Posted on 08/10/2019 1:16:26 PM PDT by Capt. Tom
WELLFLEET -- An acoustic receiver, attached to a buoy, that uses email to alert officials and lifeguards to the presence of a tagged white shark is in place in the waters off Wellfleet’s Newcomb Hollow Beach and will soon be installed off Nauset Beach in Orleans and Head of the Meadow in Truro, according to shark researcher and scientist Greg Skomal, of the state Division of Marine Fisheries. The device can detect a tagged shark if it swims within 100 to 200 meters of the buoy, he said, but issues no alert when non-tagged sharks, population unknown, swim by, meaning that its safety implications are limited.(snip)
The citizen group Cape Cod Ocean Community had pushed for a Clever Buoy shark detection pilot program this summer, but none of the towns wanted to move forward with it. The Clever Buoy has the ability to identify any shark, tagged or not, that swims within its range, the manufacturer says.(snip).
Meanwhile, the Outer Cape towns and the Seashore are expecting the consultant Woods Hole Research Group to file its white shark mitigation report in mid-September. The WHG is looking at a wide range of deterrent options the towns might consider for future use.
(Excerpt) Read more at capecod.wickedlocal.com ...
The cost of the Clever buoys to also detect untagged sharks and give an immediate alarm, is $60,000 plus maintenance fees for each one purchased.
Because the Clever buoys are not a proven success in California and Australia, where they are being tried, the towns have to wait for more information.
The fall off in tourism because of a new tax on Cape rentals, and the fatal shark attack last year, and the many beaches being close daily this year because of sharks attacking seals close to the beaches , and being seen swimming close to shore, have the Cape Towns in a bind.
We are coming up to crunch time from right now well into October. -Tom
Here off The Jersey Shore about two years ago we had a female Great White Shark that was tagged and given the name “Mary’’. What a doll she was. 16 foot and pregnant when she first showed up. Seems she liked to range as far north as Cap Cod, then she’d swim around off Long Island and then come back to The Jersey Shore. She even had her own Facebook page. I don’t know where she is these days though.
The theory is the people on the beach like life guards get the alert and warn the bathers.
I am afraid there would be so many warnings people would be reluctant to go to some Cape beaches, to go swimming, or do other water activities. Tom
Candygram!
YIKES!
I have a rule. Never go swimming where the fish are bigger than me.
It wil be great not to be bitten/eaten by a tagged shark.
(btw, who tags them?)
We’ve seen countless pictures of swimmers unaware of sharks swimming around them. Tagged or not, I’m staying out of sharks kitchens.
But truthfully, over the years, going to the beach to swim has become a circus. While I don't doubt the sharks are repelling swimmers and tourism in the Cape, I have to imagine that the general uncouth demeanor of vacationers is also driving the generally weaker numbers over the long haul.
The Ultimate Selfie! LOL!
Sounds like a trial run for the demoncrats gun registration plan post 2020...
Kind of like gun control.
You won't see those sharks when you, are at water level.
I used to watch them come down the slick to the boat from the tower, and the people on the back deck would not be aware of them until they were at boat side.
When the white shark tagging boat gets into 6 feet or less of water alongside the beach, the beachgoers can be heard saying ,"why is that boat so close to shore, what are they doing", and there is a good sized white shark just ahead of the boat and the beachgoers can't see it.
You need elevation to see the sharks, unless they break the surface. -Tom
The tagging is done by State Mass. Div. Fisheries Dr. Greg Skomal.
The money for the boat, spotter plane, and other costs is provided by the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy, along with some research grants, and donations. -Tom
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