May 8, 2015 — Welcome to Ocean County, Mary Lee.
The nearly 16-foot, 3,456-pound female great white shark (or Carcharodon carcharias, if you prefer the scientific term), which goes by the name Mary Lee, was last spotted off the southern end of Long Beach Island this morning after reaching the coast of New Jersey yesterday.
The great white shark appears to trekking its way north along the New Jersey coastline, just a couple weeks away from Memorial Day Weekend and the kickoff to beach season.
It is also nearly a year from the anniversary of the 1916 shark attack on the Jersey coast that killed four people. The first attack, July 1, 1916, happened very near to where Mary Lee is today, Beach Haven.
It is believed a great white shark was responsible for those attacks, though records from the time dispute whether the additional attack in Matawan was a great white or a bull shark.
Read the full story at the Asbury Park Press