Posted on 05/15/2021 11:13:34 AM PDT by Capt. Tom
LOCAL NEWS Great white shark Andromache is heading back to the Cape ahead of Memorial Day The nearly 11-foot shark was tagged off Nantucket Great white shark Andromache, tagged off the Cape last year, is migrating north ahead of the summer.
She’s racing back to the Cape before the tourists arrive for Memorial Day weekend.
A nearly 11-foot great white shark named Andromache, that was detected last summer off the Cape and Nantucket, is quickly migrating north to her summer home.
The sub-adult female that has traveled more than 5,000 miles along the eastern seaboard in five months was close to the New Jersey coast on Monday, according to the OCEARCH tracker. She has since continued climbing north and was approaching Long Island Tuesday night on the way back to the Cape.
Last August, Andromache was tagged off Nantucket during OCEARCH’s Expedition Massachusetts 2020.
The shark was then detected around Nantucket and the Monomoy National Wildlife Refuge for the next couple of months before leaving for the south in early October, according to the OCEARCH tracker. Her most southern point was near the central Florida coast in November. She then spent much of the winter off Georgia and South Carolina.
In mid-April, Andromache was detected off North Carolina before quickly shooting up the coast over the past few weeks.
She was named by OCEARCH’s partner, luxury Swiss watchmaker Ulysse Nardin, after the Greek character Andromache, who is “a symbol of maternity, strength and courage,” OCEARCH said.
The OCEARCH Global Shark Tracker shows Andromache’s path, along with the tracks for 70 tagged sharks.
“You can see that many of them spend their summer on the Cape, and then they’ll head down the coast quite a bit,” said OCEARCH’s Chief Scientist Bob Hueter. “They’ll go set up shop in the southeast off the Carolinas and north Florida, and some even keep on going to the Florida Keys and into the northern Gulf of Mexico.
“They have quite an expansive range,” he added. “We’re discovering they start laying down this big track from Florida all the way to Canada pretty early in their growth.”
The OCEARCH tracker shows real-time locations of sharks all around the world, including off Australia and South Africa. The tracker is updated when a tagged shark breaks the surface for some time, which sends a signal to the satellite system.
“The tracker without question has been revolutionary in changing peoples’ attitudes about the white shark,” Hueter said. “Before we did this work, peoples’ perception came from ‘Jaws’ and ‘Shark Week.’
“By telling the story of each of these animals and explaining the stage of their lives and giving each one a name, you personalize the shark,” he added. “We have transferred peoples’ perceptions about the species.”
The researchers will be returning to Massachusetts in late July, working off Nantucket and the Cape.
“We’ll hopefully get a few more tags when we’re there,” Hueter said. “We’ll spend some time there, and then go up to the Maine coast and then Nova Scotia.”
I know, right? And even after Labor Day people still in white.
Wow no posted “were going to need a bigger boat.” Until moi.
I just realized...”Andromache” means “Maneater”.
“Luvs me some Boston baked beaners...”
My first Shetland Sheepdog was a lovely girl. You could hold a treat out for her and she would take hold of it; but, if you did not let go of your end, she would let go and sit and wait for you to give it to her completely. My late father was always amazed that she wouldn't just grab it out of his hand.
Another thing my Dad liked to do was put butter or peanut butter (just a dab) onto a dog treat and give it to her. Once in a while he would pretend to do that and give it to her; but she would spit it out at him and give him a look like, what are you trying to pull here.
lol!
Or “Man Battler”
A couple of years ago I was asked by a Florida fishing magazine to write an article about white sharks here in Mass. I did no want to sensationalize the article so I wrote it in an informative way without any drama.
I captioned it, "Seals Sharks and swimmers".
When it was published it was headlined as: "MANEATER" -Tom
LOL!
It’s all Greek to me! :-)
And looking at "Jaws" now, the shark looks a bit hokey.
But you know what? I absolutely love that movie. Just love it. What great characters.
And the music was the glue that bound it together. Without the music...probably pretty good anyway.
But with that music-hoo boy.
I heard John Williams talk about the idea for the music in an interview-Spielberg met him to talk about his ideas for the soundtrack, and Williams is playing the deep, alternating notes at the low notes on the piano, pantomiming this in the interview with his mouth open in an expectant smile, nodding his head as if looking as Spielberg with a "Get it? Get it? look on his face. Spielberg didn't get it and thought Williams was playing a joke on him at first!
I saw this version of the theme which was pretty good too: "Jaws" theme at Albert Hall
Sigh. That movie was a prominent feature of one of the most entertaining times of my life! I completely related to it in every way. It was a cultural touchstone for me and my friends.
A few years ago I was asked by a magazine to write an article on white sharks as they were getting into the news and multiplying here in Mass. on Cape Cod particularly.
I told them I would rather write about Makos than whites but they insisted they wanted white shark info so I spent months interviewing fishermen biologists and others on white sharks.
When I wrote the article, about 50% of what I wanted to tell people I could not write because it was illegal activity or was told information off the record by fishermen and biologists, and shown some photos with the caveat that I say nothing about it. And I haven't.
My personal take away was there are more white sharks around than people realize, and with the Federal protection of their prey the seals, and also Federally protecting the white sharks, the white sharks are going to increase.
And they did. Today it is a problem for some towns and people, here in New England. -Tom
"...You yell 'Mako' and everyone says 'huh?'. You yell 'Great White Shark' and we've got a panic on our hands."
Back in 2008 I wrote something similar, when Wayne Davis produced the first authenticated photos of a white shark off Chatham .
Here is how it went:
Here is part of Wayne's e-mail to me:
“I reported it to the (newspaper) and they said they weren't interested 'cuz they'd done a few stories this summer already about people witnessing shark on seal attacks around Chatham. I thought the (newspaper) response was very strange, not only 'cuz I had a photo to go with the report, but because there were 6-10 surfers less than a mile south of the shark....& the shark was swimming SOUTH.”
I suspect we had life imitating art on Cape Cod. Remember the scene in “Jaws” where Mayor Vaughn is concerned about the Police Chief Martin Brody panicking the beachgoers with shark talk.
"Martin, it's all psychological. You yell barracuda, everybody says, "Huh? What?" You yell shark, we've got a panic on our hands on the Fourth of July."
Only in this case on Cape Cod it was Labor Day weekend 2008.
I am so jealous that you get to spend time by the sea. I miss it immensely.
Great white shark tracked from Florida to Newfoundland ...
I know how you feel.
As long as I am in, on, over, under or next to the ocean I am happy.
In the middle of winter with snow on the ground I still go down to the ocean just to look at it. -Tom
I just listened to that and now I am going to watch Jaws again.
I just watched it again the other night...:)
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