Posted on 08/19/2019 10:45:10 AM PDT by Capt. Tom
Funny... there were reports of sharks off the coast back during colonial days if memory serves.
Of course, but here is the present day problem with too many seals and white sharks here now.
From 1888 to 1962, Seals were culled in Maine and Massachusetts by paying a bounty on them, this kept their numbers down. The Federal Marine Mammal Protection Act gave seals protection in 1972.
Throughout Massachusetts the gray seal population exploded from a few dozen in 1972, to an estimated 50,000 or more in 2018.
Until the 1970s White sharks, were called “man-eaters”, and were routinely killed for their trophy jaws, and meat. They were a rarity in Massachusetts when they received Federal protection in 1997.
50,000? In and around Massachusetts? I missed that number, for some reason I thought it was around 20k. Eeegads that’s a LOT of seals. The government is protecting both the seals and the sharks so that means more of both. Tourism is going to take a huge hit over time.
In the last few years the number has increased to approx. 50,000 and they use satellite pictures to count the seals now.
The seals are spreading into other state areas. - Tom
Sharks have been hanging around the shores off Cape Cod since before there was a cape. Basically ever since the North American and European/African plates widened enough to allow sea water to fill the gap. The Cape, a result of river borne sediments and the constant action of the Gulf Stream, came much later. The sharks were already there, however.
The way the press is behaving you’d think that sharks were never there before.
“Must be global warming!!1!” seems to be implied by them if not outright said.
Seems bizarre to me.
:)
There are a lot more seals than there were thirty years ago. The sharks have always come up in the Gulf stream during the summer just like the migration of the striped bass and false albacore.
The difference is just as Capt. Tom described. Up until 1962 the fisherman shot the seals on site. The sharks were also killed whenever possible. Now it is illegal to kill either.
The result has been a decrease in the striped bass. This is the main sport fish that has a huge influence on the money spent by recreational fisherman from the Gulf of Maine to the Chesapeake Bay. The seals eat the same bait fish that the stripers eat. More seals = less stripers. Less stripers = less money spent on boats, gear, hotels, bars, restaurants, bait, fuel, etc(tourism).
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