am. and remembering paul sorvino. >> don't put too many onions in the sauce. >> a goodfella who was best known for playing cops and crooks over a career that spanned five decades. >> announcer: "nightline" will be right back.

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. thanks for joining us. tonight, beaches up and down the country are on alert, many increasing their surveillance, conducting shark patrols after a series of shark sightings and attacks that have put many beachgoers on edge. but do we really need to be afraid? as a lifeguard colin hickey typically has his eyes fixed on the ocean. looking out into the waves for humans. >> i'm searching, i'm scanning all over the place. >> reporter: but these days he's looking down the hood of an ipad monitor. drone controls in hand. keeping an eye out for sharks. >> and we're just looking for any sorts of schools of fish that might be jumping around out there. because that's where the sharks will go to get their snacks and their meals. >> reporter: it's become a necessary skill this summer. new york's governor ramping up

drone and surveillance efforts after a string of shark encounters. >> the past two weeks there have been five shark attacks. and just yesterday another shark sighting, leading to the closing of tobay beach. >> people looking to cool off at rockaway beach had to get out of the water this afternoon after another shark sighting. >> reporter: earlier this month a lifeguard drone capturing this video of a shark swimming off the coast of long island, prompting officials to temporarily close the beach. and week after week more shark sightings are reported along the country's coastlines. >> i've been a lifeguard for new york state for ten years, and this is the first summer where i'm starting to see more of the shark attacks and shark sightings. >> reporter: just last wednesday 16-year-old maxg th fen when a t he says he was5 to 20 yards from there, n new york's fire island. >> i just felt it like bone crushing my foot. i knew right away it was a shark bite.

i've been like maybe chomped on by little fish, but nothing like that. i knew exactly whats right away. i started paddling in. when i got to the beach, my parents were a little bit down. they saw me and they ran over and everyone helped me. >> reporter: max was lucky. the avid surfer and lifeguard in training only suffered a four-inch cut. >> so i've been surfing for about a little over a decade, probably around 12 years. and you know, we see sharks almost every time we're in the water. if there's a bunch of sharks like little ones out far feeding on fish, it's just respect them, i'll stay in my lane and they'll stay in theirs hopefully. >> the biggest misconception people have about sharks is that they are here to eat them. that cannot be farther from the truth. >> reporter: like max, captain greg metzger wants people to respect sharks. the marine biologist has been studying and tagging sharks off long island for 15 years. >> the ones that are here in the summertime that are making all the news, they're only here to eat fish that are about a foot long. they're not physically designed,

nor are they interested in eating things larger than small fish. what we're seeing is probably the sharks bumping into something that was in their way as they're trying to get to their prey item. >> reporter: and sometimes even slightly bumping into a shark can be painful. >> their skin is very, very, very rough. if we have any sort of success in a day, my fingers are burning because their skin is literally sanding off my skin. so you know, these sharks are swimming fast and turning quickly. people could get what appears to be a scratch just from the skin of the shark. >> reporter: but metzger says while there are more sharks in the water it's a blessing in disguise. >> the reason that we feel there are more sharks here on long island is because of positive conservation efforts finally taking hold and getting to a point where people are noticing the difference. prey bring the predators. and so there's been positive conservation efforts put in place to protect whales and

dolphins and sharks and osprey and striped bass and bluefish and all of the other predators that are here to feed on that prey item. >> reporter: those conservation efforts may also be contributing to unusual sightings. in plymouth, massachusetts this baby humpback whale breaching the water. >> oh! >> climate change can have lots of different effects on sharks. we know that sharks like warm water. >> reporter: but according to marine biologist dr. mike heighthouse we're only at the beginning stages of understanding how climate change affects sharks. >> because sharks tend to be at the top of the food web, anything that happens below them can affect them. so warming waters from climate change could cause these sharks to be coming into certain areas more often. we don't know if that's what's causing this summer's increase in encounters. we also have the effects that occurred in coastal areas, storms. we've got more rainfall that can cause flooding. p that can affect the nursery area of sharks too. >> reporter: dr. heighthouse,

featured on shark fest, the popular four-week event produced by abc's sister network national geographic. in his episode "jaws versus boats," dr. heighthouse analyzes viral videos of sharks having close encounters. >> dude, that was the coolest -- >> reporter: this one of a great white going straight for a chum bucket. >> one thing you see in just about every viral video of sharks attacking boats is one of these. >> reporter: and doing his own recreations to see exactly what the sharks are attracted to and why it might appear that sharks are attacking the boats. >> you can see the wave pulled the bag out of the water, the shark missed it, bumped into the boat. that could look like an attack in the right viral video. but what's going on is the shark's just missing. >> sharks have this defense to protect their eyes, which is kind of like an eyelid that closes up. some sharks roll their eyes to the back of their head because the back of their eye's actually a lot thicker and denser. and in that moment they're

