SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS RADIO) – White sharks can often be found off the east coast of the U.S., but this year, they’re especially plentiful. Researchers have been able to tag some and shark tourism is thriving.
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“White shark tourism is taking off in Cape Cod, where the ocean's largest predator fish have made a remarkable comeback,” NPR reported earlier this month.
Massachusetts shark biologist John Chisholm said this week in a Facebook post that white sharks have historically always been found off Maine, just a bit north of Cape Cod, Mass. He explained that “64 years ago, on August 10, 1960, Harry Goodridge harpooned a 12’ white shark off Rockport that had just eaten his pet harbor seal Basil.”
In May, the Atlantic White Shark Conservatory reported that white sharks had returned to the Cape Cod area for the 2024 season, citing Chisolm’s sighting of two off Massachusetts’ Monomoy Island.
“The return of white sharks is a sure sign of summer’s approach on Cape Cod. Citizen scientists play a crucial role in the Conservancy’s mission to educate the community and improve public safety, and we rely upon and value their sighting data reported through our Sharktivity app,” said Cynthia Wigren, president and co-founder of AWSC.
Through the app, public sightings submitted are verified through a partnership with the New England Aquarium. These sightings provide “critical data points” that help minimize encounters. Information about sightings also provide information about shark populations.
This week, Dr. Greg Skomal of the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries worked with the with the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy to tag three sharks. That tag has been recording video, and the conservancy also shared video from earlier this summer.
“We also saw some familiar shark faces like white shark Commodore and Major Bro Dude,” said the AWSC. Another previously seen shark named Luke (after fisherman Luke Gurney) who was identified 10 years ago was also spotted in July.
According to NPR, white shark numbers reached an all time low off the Cape Cod coast a few decades ago. Tour guides in the area told the outlet this month that sharks are now more plentiful and predictable in the area. White shark numbers decreased with the state bounties for culling seals, which at one point were considered pests. Then came the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 that resulted in seal populations growing and, eventually, sharks.
“The white shark is a large, wide-ranging species that occurs in temperate and subtropical seas worldwide,” according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. It also said that “despite its fearsome reputation, its large size and low productivity (reproductive rates, growth rates, age at maturity, longevity, etc.) make the white shark vulnerable to declines from human impacts. Due to these natural vulnerabilities, the white shark is one of the most widely protected sharks globally.”
Per the Greater Farallones Marine Sanctuary, white sharks are not listed as an endangered or threatened species under the federal Endangered Species Act. However, they are on some other conservation lists, including the Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List. They are also federally managed under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation Act.
“Research by NOAA Fisheries scientists indicates that abundance trends have been increasing in the northwest Atlantic since regulations protecting them were first implemented in the 1990s,” said the administration.
Just this week, a study published in the Current Biology journal found that white shark populations are divided into three discrete lineages globally that diverged 100,000–200,000 years ago, during sea level lows. It said these lineages usually do not interbreed.
“Conservation efforts need to refocus on managing these discrete groups,” said the study.
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