Posted on 09/04/2009 5:28:23 AM PDT by Capt. Tom
By K.C. MYERS kcmyers@capecodonline.com September 03, 2009 CHATHAM – The town is on high alert after five large sharks, possibly great whites, were spotted trolling the waters close to Monomoy National Wildlife Refuge Thursday afternoon.
Town and state officials have issued warnings to the public urging people to avoid swimming where seals congregate. Town officials are expected to decide Friday whether further measures, such as beach closures, are necessary, said Lisa Capone, press secretary for the state Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs.
More Times Breaking News Despite controversy, Nantucket sheriff to run again - 8:19 am Nantucket schools chief stepping down - 8:13 am Summer weather makes a Cape return today - 8:04 am Guest: Many wept during Jackson's Calif. funeral - 7:58 am See All Breaking News Stories » The large sharks were spotted just off shore at Monomoy Island, a National Wildlife Refuge where thousands of seals sun and swim daily.
The sharks were seen in the afternoon more than one mile from Lighthouse Beach, the nearest swimming beach, Capone said.
Chatham Harbor Master Stuart Smith gave a slightly different location for the shark sighting. He said the animals were just off Monomoy’s point, where Nantucket Sound meets the Atlantic Ocean.
State Division of Marine Fisheries shark expert Greg Skomal flew over the area Thursday afternoon and confirmed large sharks were in the water. But he needs to go back by boat today to identify the species, Capone said.
“I think they are leaning toward a white type of shark,” Smith said of Division of Marine Fisheries officials.
Though the presence of large predatory sharks doesn’t come as much of a surprise to anyone familiar with the area, town officials were concerned enough to hold a meeting and write up a “Notice of Public Interest,” Smith said. The advisory warns people that the ocean is the domain of sharks and seals, and swimmers need to be aware, Smith said.
“Chatham is now a year-round home to a few thousand seals,” the town’s notice states. “Please note, however, that the ocean waters near Chatham are also home to large sharks, and seals are a staple part of their diet.
“Therefore, it is not surprising that there have been recent confirmed reports of sharks feeding on seals in the vicinity of Chatham’s ocean beaches,” the advisory continues. “As recently as Friday, August 28, 2009, the carcass of a seal was confirmed to have been partially eaten by a large shark.”
It is rare for a shark to attack a human. The last documented human death in a Massachusetts shark attack was in 1936, Tony LaCasse, spokesman for the New England Aquarium, told the Cape Cod Times last year.
But the town advised swimmers to stay away from areas with seals to avoid trouble with sharks and the marine mammals.
Smith said seals are dirty and disease ridden. They outweigh most humans and they bite, he added. “This has been going on for years now,” he said.
Read more in Friday's Cape Cod Times.
Whites would be the logical species for these reasons: big sharks, close to shore, at a seal colony, the reluctance of any one to say basking sharks, the fact that the Town of Chatham now has alerted the swimmers to a possible danger when they have glossed over white shark sightings there in the past. And a white attacked and killed a seal in front of two Kayakers there within the last two weeks. I spoke to one of the Kayakers.- Tom
Doubtless the sharks had heard rumors that Kennedy was going to be buried at sea.
We need a bigger boat
C’mon, smart democrats racing to the shore KNOW those are really a herd of whales so close to shore one can reach out and touch them. What a better way to end a perfect democratic inaugural season.
That’s it....I’m spending Labor day in the mountains!
Um.......any sightings of grizzly bears?
“Smile you son of a...”
I am sure the sharks are just following the slave ships to the Kennedy compound.
Since Duval Patrick took over as Governor he controls all information coming out of the State agencies; to the point that if you want to know something about sharks, and want to talk to a state biologist, you have to clear it through a Press Secretary Lisa Capone, and get permission to talk to the biologists, and they have to get permission to talk to you. - Tom
Greatest movie line ever.
WARNING: Sharks have invaded Washington....
We should send a note to John Kerry and tell him it looks
like a wonderful day for sailboarding.
He ate the light.
Disproved on The Mythbusters a few years ago when they did a Jaws special. However they did prove a great white could conceivably sink a small boat by ramming it.
it worked? I saw it in the movies???....he used an M1 Garand on a bottle of compressed air.....WHAM!
I know the mythbuster thing was bogus....because Jaws was one of the best flicks ever......
all kidding aside...a friends father was a commercial fisherman and he saw someone drop a bottle on the dock and it sheared off the head end when it hit a rail or something and it shot across the harbor and cracked the hull on a boat it hit....a lot of energy but not an explosive energy.
There is historical information of that happening to people in dorys.
Channel 5 Boston had a tease about the Chatham sharks. News at 5 PM.
I will e out of the house then and back in later.
I would bet by tonight Dr. Skomal says they are whites.
One of the reason biologists hold off on saying white shark is they want a chance to try and tag one, before the mayhem of sightseers ensues. - Tom
"Smile you son of a...”
They are whites for sure. At least 5, of varying sizes 8 feet up to 15 feet.
Got this from a reliable source who personally saw the sharks today.
I have not heard Dr. Skomals press release yet, and I am curious as what he has to say.
He was there also amid the white sharks, and also had two spotter planes up. - tom
The sharks have been tagged.
New thread at http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2333094/posts
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