blind. >> so at the last second before ts kd losing that sense see these sharks attacking boats. each one of these attacks is usually that there's something going on with fishing or people interacting with the sharks and the sharks' natural behaviors may be getting confused by the presence of the boat. so we've done some looking into that and you don't have to be worried about being out there. and that is not sharks trying to get at the humans in the boat or necessarily even trying to bite a boat. >> reporter: fatal shark attacks are extremely rare. only one death in the u.s. last year. >> i don't think people should b concerned if they're going to get bit by a shark out here. and if you do i suggest you go play the lotto as well because it could be your lucky day. >> reporter: but lifeguard colin hickey says if you are still worried there are measures you can take to stay safe. >> do not go in the water at dusk or dawn. that is when they're feeding. always swim near the lifeguards. keep your jewelry safe on shore. if a medium-sized fish sees a

shiny object they're going to assume it is a smaller fish they can munch on and they'r going to come at you. even if it's a ring or a necklace or anything like that. >> people are saying oh, there's sharks in the water, like they've always been there. i don't think it's that different. it just happens to be the water's a little clean right now, more sharks are there, which is good really. >> reporter: for now 16-year-old max can only enjoy the waves from afar, but he can't wait tos shouldn't be afraieither. >> i'll be planning on surfing . so obviously it's going to be a thought in my mind when i'm in the water about sharks being in there, but it's not going to stop me from going in the water. sure, i'll be a little nervous. but it can't stop me. and up next, breaking down the trope about strong black women and confronting issues of mental health. as someone living with type 2 diabetes, i want to keep it real and talk about some risks. with type 2 diabetes you have up to 4 times greater risk of

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for far too long far too little attention has been paid to the mental health of black women. tonight abc's janai norman sits down with a group of black women for a revealing conversation. how they are learning not just to survive but to thrive. >> well, ladies, this is exciting. we're -- you know, we're going to be talking about mental health. and black women. a topic that for a long time we didn't hear a lot about. >> hi. you look gorgeous. >> reporter: but are slowly starting to hear more women like ourselves talk about mental health. and i know you have all heard

the phrase "the strong black women." patricia, when you hear term "strong black woman" -- >> mm-mm. >> mm-mm. that's your reaction? >> i reject it. i dislike it great ly. i reject it. i know it has its roots in slavery, in plantation labor, chattel slavery. it is this stereotype that was placed upon black women to box us in, to manipulate us, to make us not see ourselves as full divine beings, to push us. strong black woman to me allows so much time for abuse and manipulation, for not resting, for burning yourself out. like we really have to look at what's systematically happening that's making us be so, you know, traumatized by our pace of life. and so the strong black woman has never been anything i've ever related with. superwoman. i wantrest.an ease. i want help. help me now. you know, i want help.

so i'd really like to dismantle and pull back the veil around that term. like we shouldn't be claiming it. >> it makes me think of a malcolm x quote. 60 years ago malcolm x said, "the most esct in america is the black woman. the most unprotected person in america is the black woman." six decades later there are many people who would say not much has changed. and so when you think about the strong black woman trope and the impacts of that, how do you feel about that? >> i 100% believe that we need to remove the idea that every black woman must be a strong black woman. the problem is that i don't think we've yet decided what black women can be in this space that's left behind. and the idea is be yourself. who's allowed to be themselves in this world? you know, especially black women. and i have to also highlight the fact that as a bl

black trans woman, a girl denied of my girlhood in birmingham, alabama and growing up, and the model of womanhood that i tried to emulate and follow was the strong black woman, and now i'm suddenly in this new space. you know, do we have space for soft black women? for emotional black women? for black women who aren't really good at their jobs but are great as people and human beings. are we prepared to make space? and not just make space for but honor the humanity of black women who don't really have much to contribute as far as a product yet have so much to contribute as far as people. >> reporter: dr. williams, how often are these topics brought up in your office? >> these conversations i'd like to say are common, but they're not. i was speaking at an engagement a few weeks ago, and a woman -- you know, people come up and they ask you questions later. and she said, i think what you said was amazing but can i ask

