February 9, 2016 — WELLFLEET — It might not seem it by looking out the window, but the Cape is closing in on another beach season, and members of a working group tasked with improving public safety given an increasing number of great white sharks visiting our shores each summer, are well aware that it’s time to focus on what is doable in the next few months.
With the possibility that the population of great white sharks in Cape waters could eventually double current estimates the sense of urgency is also on the rise.
For the most part, high tech solutions, like drones, are out, and the focus is on education.“We’re going to change human behavior and keep people close to shore,” Leslie Reynolds, chief ranger for the Cape Cod National Seashore, told the group at a meeting Tuesday at the Wellfleet Council on Aging.
Park personnel are in the initial stages of making an educational video they hope to play on community TV access channels, online on town websites, in their own visitor center, at chamber of commerce information booths and elsewhere.
Her staff is working on a sign that would clearly spell out the shark danger to beachgoers in the off-season when lifeguards are no longer on duty, Reynolds said.
She unveiled a new purple flag with a great white silhouette that would fly every day at lifeguard stands warning visitors that sharks could be in the water.
Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries shark researcher Gregory Skomal said the numbers of great whites coming to the Cape each year “continues to go up and it will continue to do so in the near future.”