Posted on 07/15/2021 10:27:05 AM PDT by Capt. Tom
WELLFLEET – Great white sharks don’t hang up their fins when lifeguards clock out for the day.
Now a group devoted to safe ocean recreation says new — and inexpensive — technology could provide an added layer of protection for swimmers and surfers during unguarded hours.
Cape Cod Ocean Community set up a demonstration of the warning system that uses flashing red and white lights and an audible alarm Thursday morning at Le-Count Hollow Beach.
The warning system mounted on private property on a dune above the beach is designed by Moosh Systems to go off whenever it receives phone notification that a tagged great white shark has pinged off a real-time receiver located on a buoy off the beach, said Heather Doyle of Cape Cod Ocean Community.
“This is another homegrown opportunity to improve public safety,” she said.
The plan is to have the phone number for the Moosh Systems beacon included in a call tree of organizations and individuals who are notified whenever a shark tagged by the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries gets close to one of the real-time receivers, Doyle said.
Currently, lifeguards or other public safety officials are notified when tagged sharks are detected by the five realtime receivers located off LeCount Hollow and Newcomb Hollow beaches in Wellfleet, Nauset Beach in Orleans, Head of the Meadow in Truro and North Beach in Chatham.
Lifeguards also keep an eye on the shallow waters where great white sharks visiting the Cape spend nearly half their time, according to a multi-agency study released in March.
“When they’re not here,” Doyle said of the lifeguards, “nobody’s getting the information.”
The waters off Cape Cod have the largest population of great whites on the East Coast. The Cape experienced the first shark fatality in Massachusetts in 82 years when 26year-old Arthur Medici of Revere was killed while boogie boarding Sept. 15, 2018 at Newcomb Hollow Beach.
“When they’re not here, nobody’s getting the information.”
Heather Doyle Co-founder of the Cape Cod Ocean Community said of lifeguards
Warning lights and a siren sit atop a dune at Maguire Landing Beach in Wellfleet as a group on the beach watches a test of the shark warning system. A shark-tracking buoy offshore sends a signal ashore activating the warning system.
Nobody knows the exact number of great whites cruising the waters off Cape Cod in the hunt for seals, however, the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries has tagged 180, including a 12-foot male just last week, said state shark researcher Greg Skomal.
Tagged off Monomoy, it was the first great white shark to be tagged by state researchers this year and marks the return of great whites in force in August, September and October, Skomal said.
He was unaware of the Cape Cod Ocean Community’s demonstration Thursday but said he’d like to learn more about it.
“Any kind of early warning system we would support,” Skomal said. “I really like the idea of this beacon.”
People have to understand, however, there are more sharks in the area than have been tagged, he said.
A study is currently underway to better understand the extent of the population.
Researchers have identified more than 400 individual great white sharks over the past five years, he said. But “they’re not here at the same time. They’re not back every year.”
Other organizations such as OCEARCH also have tagged sharks.
Doyle said she would like to see research organizations share tagging information for the safety of recreational ocean users.
The beacons developed by Wellfleet resident Kristian Sexton, who heads Moosh Systems, would cost a town or private organization just about $3,000 to install.
“It’s an opportunity to be an affordable warning system,” said Bob Mei of Harwich, a longtime surfer.
“At least it’s a good start.”
Cape Cod Ocean Community board member and surfer James Papadonis of Brewster said he’d like to see the detection system extend to “every beach from Orleans up to Race Point” in Provincetown.
Concerns about shark safety have mounted since the Cape’s first shark attack in 2012 and intensified with Medici’s death. Just about a month before Medici was attacked, a 61-year-old Scarsdale man suffered serious injuries but survived when bitten by a great white off Longnook Beach in Truro.
Last July a New York woman was killed in Harpswell, Maine, while swimming about 20 yards off shore — the first such attack in the state’s recorded history.
Here on the Cape, the arsenal of shark detection currently includes spotter planes, drones and boats.
Surfers are doing what they can to protect themselves, including installing shark deterrents on surfboards that aggravate the great whites’ electronic navigation and painting the bottom of boards with white and black stripes designed to resemble sea snakes and repel sharks.
Surfer Edward Redonnett of Wellfleet said he could see a future in which surfers could wear waterproof watches that alert them when a great white is detected.
In the meantime, Redonnett said he would like to see Moosh Systems’ beacons put in place along the shoreline.
“I think it’s great. I would love to see more.”
While it’s not yet high season for great white sharks, there are plenty already patrolling the waters off Cape Cod.
The apex predators began arriving in late May, Skomal said.
Lifeguards have cleared swimmers from the water at town and Cape Cod National Seashore beaches due to shark sightings, and the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy’s Sharktivity app reported last month that a seal was found on Race Point Beach in Provincetown with a shark bite. Jody Craven, co-lead lifeguard for the town of Wellfleet, said he likes the idea of a beacon that alerts beach goers about the presence of tagged sharks when lifeguards are not on duty.
He said lifeguards currently get a text message and email on cell phones when a shark tagged by the state Division of Marine Fisheries pings a real-time sensor on one of the buoys mounted just beyond the surf line.
“Any added layer of notification would be a good thing.
I would say right now on Cape Cod, there are about 3 times as many untagged sharks that cannot "ping" any hydrophone, as there are tagged sharks that can "ping" a hydrophone.
As Clint Eastwood would say: "How lucky do you feel?" -Tom
Press 5 for a Great White Shark.
Thank you for calling.
“You gotta hit him in the nose! Yes…”
I (embarrassingly) have to admit I clicked on this because I was eager find out what “shark-warning BACON” was.
How you gonna get away from him?
‘As Clint Eastwood would say: “How lucky do you feel?” -Tom’
I don’t have to be the fastest swimmer, I just have to not be the slowest swimmer :)
I would say right now on Cape Cod, there are about 3 times as many untagged sharks that cannot “ping” any hydrophone, as there are tagged sharks that can “ping” a hydrophone.
As Clint Eastwood would say: “How lucky do you feel?” -Tom
I’ll just put some magnets in my pocket......................
Life guards scare sharks away? The only thing they can do is recover the corpse or whatever is left...if anything.
What if the shark has been banned from social media because it's a white supremacist so it can't post a text message.
Shatner will be happy to hear this.
check other threads posted about him today
The real champion speed swimmer and height jumper is the shortfin Mako.
This is a 10 footer we are battling in Mass Bay-only two words should be in the mind of a Mako angler “STAY ATTACHED”; they are too fast for a rod and reel angler to directly fight.
The faster you get a Mako to the boat, the more likely you will lose them at boat side or have them jump into the boat.-Tom
http://www.newenglandsharks.com/files/mako21leapingkent.gif
LOL, I was striper fishing off the coast of Southern Maine today, and thought of you!
And the sharks, of course...:)
from the below article, GWs “have the ability to sense the tiny electromagnetic fields emitted from their prey, which is attributed to specific organs found in their bodies.”
https://www.sharksider.com/great-white-shark-diet/
Sharks prefer fatty foods because if they eat high-energy food they don’t have to hunt for 2 weeks or so. Meaning they’re going to seek out ‘blubber-specific’ ‘tiny electromagnetic fields’
Since sharks are ‘tuned’ to seek fat, why not just flood the designated swimming beaches with a low or high frequency hum or field that confuses the sharks’ ability to sense weak electromagnetic fields but doesn’t disrupt human physiology??
It will either drive them away or ring the dinner bell !
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