you something? who takes good care of you? >> wow. >> and i said, you can't ask me that. [ laughter ] she said yes, i'm asking you. and i said, i can't say. you know, when we're talking about just taking that deep exhale, that's something that is not common. it's something that is like okay, i'll find a special day. >> when i talk about resting and the way i'm framing this work, it cannot happen by ourselves. community care is right up there. we scream self-care, self-care, like it's literally all you hear in the media. self-care, self-care. and i really want us to begin to shift toward thinking about community care. those systems do not exist right now. like why are we like this? why aren't we caring for each other? >> because we're afraid of each

other. we're not self-hating, then we're hating on you. >> reporter: do you think it's the idea of hurt people hurt people? >> i think it comes from a few sources. i think self-hatred, absolutely. jealousy, absolutely. my grandma used to talk about crabs in the barrel. >> yeah, we heard that. >> we go up and they keep pulling us down. i think they may also think there's not enough room for all of us. >> the scarcity. >> because most of the time you end up in a place, whether it's a workplace or whatever, you look around if there's someone else, well, there's only room for one of us. >> exactly. so not enough room for us. each one of us, we don't know what our breaking point is. we look like we're all okay. >> my naivete is that i just inherently believe that if i look at you, if i look at you, if i look at you and you look like me it don't matter if there are slight differences. if you're black like -- like if

we black, we good. even if you can't see yourself in me the way i see myself in you. i will grant you that humanity. and i will still work for you. i will still fight for you. >> you know, we haven't even gotten to thriving yet. >> no. >> reporter: how do we thrive? doctor, how do you talk people into thriving? >> come on. come on. >> my grandmother, she didn't think about her life. neither did my mom. >> yeah. >> and so this is really a new concept -- >> it is. >> -- for us even in this time in our lives. so when we talk about trying to thrive, i think the underlying basis for all of this is that we inherently like who we are. >> that's good. >> and we will fight for who we are. that's how you thrive.

>> being proud of who i am and whose i am and also letting myself fall. letting myself go. you know, in the past two years deeper and darker than i've ever let myself go. that has been the key to it for me. i'm just saying okay, well, girl, i'm trying. i'm trying. i'm trying. and no one can say that i'm not. >> when i think about other black women in my life, like always boosting them up and letting them know that you are enough, you come with so many gifts and talent that just we're giving to you at birth that you have in you. and so those foundational keys allow me to tap into spaces of thriving at many points in my life. >> this is such a powerful conversation. i think like you've got to lean into the lows because that's where the lessons are. and that is what keeps you going

to that -- to the next height. so thank you all for sharing so much. >> our thanks to janai. when we come back, remembering paul sorvino. most bladder leak pads were similar. until always discreet invented a pad that protects differently. with two rapiddry layers. for strong protection, that's always discreet. question your protection. try always discreet. better skin from your body wash? try olay body wash with skincare super ingredient collagen! olay body wash hydrates for healthier-looking skin in just 14 days, from dry and dull to firm and radiant. with olay body, i feel fearless in my skin. are you tired of clean clothes that just don't smell clean?

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a look back at the remarkable career of paul sorvino. the legendary actor who died today. here's abc's david muir. >> reporter: he played crooks and cops alike. >> hey, paulie. >> paulie might have moved slow. >> reporter: from paulie cicero in "goodfellas." >> but it was only because paulie didn't have to move for

anybody. >> reporter: to nypd sergeant phil sareta on "law & order." >> you do understand that you have the right to an attorney. you maintain you passed on that right. >> reporter: tonight the family of actor paul sorvino saying he's died of natural causes. he was 83. his wife didi by his side. sorvino trained in theater, moving to film. his debut in carl reiner's "where's poppa" in 1970. >> what do you want? >> reporter: in his more than 50 years in the industry there were so many roles, playing henry kissinger in oliver stone's "nixon." >> well, as you know, most of my staff have weighed in against this incursion. >> reporter: but it was his role in "goodfellas" perhaps most famous. improvising this moment with ray liotta. the filmmakers keeping it in. >> i don't need that. ain't going to happen to me. you understand? >> uh-huh. >> you know that you're only out early because i got you a job. and i don't need this heat. you understand that? >> yeah. >> and you see anybody [ muted ]

around with that you're going to tell me. right? >> yeah. >> that means anybody. >> yeah. >> reporter: and it was his daughter, actress mira sorvino, who thanked him during her oscar acceptance speech in 1996. >> and when you give me this award, you honor my father, paul sorvino, who has taught me everything i know about acting. i love you very much, dad. >> reporter: tonight his daughter tweeting "he was the most wonderful father. i love him so much. i'm sending you love in the stars, dad, as you ascend." >> paul sorvino was 83. he'll be missed. that's "nightline." see you - bedtime!! - bedtime. ♪♪