Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

White sharks: Love 'em, hate 'em, watch out for them. Here's why.
Old Colony Memorial ^ | 9/22/2021 | Capt. Tom King

Posted on 09/22/2021 9:33:42 AM PDT by Capt. Tom

It was only a few years ago that an anxiety started to enter the thoughts of most people in New England, when their recreational activities involved going into the ocean. The concern wasn’t the usual how cold will the water be. It was an increasing worry about a white shark "encounter" - or "incident" - or "attack", depending on the level of their anxiety.

The fear of sharks, or large flesh-eating land animals, snakes, rodents, etc. is built into of the makeup of most people. That is understandable and helps our species survive.

White shark article writers seem to want to allay those fears, and at the same time protect the white sharks from any criticism.

These writers use excuses for a white shark's natural behavior. Excuses rarely made for many other man-killing species, like lions, tigers, bears, venomous snakes etc..

No amount of statistical evidence is going to make those fears of lurking white sharks go away. Yet it seems every article writer who mentions a white shark "incident" where people are involved seems to find it obligatory to include a paragraph or two of beating the reader over the head with statistics - showing how rare being bitten by a white shark is, compared to driving to and from the beach, being struck by lightning, and many other statistical examples.

If authors feel they have to defend the white shark’s behavior, I wish the authors would use a simple expression such as “You are more likely to be bitten by an Out of Stater than a white shark.” Or something like that. Keep it simple.

Can’t we just get on with the white shark articles and leave out the statistical bombardment of how unlikely it is for a hungry white shark to bother you while you are frolicking in its domain?

Also, when a white shark attacks a person it seems it is always portrayed as some sort of a case of mistaken identity. That mistaken identity line may be true in most cases, but to me it can’t be true in all cases. Unless there is something we humans have that makes us immune from a sample bite from a hungry white shark to determine if we are edible. I don't see any indication we have that type of immunity.

We don't appear to be on the white shark's menu, but how would it know that? By instinct? Hunger is still the best sauce, and a sample bite is the way for a hungry white shark to find out whether we are a suitable meal.

White shark/human interaction Another aspect of white sharks interacting with people was pointed out to me by a knowledgeable shark biologist. It could be "territorial protection," or "aggravation" about an intrusion into the sharks territory. You might be seeing that when boats, surfboards, paddleboard, kayaks, buoys, bathers, surfers and other white sharks are bitten. Were they intruding into a shark's territory?

Now that I got those pet peeves of mine out of the way, let's look at how this present white shark situation got started, and is spreading throughout New England.

Remember; New England and Canada are the normal ranges of white sharks and gray seals. Nothing unusual about either species being here. Canada this year, on Aug. 13, had a shark attack that hospitalized a 21-year-old woman who was swimming off a boat at Cape Breton. She is OK after surgery at a Halifax, Nova Scotia, hospital.

In New England there just weren't many seals or white sharks around - until recently. Why did that change? What happened? It changed because the federal government protected the seals in 1972 and the white sharks in 1997. That's the reason! Don't fall for other agenda driven explanations.

What could possibly go wrong? It sounds like a well intentioned species recovery effort by the federal government. Well; from an ocean-going beachgoer's perspective today, how about too much success?

The “today’s solution is tomorrow’s problem,’’ began for ocean-going recreational people on Cape Cod, when the federal protection for both seals and white sharks took hold, and both species thrived.

About 20 years ago, federally and state-protected white sharks were showing up at Cape Cod beaches. More returned each summer to feast on the tens of thousands of protected seals along the easterly beaches on Cape Cod.

By 2005, beachgoers realized something was attacking and killing those seals very close to shore there in broad daylight. Word was starting to get out. If a seal weighing hundreds of pounds could get killed, what about a person in the water in that area? Beach goers were starting to get alarmed.

Tagging begins In 2009 marine biologist Greg Skomal, along with assistant John Chisholm, both from the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries, started tagging white sharks off the ocean side beaches of Chatham, Orleans, Eastham, Wellfleet, and Truro on Cape Cod.

A fear of great whites? Shark center aims to show fact vs. fiction

Atlantic White Shark Conservancy (AWSC) got involved with the state in 2013. The state's white shark taggers ran out of tags and state money. Many more white sharks showed up than anyone expected, and shark research costs money.

Since 2013 the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy has donated the tagging boat, acoustic tags, spotter plane, and shark ping detection buoys, and has given other assistance to the Massachusetts' shark study.

