Great White sharks Archives - Page 3 of 5

Fatal Shark Attack Off Cape Cod Is First in Massachusetts Since 1936

September 17, 2018 — A man was killed by a shark off Cape Cod over the weekend in the first fatal shark attack in Massachusetts since 1936.

The man, Arthur Medici, 26, of Revere, Mass., was attacked at Newcomb Hollow Beach in Wellfleet on Saturday, according to the National Park Service. He was pulled out of the water and taken to Cape Cod Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, officials said.

Officials were investigating the attack, but they suspect that Mr. Medici was killed by a great white shark.

Great white sharks, which can be up to 20 feet long, do not hunt humans but may mistake them for prey because they are about the same size as seals and other marine mammals, experts said.

“Pretty much every shark bite is an accident,” said Gavin Naylor, director of the Florida Program for Shark Research at the Florida Museum of Natural History. “It’s mistaken identity.”

Read the full story at The New York Times

To great white sharks off Maine: Smile, you’re on research cameras

July 24, 2018 — Marine researchers have deployed underwater cameras in hopes of documenting great white sharks off the coast of southern Maine for the first time.

The effort is part of the first study dedicated to learning about the habits of the sharks near Maine. Scientists say great whites – the world’s largest predatory fish – have increased in number in the Atlantic Ocean and will continue to do so in the Gulf of Maine.

Two cameras, each attached to a crate of chum to attract large fish, were deployed by University of New England professor James Sulikowski and undergraduates two weeks ago near Stratton Island, 2 miles from Old Orchard Beach. The island was chosen because a radio receiver that Sulikowski placed on a nearby buoy detected a tagged great white shark last fall.

“The goal is to get a better understanding of the ecosystem and what white sharks are coming in, and to find out how prevalent they are,” said Sulikowski, a marine biologist.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

New Jersey fishermen get up close with great white shark

July 9, 2018 — We might be at a summer fishing peak with quite a variety providing something for just about every taste and style.

The incidental catch of a small great white shark at the Cigar has created quite a buzz.

A 4- to 5-foot great white was hooked and released after a short fight that brought it to the boat by Chris O’Neill of Little Egg Harbor Township. As soon as the crew of Joe O’Neill, Chris’ uncle from the Manahawkin section of Stafford Township, Sam Messler, of Manahawkin, and Robert McLauglin, of Barnegat, identified it as a great white, they quickly released it unharmed because it a protected species.

O’Neill, who is 34, said in a phone call Friday afternoon that he and his crew are responsible fishermen who follow all the rules. Sounds as though the crew did everything right during the release. They fish together a lot on his 26-foot Angler boat that he docks in his “backyard,” meaning he lives on the water.

He also said he has caught bigger striped bass. He then made a guess that the fish was months old. And he estimated the phone call from the local scribe was the 30th he has received from various media.

Read the full story at the Press of Atlantic City

Great whites help scientists understand ocean’s ‘twilight zone’

July 6, 2018 — Four years ago, Lydia, a 14 ½-foot, 1-ton great white shark almost made history when she swam over the Mid-Atlantic Ridge in March of 2014, a submerged mountain chain that runs from the Arctic Ocean to the southern tip of Africa, and entered the eastern Atlantic.

No other great white had made a documented Atlantic crossing and, while she ultimately turned back 800 miles short of the Cornish coastline, scientists puzzled over why she made the trip at all.

Great whites are driven by the search for food, but a foray into the open ocean beyond the continental shelf, often portrayed as a desert relieved only by an occasional oasis, was baffling. Finding a possible answer took detective work, piecing together data from some of the most sophisticated technology strapped to two great whites, as well as a network of satellites and ocean-going robots. It’s a technique scientists hope will be a model for future research into the unknown worlds of the deep sea and for conservation efforts to protect that ecosystem.

Read the full story at the Cape Cod Times

Great white shark surprises New Jersey fishermen: ‘This is crazy’

July 5, 2018 — After about 7 hours of fishing for tuna 40 miles off the coast of New Jersey on Sunday, fisherman Chris O’Neill and three other crew members decided to come closer to shore and search for mako sharks, a popular game fish in the area.

The group — which included Chris’ uncle Joe, Sam Messler and Robert McLaughlin — put out three fishing lines at 20, 40 and 65 feet deep. After about 45 minutes, O’Neill noticed the 40-foot reel start to turn. The crew waited quietly for about two minutes before the reel started to scream.

“We started reeling it in. At first, we didn’t know what we had, though we were hoping it was mako,” O’Neill, of Little Egg Harbor, told Fox News.

Within 15 minutes, a fin surfaced and the fishermen pulled the creature to the side of the boat. As O’Neill turned the 4- to 6-foot fish over, he saw its jaw and knew “right away” it wasn’t a mako: it was a great white.

“As soon as its head flashed out of water we knew what it was,” O’Neill said. “We’re fishermen. We do this a lot. You get to know the species.”

The great white shark’s triangular-shaped teeth, large gills and broad jawline are dead giveaways, O’Neill described.

Read the full story at Fox News

Fishermen encounter great white shark off New Jersey coast

July 3, 2018 — A party of four fishermen looking for one brand of ocean predator encountered another — a great white shark — while fishing over a once-lost shipwreck 10 to 15 miles from the shoreline.

