Here is the story that was in the Miami Herald yesterday, April 7.

PALM BEACH - Surfers and beachgoers returned to the waves and sunny shores Wednesday after sharks migrating along the coast closed some South Florida beaches for days.

The sharks, mostly blacktips and spinners, are chasing bait fish in their annual trek north.

''This is the time of year when everything from whales to birds are making that movement northward,'' said Larry Wood, curator at the Marinelife Center of Juno Beach.

Come this fall, they'll make the same trip back south.

Parks officials in Palm Beach and Broward counties have posted red flags closing public beaches a few times over the past few weeks as scores of the sharks, some as long as five feet, were sighted. No injuries have been reported.

The public areas of Juno Beach were closed to swimmers Tuesday, but all beaches in the area were open Wednesday.

''They had red flags everywhere (on Tuesday). I think the sharks are just coming in a little closer to shore than normal,'' said Rick Williams, manager at the Juno Surf Shop.

Williams said typically the sharks will stay far from surfers, who gather just beyond where the waves break.

This year, he said, he's seen a group of only five to 10 sharks, but some surfers reported seeing hundreds. Television news helicopters frequently show large schools just off the coast.

Blacktip and spinner sharks typically pose little danger to swimmers and surfers, but they can lurk closer to shore if bait fish are nearby.

Bites often occur because sharks mistake a swimmer's splash for a smaller fish or because they are attracted to a shiny piece of jewelry or an ankle dangling off a surfboard.

Josh Cameron, 19, who spent Wednesday morning surfing in the waters off Palm Beach with two friends, said he hasn't seen sharks in weeks. The trio said the conditions were just about perfect, with sunny skies, 75 degree-weather and a light, three-foot chop to the ocean.

A caution flag nearby urged swimmers to watch out for Portuguese men-of-war, but sharks were not considered a problem.

''They don't bother us. And we don't bother them,'' Cameron said.