According to scientists, there’s a growing number of great white sharks close to the Cape Cod shore in Chatham, Massachusetts. The Atlantic White Shark Conservancy has conducted a multiyear study of the ocean predators off the shores of this vacation area and found that the past two years there has been a significant rise in sharks heading to Cape Cod. The information from the study has also been used to make tourists aware that more sharks are in the Cape Cod region.
Growing Numbers
Greg Skomal is a senior scientist working with the Massachusetts division of marine fisheries. He’s also known as the state’s shark expert. Skomal and other researchers are part of multiyear study funded by the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy. They spotted 147 individuals last summer using boats and a plane. This number is slightly higher than the 2015 findings. In 2014 approximately 80 individual sharks were spotted. In just three years they’ve found a significant increase in the great white shark population in the Cape Cod region.
Skomal says that the great white sharks are not after humans, they are after the seals. The seals in the Cape Cod region were hunted to near extinction, but now their population has been on the rise since they became a protected species. The protected seals were in the Monomoy wildlife refuge where they were off limits to humans. But now their growing population has begun to move north and the sharks have also followed.
The state’s shark expert estimates the shark population to be larger than the numbers documented because they couldn’t have seen all of the sharks in the area. They’ve also found that a large number of them are younger sharks. According to Skomal, this is a sign that the great white shark population is rebuilding. To help track their movements, the researchers have tagged over 100 sharks.
Public Safety
The information from the study is being used by towns for public safety in Cape Cod’s vacation area. According to the natural resources manager in Orleans, Nathan Sears, they’ve used the information to change how they manage their beaches. Cape Cod towns acknowledge that the risk of swimmers being attacked by sharks is minimal, but they want their visitors to be aware that there are sharks in the area.
In the town of Orleans they fly flags with a picture of a shark to let vacationers know that dangerous marine life have been spotted in the area. But since the rise of the great white shark population, the town has flown the flag almost every day during their tourist season. Sears says that the town uses a plane to monitor the sharks from the air. This is crucial for public safety so that the town can close the beach when a shark is spotted close enough to the swimming area.
In the waters of Massachusetts the last fatal great white shark attacked documented was in 1936. More recently in 2012, a man was bitten while swimming near Truro. From the shark attack he needed 47 stitches and surgery for his damaged tendons. In 2014, off Plymouth, there were two young women who were attacked by a great white shark while kayaking. Thankfully, neither were bitten.
It’s important that the public is aware of marine life in the area, especially creatures such as sharks. Studies, such as those carried out by the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy, are essential for coastal towns to plan and effectively deal with potentially dangerous marine life in their waters.