According to a crew member, the shark was hooked by accident Sunday with fishing gear and let go immediately.

Chris O’Neill of Little Egg Harbor said as soon as they identified the shark they cut the line and released it. O’Neill took a photo of the shark when it was near their 26-foot-long boat.

“There are a lot of rules and regulations when it comes to these sharks. As soon as we knew what we had we turned him loose,” said O’Neill.

Great white sharks are prohibited to be landed by fishermen and must be released if hooked.

O’Neill said they were not trying to catch a great white. His party was fishing for another species of shark called a mako, a popular game fish. In the video at the top, you can see all the giants of the sea that venture into the Jersey Shore’s waters.

Read the full story at the Asbury Park Press

MASSACHUSETTS: First three sharks of the season detected off the coast of Cape Cod

June 18, 2018 — Shark season in New England officially kicked off this week, and marine biologists have already detected the first three great whites of the year off the coast of Cape Cod.

The sharks first showed up on marine biologists’ scanners June 7 and have been detected off the outer Cape intermittently since Tuesday, said Greg Skomal, a shark expert at the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries.

The research team began checking receivers on the Cape on Thursday and were able to pick up signals from Monomoy Island to Wellfleet, Skomal said.

“I don’t think the sharks have left. I’m sure they’re still around,” he said. “And more and more will start trickling in as time goes on over the course of the month.”

The researchers detected the great whites in multiple areas over several days — including the first, whom biologists call Omar, off the coast of Orleans on June 7, followed by another shark, Turbo, near Wellfleet two days later, said Marianne Long, the education director at the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy, which is assisting the Division of Marine Fisheries in the research.

Sandy, the third great white, was also detected swimming near Orleans on Monday, and Omar was detected again in Chatham on Tuesday, Long said.

Many sharks in the area have acoustic tags on them, she said, so although none of these sharks were actually spotted, the receivers picked up their acoustic signals.

The region has been “very active” with sharks in the past several years, Skomal said.

“These are great whites, and they feed on seals during the summertime,” he said. “We have a sizable seal population on the Cape, so that’s where they usually go.”

The shark season usually begins in June and can last until November, Long said. Most Cape Cod residents and vacationers are generally aware of the marine animals, she said, but she advised the public to be cautious and avoid swimming beyond waist-deep waters, especially off the coast.

“It’s important that when people go to the beach, they read all the signage to make them aware of all the recent sightings,” she said. “We do have these large animals off the coast in the water.”

Scientists: Maine coast could see more great white sharks

December 5, 2017 — PORTLAND, Maine — A great white shark detected in waters off Maine could be a sign that the big fish will become a more common sight in the years to come, say scientists who study sharks in New England.

White sharks are near the northern edge of their range along the Maine coast, though they are not commonly seen in the area. One of the sharks was spotted in the waters off Kennebunkport in the summer of 2016, sparking interest in finding out how many live off Maine.

University of New England marine scientist James Sulikowski has set out to answer that question, and he’s making his first findings public. Tracking devices discovered a different, 12-foot great white about 1.5 miles off of Old Orchard Beach in September of this year, he said.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Boston Herald

Study tracks great white sharks off Maine coast

A UNE professor joins Massachusetts researchers in examining patterns of a population likely to proliferate in the Gulf of Maine.

July 31, 2017 — Marine biologists are embarking on the first study dedicated to learning about the habits of great white sharks off the coast of southern Maine, where the scientists say the fishes’ population is likely to increase.

University of New England professor James Sulikowski will collaborate with Greg Skomal of the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries to see how often the sharks come near the coast.

Great white sharks are the world’s largest predatory fish. Known for their powerful jaws and serrated teeth, they can grow to more than 20 feet and 4,000 pounds.

They have been protected from harvesting in U.S. waters since 1991. Skomal said the shark population has been rebounding since.

“We definitely believe the entire East Coast population is increasing and that we are likely to see white sharks in the Gulf of Maine increasing,” he said.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

A growing concern over great white sharks in Cape Cod

June 29, 2017 — An influx of great white shark sightings has residents and tourists worried about potential encounters in the water, especially during the heart of summer.

Senior Fisheries Biologist Dr. Greg Skomal told ABC News the increase in the great white shark population off the Massachusetts coastline is correlated to the gray seal population and that numbers are expected to rise even further.

“We’ve been studying sharks off the coast of Massachusetts for 30 years and our work with white sharks off Cape Cod is relatively recent,” Dr. Skomal said on “Good Morning America.” “The numbers we’re seeing on a relative scale are increasing, in 2014 we counted 80 individuals over the course of the summer and just last summer that went up to about 147. So there is a general increasing trend as more and more sharks recruit to the area.”

This season at least six great white shark sightings have already been reported, including a recent sighting off Wellfleet on May 9.

The National Park Service for Cape Cod has issued alerts to heed advisories at beaches to help ensure safety “particularly regarding white sharks.”

Skomal believes the influx of sharks is a direct result of the growing seal population. “We think it’s highly correlated with the growing presence of gray seals in the area. Big white sharks like to feed on gray seals. Over the course of the last 45 years, the gray seal population is a conservation success story. It has rebounded after protection was put in place in 1972 and that rebounding population now has reached levels that could be an excess of 20 to 30,000 animals in the area and white sharks are drawn to those areas to feed on them.”

Read the full story at WJBF