Posted on 11/17/2019 10:28:23 AM PST by Capt. Tom
ORLEANS — On a sunny fall day, Kristian Sexton was sitting on Nauset Beach, hunched over a small hand-held monitor, his head buried in a sun shade. Offshore, feeding humpback whales were breaching, but closer to the beach, Sexton was tracking three great white sharks with a drone ….snip
“It’s definitely a promising technology, not a perfect (shark detection) technology, nothing is, but in the right conditions you can see very well,” he said. Sexton is critical of the assessment of shark mitigation technologies by the Woods Hole Group ...snip
In an email response to an interview request, Woods Hole Group spokesman Adam Finkle said his company and its clients would be addressing questions and comments after the end of the Dec. 16 public comment period...snip
“On a sandy bottom, I very easily spotted them. I could fly away, come back in a half hour and fly right back to where they’ll be,” said plane pilot George Breen, who was a shark spotter for state shark researcher Gregory Skomal for years and now finds sharks for charter vessels running great white shark tours. Every day I flew this summer, I saw them,” he said. ... snip
Spotter planes also routinely fly at 1,000 feet, not the 500-foot level in the Robbins study. “Height is your friend,” said spotter pilot Wayne Davis.
Tom here- more info in the article.
(Excerpt) Read more at capecodtimes.com ...
It is an unsolvable problem with both the seals and white sharks protected by the Federal Govt., a situation that will take years to change ,if even then it is done. Mitigation is what will be done now.
Myself I like the idea of high resolution cameras taken aloft by tethered balloons along the beaches, that send images to lifeguards showing where white sharks are located. Every suggestion has a downside but, it would be a start..- Tom
I’m on the Cape, and hear about this often.
On the one hand, people are coming to see the sharks. But, on the other, they don’t actually want to see the sharks eat seals or swimmers.
It’s a balancing act. Influential players are the Chamber of Commerce and the save the sharks and seals (at the same time) naturalists.
I keep thinking the movie, “Jaws.”
Avoiding shark attacks is pretty simple - stay out of the water.
Have a shark buffet. No more sharks. No more tourists to get eaten. Problem solved.
When I think of some of the various groups affected by the sharks and seals; fishermen, business owners, bathers, surfers, tourists , biologists, property owners, seal haters shark haters, seal lovers, shark lovers, businesses that can make money on miigations, politicians, shark viewing boats etc.
You can see any public meetings to address the seal shark issue is going to be very contentious. - Tom
Cape Cod shark report, report, report,
Cape Cod shark report, report, report,
Cape Cod shark report, report, report,
Cape Cod shark!
I’m guessing that was supposed to be the land shark from SNL, but it was a seven minute Subaru commercial. It could also be my museum quality desktop.
People, whales, sharks don’t care. The Good Lord didn’t give any real brains, just teeth. They’ll take a bite out of anything.
Ah.. this is Cape Cod shark, what’s your 20? Over.
QTH FL AR
Back in he 1960s we would take small sharks called dog fish that got on (bit onto) our lines. We would take them by the tail and brain them against the side of the ol ChrisCraft. Then throw them back in and most of the time they would swim away. They are so primitive I will bet their brain (such that it is) healed back to normal within weeks.
Cloudy, foggy weather is common on Cape Cod...
What happens if they miss seeing a shark and someone gets hurt or killed?
Will there be lawsuits?
?
Sorry, morse code shorthand: QTH is where the person is, FL is where I is, AR means “back to you”
ImVho, as “your friendly neighborhood shark conservationist” a “PRETTY GOOD” solution (as opposed to looking for the “UNOBTAINIUM” PERFECT solution,) is:
1. CATCHING/TAGGING/RELEASING/TRACKING the man-eaters,
2. FENCING off the public swimming areas
AND
3. Allowing LICENSED/CAREFULLY MONITORED HUNTING of seals AND dangerous sharks.
(Inasmuch as “trophy” & “commercial” alligator/crocodile hunting is SUCCESSFULLY managed by PWD by several States, the same thing could be easily managed as well for seals/sharks.)
As for my lady & me, we would both buy another sealskin “ladies stroller” or a “men’s carcoat”, IF they were commonly available for sale in 2019-2020.
Yours, TMN78247
So far people have been hospitalized and one fatality because of shark attacks on Cape Cod, and no lawsuits.
I guess where voluntary risk is involved, you are on your own. - Tom
I’m “pretty sure” that before too long that some shyster WILL sue some city//county/state/person for a person being attacked by a shark, inasmuch as I know of a case where a homeowner sued his own wife (The plaintiff was ACTUALLY sueing their homeowner’s insurance company.) for the family dog “wrongfully & routinely waking me up before 5AM”. = You can sue ANYBODY for ANY cause, real or imagined.
(WINNING the case is a different kettle of fish.)
Yours, TMN78247
I’m “pretty sure” that before too long that some shyster WILL sue some city//county/state/person for a person getting attacked by a shark, inasmuch as I know of a case where a homeowner sued his own wifen (The plaintiff was ACTUALLY sueing their homeowner’s insurance company.) for the family dog “wrongfully & routinely waking me up”. = You can sue ANYBODY for ANYTHING, real or imagined.
(WINNING the case is a different kettle of fish.)
Locally I have seen my town remove all the shark warning signs in October when they no longer had life guards at the beach.
If a surfer or bather got attacked by a shark I could see a lawsuit based on "since the signs were removed I thought it was "safe" to go in the water. - Tom
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