Posted on 09/07/2020 8:07:12 AM PDT by Capt. Tom
CHATHAM, Mass. — It’s known as the unofficial end to summer, but on Labor Day weekend, peak shark season is just getting started.
With the beautiful weather expected all day Monday, beach safety officials are warning that swimmers need to be vigilant, especially with a reduced number of lifeguards monitoring the public beaches.
“It just keeps building and building, and now we have the most numbers that we have all summer long,” said Tony Pike, Beach Safety Director at Nauset Beach in Orleans.
According to Pike, white sharks have been pinging sensors off the coast almost non-stop.
“We’re starting to see some old friends that have come for the season and some of the newer animals that have been tagged, and it’s been incredibly active,” he said. “Just about all day and all night it pings.”
“As we go into the holiday weekend, the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy really wants to remind the community that sharks are still off the coastline here,” said Marianne Long, Education Director for AWSC. “We know that white sharks are still in this region, September, October, even into November. So we want people to be mindful of that when they go to the beaches, especially because as we go into September, a lot of beaches will no longer have lifeguards.”
(Excerpt) Read more at boston25news.com ...
When the lifeguards are gone the more adventurous can swim further offshore.- Tom
We’re gonna need a bigger boat!
I had a delicious salad last night! Because Black Olives Matter!
More danger, fewer life guards. Hmmm. Makes sense...
What, they’re worried about sharks running up on the beach and gabbing a lifeguard??
Goofy.
That dont look like no jehovha witness to me
Sharks will social distance...
who’s there?
Candy gram...
Although yellow is a favorite color for some boats, I have noticed that since yellow kayaks seemed in the past to have more attacks by white sharks and were called Yum Yum Yellow that the kayaks I see today, there are vey few new yellow kayaks. -Tom
Inasmuch as I have SEEN the results of shark attacks on kayaks (There is a bright RED 18ft “fishing kayak” with a 14” half-circle Tiger Shark bite out of the stem area, which is suspended from the ceiling at THE BAKERY CAFE in Port Aransas, TX,) I will NOT be IN a yellow or any other color kayak “out on the salt”.
(The 2 passengers of the “trashed” kayak escaped W/O being attacked & were “picked -up” by another fisherman, “to tell the tale”.)
Yours, TMN78247
Hey Joe, they’ve got a lifeguard opening at this beach.
On the Mass. Bay side in early Sept. 2014, off Manomet point, Plymouth, two women in separate kayaks were side by side observing seals when a white shark attacked one of the kayaks, knocking both women overboard. They were in the water for about a half hour, before being rescued by an Asst. Plymouth Harbormaster and another kayaker.
This could have been a fatality, or resulted in serious injury, but the kayakers survived unscathed. The State’s shark incident investigator John Chisholm told me bite marks on the attacked kayak indicated a predatory bite, as the teeth penetrated well into the well-made kayak.
Since the shark didn’t return I think we can conclude a kayak was not on that white shark’s meal list. But what about you and me?
A shark can’t determine if something is edible without putting it’s teeth into it. I don’t entirely buy into the “mistaken identity” excuses often given for a shark’s behavior when people are the victims.
We might not be on a white sharks menu, but how does a hungry shark determine a seal sized person isn’t as good a meal, or a better meal than a seal?
A sample bite taken with large triangular serrated teeth can be a devastating problem for us, even if we are afterwards rejected as not being a suitable meal for the shark.
We have to take solace in statistics, which say shark attacks on people are rare. Maybe they are rare worldwide, but the beach going season in Massachusetts waters is only a few months a year, and the water is cool so we spend less time in it, compared to say Florida, California ,Australia, and Africa. Considering the shark related incidents in New England the last few years, maybe we are drifting into a less rare situation here-Tom
Simple, Just make the sharks wear a mask. I’m sure there are some liberals brain dead enough that we could convince to go try putting a mask on these critters.
Sharks gotta eat too.
I had no idea...I have a yellow kayak!
Guess I won’t be going out in my Yum Yum Yellow kayak!
We should make a requirement they have to drag you away to a safe distance before they eat...
Social distancing and all.
How lucky do you feel?- Tom
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International Shark Attack File Florida Museum
Sharks see contrast particularly well, so any high contrast color apparel or gear used by a human in the water is especially visible to sharks. The bright yellow color traditionally used in water safety flotation devices and rafts is readily seen by human rescuers looking for missing persons in the sea and likely is seen easily by sharks as well. As a result, shark researchers laughingly refer to this color as “yum yum yellow!”
Should one replace all these devices with more drab colored items? Of course there is a trade-off involved, but most would agree that the benefit of increasing one’s chances of being rescued far outweigh the minimal risk of attracting a shark.
Statistically, MOST GW bites on people are “exploratory’ BUT as you said, even if the person isn’t a suitable meal, they still may bleed out.
Fyi, I knew a digger when I was in the Army who had TWO separate (6+ years apart) HUGE bite scars on his torso from GW. One scar had a 16” radius. = He was a surfer, as well as an ANZAC soldier, so the GW had LOTS of chances to see if he was good to eat.
Down our way, MOST shark attacks are by BULLS or TIGERS & over 75% are lethal.
(I know one 1/4 mile stretch of coast near Boliver, TX where it is REALLY likely that a swimmer will become a BULL shark’s meal. - I’ve hook any number of BIG Bulls in that area over the last 4 decades.)
Personally, I believe that many of the “mysterious disappearances” on the TX/LA coast are persons who were taken.
Yours, TMN78247
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