Image by Greg Skomal via Flickr and Dot Earth Blog
Two great white sharks (Carcharodon carcharias) were recently tagged off the Massachusetts coast by Division of Marine Fisheries biologist Greg Skomal and fisherman Bill Chaprales. In the western Atlantic Ocean, great white sharks are found from “Newfoundland, Canada to Argentina,” so finding great white sharks in Massachusetts’s waters isn’t unusual.
Furthermore, dramatic sightings of great white sharks aren’t unknown to the Bay State. In 2004, a female great white was found swimming in a shallow salt pond on Naushon Island (see images and videos of the magnificent beast below).
Great white sharks are a cosmopolitan species, so they’re not restricted to the Atlantic Ocean. For instance, a female great white that was tagged in South Africa “completed the first known transoceanic trip for an individual shark, traveling farther than any other shark known, more than 12,400 miles (more than 20,000 kilometers) to the coast of Australia and back again . . . in just under nine months, the fastest return migration of any swimming marine organism known.” Consequently, despite being well known in popular culture, there are still a lot of unknowns associated with great white sharks, so tagging these sharks is important to yield much needed data on the species.
The recent Massachusetts shark sightings has “prompted a swimming ban for the rest of the Labor Day weekend at some oceanside beaches in Massachusetts.” Earlier in August, “two kayakers reported that they saw what they believe was a great white shark attacking a seal off Chatham over the weekend, saying they observed a large black fin slicing through the water near a seal in distress.” More on the most recent great white shark sightings from the Boston Globe:
A local harpooner working with a state biologist placed electronic tags on two great white sharks today off the coast of Chatham.
“He did it in one shot,” said state biologist Greg Skomal, referring to harpooner Bill Chaprales, a fisherman from Marstons Mills who tagged the sharks. “We don’t swing the bat unless it’s a strike.”
The tags, which will use satellite-based technology to record the sharks’ travels, should give scientists information to help them better understand their migratory patterns.
Skomal and his team set out to identify the species of five sharks reported off the waters of Monomy Island Thursday and determined that at least one was a great white shark then. Today, they identified two more great white sharks.
Skomal, who heads the Division of Marine Fisheries shark research program, said Chaprales tagged the first great white around 9 a.m. near the southern tip of Monomoy Island and the second about a mile north of there at about 3:30 p.m. Chaprales estimated that the sharks weighed about 1,000 pounds apiece.
White sharks are not uncommon off the Massachusetts coasts, state officials said, and they urged swimmers and boaters to use caution.
In other news mentioning the great white shark, the Monterey Bay Aquarium recently supplemented its collection of marine creatures with a great white shark—the fifth since 2004, according to the Los Angeles Times:
It’s a female measuring only 5 feet 3 and weighing just 80 pounds, but she boasts the classic great white look and manner.
She was obtained off Malibu with the help of a spotter plane and commercial purse seiners and it’s hoped those who visit the aquarium to view the shark will come away with a greater appreciation for the embattled species.
The four previous white sharks, which were viewed by an estimated 2 million people, were tagged and released after stays of various length. Scientists tracked them as part of an ongoing monitoring project that also involves other white sharks that were tagged and released without spending time in captivity.
The last captive shark was released from the aquarium after only 11 days and tracked to the Channel Islands area. The previous shark, released after a five-month stay, was followed for an extended period as it swam to and past Cabo San Lucas, then up into the Sea of Cortez off Baja California, where it remained for weeks before its tag life expired.
Some videos and images from the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries of the 14-foot female great white shark found in a Cape Cod salt pond during 2004:
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Image: An offshore wind farm situated in the Baltic Sea near Samsø, Denmark.
