Numerous shark sightings reported off Cape Cod in recent days

WCVB Ch.5 Boston ^ | Jul 29, 2020 | staff

[Capt. Tom]

ORLEANS, Mass. — Numerous great white sharks have been spotted this week off the Massachusetts coast, often causing beaches to close as a precaution.

A shark sighting was reported at Nauset Beach in Orleans around 9:30 a.m. Wednesday, according to a message relayed by the Sharktivity app from the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy. The water was closed to swimming for an hour as a precaution.

Another sighting was reported in the same area Tuesday after a shark attacked a seal about 20 yards off the beach. Additional sightings were reported Monday and Tuesday near Chatham.

Additionally, a possible sighting was reported Wednesday near White Horse Beach in Plymouth. The public beach was closed while the harbormaster investigated.

Skomal was also involved in positively identifying the animal that killed a woman in Maine earlier this week was a great white shark.

[chapin2500]

Most seem to be doing ok. It'll be interesting when winter rolls in. They now are utilizing out door seating which helps with the flow but they had a late seasonal start. The tourists are here in full force and are spending money. The traffic on the roads is unreal.

[poconopundit]

Well that’s a very good sign — the traffic is up!

[Capt. Tom]

Get this from a Calif. Freeper.
Well written good read on white sharks in New England. -Tom

https://www.yahoo.com/news/summer-of-the-shark-after-maine-attack-shark-experts-say-the-beasts-are-here-to-stay-

[rlmorel]

Thanks for the ping...I will say, though...calling it “Shark Phobia” doesn’t sound quite right...

I know, I am probably more likely to be hit by lightning or something like that than be eaten by a shark, but anyone swimming in New England waters these day with all these giant sharks around should generate a rational fear of an attack, intentionally by the shark or otherwise!

I know they would probably prefer a nice, blubbery, tasty seal than a stringy, bony human, but...still!

[nutmeg]

Good timing.. Shark Week starts tomorrow on Discovery. 😉

[Capt. Tom]

I know, I am probably more likely to be hit by lightning or something like that than be eaten by a shark, but anyone swimming in New England waters these day with all these giant sharks around should generate a rational fear of an attack, intentionally by the shark or otherwise!

I would say you get the picture.

I have written several articles, published in Mass. newspapers; and some include the following paragraph.-Tom

Statistics are on our side when shark attacks are involved, but when people are frolicking around in the salt water they are not worried about getting hit in the head with a coconut, or being struck by lightning, or being killed in a car crash, they are worried about …….? Well, you get the picture.

[rlmorel]

Heh, I am even LESS likely to be eaten by a shark on the beach...that makes a lightning strike a near certainty in comparison!

You might find this entertaining-I still laugh about it to this day...

I had a good friend who told me he was having a nightmare one night when he was living at home going to college. His bedroom was in the cellar of his family's house. Here is how he described it to me:

"I was in a large, completely dark underground parking garage. Way over on the other side of this large garage was a single, small, barred window that had a beam of light streaming in.

Suddenly, I heard it: BUM BUM BUM BUM BUM BUM BUM BUM BUM...

It started off fairly faintly, but was growing louder! I just knew there was a giant man-eating Great White Shark in that underground parking lot! I panicked, and ran as fast as I could to that little window with light coming in, but as I grabbed the bars, I realized I couldn't get out!

BUM BUM BUM BUM BUM BUM BUM BUM BUM BUM BUM BUM BUM...

In panic, I screamed at the top of my lungs "HEEEEEEELLLLLP! HELP! HELLLLLLP!

At that point, I woke up standing on my bed, my face stuffed into the little small cellar window of my bedroom facing our neighbor's house. It was about five o'clock in the morning, and their bedroom light came on!"

Whenever we get together these days, this is one of the stories about him we still tell! True story!

[Capt. Tom]

Good timing.. Shark Week starts tomorrow on Discovery.

And the Northeast TV and radio outlets are giving plenty of coverage to the "shark problem". -Tom

[Capt. Tom]

At that point, I woke up standing on my bed, my face stuffed into the little small cellar window of my bedroom facing our neighbor's house. It was about five o'clock in the morning, and their bedroom light came on!"

Whenever we get together these days, this is one of the stories about him we still tell! True story!

Prior to my 121 year old son seeing the movie JAWS, every morning in the dark at dawn when we were going striped bass fishing, we would row out to the boat.
He would sit in he back of the rowboat and put his hand in the water and use it like a rudder moving it right and left.

After he saw JAWS, he would sit dead center in the rowboat, and keep his hands folded on his lap ,and never put them in the water again.

No doubt JAWS changed a lot of attitudes about the ocean. -Tom

ps He is heading for Provincetown, Cape Cod Tues. with his family, in his boat, for a few vacation days , and I can guarantee you; he won't be doing any swimming there. -Tom

[rlmorel]

"...in his boat, for a few vacation days , and I can guarantee you; he won't be doing any swimming there..."

LOL, bet he won't be trailing his hand in the water. When I watched the movie in the Shopper's World Cinema in Framingham back in 1975, when this scene happened:

I involuntarily jerked my hand back and whacked the poor lady sitting next to me, but when I turned to apologize, her dinner-plate sized eyes were still fixed on the screen!

I love that movie, I really do. The mechanical shark is hokey, but...I love the story and the characters. Everything about it reeks of 1975, my senior year in high school.

[Capt. Tom]

LOL, bet he won't be trailing his hand in the water.

Sharks are in every Provincetown ocean water all around the town.
Here is a report from earlier today from a pilot flying in the area.
Truro is the next town down from P-Town. - Tom

Jay Correia @realJayCorreia
I saw at least 6 individual sharks between P-Town and Truro within the last 30 min. Lots of video to go through. My wife reported 2 on @sharktivity

[Inyo-Mono]

No doubt JAWS changed a lot of attitudes about the ocean. -Tom,

It sure did. I often used to swim out past the breakers and then swim a quarter mile down the beach before heading back to shore in the Pacific Ocean. Then in 1975 I saw Jaws at age 25 and to this day get nervous even while Trout fishing a stream.

[Capt. Tom]

I often used to swim out past the breakers and then swim a quarter mile down the beach before heading back to shore in the Pacific Ocean. Then in 1975 I saw Jaws at age 25 and to this day get nervous even while Trout fishing a stream.

Not many SWIMMERS around now; they are all BATHERS in knee to waist deep water.
About 80-85% of the beachgoers here in New England are out of the water and on the sand. -Tom

[Capt. Tom]

A good friend of mine, a shark biologist has been on this seal white shark problem on Cape Cod, before it really developed, over 15 years ago.
I remember him telling me, initially when a white shark would attack and kill a seal, the other seals, not used to being hunted would swim over to see what was happening.