Posted on 10/02/2021 12:12:22 PM PDT by Capt. Tom
Four great white sharks were spotted close together off Chatham earlier this week, a reminder that it’s still peak season for white shark activity off the Cape as October starts.
Spotter pilot Wayne Davis the other day took the photo of the four white sharks during an Atlantic White Shark Conservancy ecotourism trip.
Those with the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy said it’s important to let people know that great white shark peak season continues through October, and that people should remain “Shark Smart” and follow safety guidelines.
Based on years of shark tagging data, the great white shark peak activity is from August to October, said Cynthia Wigren, CEO and co-founder of the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy. Two years ago, peak activity information was added to the shark signs at beaches across the Cape.
“The research team will be out on the water through the end of October,” Wigren said of the shark scientists. “The focus continues to be on deploying high tech tags to learn more about white shark behavior close to shore.”
Hundreds of great white sharks visit the Cape’s waters every year, feasting on seals near the shoreline.
The water temperature along the Cape on Monday was 58 degrees.
“We see a steep drop off in the number of white sharks in November, which we believe is tied to lower water temperatures since seals remain in the area year-round,” Wigren said.
The 2020 detection data of tagged great white sharks showed August as the most active month with 55,954 detections.
Then September was the next highest month with 27,453 detections, followed by October in third place with 21,006 detections.
The count of detections in November then dropped by about 50% — with 11,818 detections — as the sharks start migrating south to warmer water. There were 450 detections last December.
Seals are the major prey species for great white sharks, and as the seal population increases, more great white sharks have migrated to the Cape each year.
While it is rare for a great white shark to bite a human, sharks have bitten people three times in the waters off Truro and Wellfleet since 2012. One shark bite in 2018 resulted in a fatality, the first shark attack death in several decades.
Shark safety guidelines include: avoid areas where seals are present; avoid areas where schools of fish are visible; avoid murky or low-visibility water; and limit splashing.
They only go out tagging about twice a week. If the taggers had unlimited money and acoustic tags and they went full bore I believe they would terrorize the ocean going public with the successful results. (And don't forget, white sharks in the deeper darker New England waters won't be tagged.)
Its October so the people at the beaches in Mass. will be gone, but the sharks will be there for a few more months.-Tom
Dun Dun. Dun dun Dun Dun Dun dun dun Dun Dun dun.
WOW, sharks live in the water.
Wayne Davis flies a 1969 Citabria and gets some great photos. -Tom
You know Wayne?
I see quite a few articles on these Cape Cod sharks. Does anyone ever actually get eaten?
If you go swimming off Cape Cod right now... You’ll die of hypothermia before the sharks eat you.
Do we still need a bigger boat?
Yes I do; in the sense he contacted me by e-mail in 2008 with his frustration with the Cape Cod newspapers not heeding his alarm about the presence of white sharks he saw showing up near surfers off Chatham.
Wayne had an actual photo which he sent me , I saw that it was definitely a white shark. The Cape Cod newspapers ignored it in 2008.
Wayne yearly invites me to be his guest on a white shark spotting flight but I don't want to go up until mid winter to look for a straggler, but he puts his plane away in December.
We talk on the phone every couple of months. -Tom
Pffft! Wake me up when they make it to Boothbay.
Wake up!
They have been up there all summer and will still be there for a month or more.
When the State of Maine tells the public how many white shark pings they have received on their newly placed hydrophones in 2021, it will be an eye opener. And multiply that number by about 3 since untagged white sharks can't ping any type of hydrophone. -Tom
You thought they live in lawyer’s clothes dinja? 🤫
That’s what you get for encouraging the recovery of seal populations.
That is half the problem, the other half is the Federal Govt. and the State protecting the White sharks. -Tom
Accommodations might be made, I am thinking. Like Hawaii has several beach areas that could not be used because of dangerous currents, so they created rock harbors to make them safe for swimming. With some protection against sharks, the other fish love them too. They double as breakwaters.
Kind of odd swimming in water crowded with fish, though.
Have you seen this....
I believe the Biden group wants to cripple this country and this is just another move in making our economy and another supply of food collapse; and of course prices will rise.
Thank you for posting it. -Tom
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