In recent years in New England, white sharks were involved in two fatal attacks on people, and several other attacks that required hospitalizations, and some very close calls for ocean goers from kayakers to swimmers.

Those two fatal shark attacks were on Sept. 15, 2018, at Newcomb Hollow Beach, Wellfleet, and on July 27, 2020, at Bailey Island, Maine. In each fatality, white sharks were identified as being involved.

A much earlier fatal white shark attack occurred July 25, 1936 when a man was swimming with a friend at Hollywood Beach, Mattapoisett.

The recent "encounters" and the fatalities have put beach goers and surfers on alert. Few bathers now go beyond waist deep water, and surfers have diminished in numbers during the summer and fall months.

Real time buoys Many mitigating procedures have been put in place to reduce white shark/human interaction. One of the latest is using "real-time buoys" to alert beachgoers to a tagged white shark's presence.

The regular shark hydrophone buoys are pulled monthly or longer to obtain the recorded "pings” from acoustic devices attached to tagged white sharks. That delayed ping info is OK for a researcher, but beach goers who are going into the ocean want a right-now warning. They need to know about an acoustically tagged shark's presence immediately.

That immediate notification hydrophone buoy is called a real-time buoy. It gives life guards, beachgoers and others, basically by cell phone, a prompt notification that a tagged white shark has gotten within a few hundred yards of the real time hydrophone buoy, and pinged it. Untagged sharks can't ping any hydrophone buoy.

These real-time buoys are more expensive than the regular hydrophone buoys, and cost about $15,000 apiece. Those acoustic tags on the white sharks have batteries that can last eight years or a little longer.

This summer, about six real time hydrophone buoys were placed at beaches on Cape Cod known to have a summer/fall white shark presence. In addition there are about 30 regular hydrophone buoys placed around Cape Cod by the state for white shark detections. Hydrophone buoys placed by researchers for other ocean species will also pick up and record white shark pings. Hopefully they will get reported also to help the shark researchers.

Expect to see more of these real-time buoys in the future, if they are proven to help the beachgoers, or if a private group or individual, wants to donate one.

A question that arises is, if an untagged shark can't ping any hydrophone buoy anywhere, “How many untagged sharks are swimming around at our beaches, compared to tagged sharks?”

My opinion is there are right now about four untagged sharks to every acoustically tagged shark along the New England coast. That's just my opinion.

My opinion is based on: there is no problem with drones and shark spotter planes, or boaters, finding untagged sharks near the beaches or at a floating whale carcass. The many films from boaters who accidentally encounter a white shark show most of those sharks are untagged. There are a lot more untagged white sharks swimming around New England waters than tagged sharks. A lot more.

Tagged vs untagged What does that mean? Well, to me, if you are at a beach that has a real-time buoy that is working properly, don’t rely entirely on it to alert you to every white shark's presence, since there may be an unseen untagged shark nearby that can’t ping any buoy’s hydrophone.

Both protected white shark and seal species in large numbers will be around in New England for a long time. The life span of a gray seal is about 30 years, and the white sharks live about 70 years. This is going to be a yearly situation.

In Dec. 2020 a white shark study group was formed called the New England White Shark Research Consortium (NEWSRC). This new consortium will have about a dozen different organizations, and will be involved with studying New England white sharks in 2021 and on into the future.

The hydrophone buoys will be removed in December, so those buoys won't be lost to winter storms. And by then, most of the white sharks will have migrated south.

Captain Tom King has been a longtime angler in the Massachusetts area, acquiring his first boat in 1949. He has also guided offshore for sharks from Scituate. For a number of years Tom wrote fishing articles and a monthly column for “On the Water” fishing magazine. Tom has given many Power Point presentations on the various New England shark species, and written several articles on sharks. Toms’ website is newenglandsharks.com.


TOPICS: Miscellaneous; Outdoors
KEYWORDS: realtimebuoys; whitesharks
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-27 next last
This is another white shark article I wrote. It got published today.

We are now beyond Labor Day weekend, and recreational ocean swimming is coming to a halt. The kids will be going back to school. After Sept. 6th lifeguards are not at the Cape Cod beaches.

By the end of next month, October, most recreational boats in New England will be hauled, and most marinas will be closed.

However white sharks will be here into December, with the possibility of one or two showing up in mid winter. The shark hydrophone buoys that detect "pings" from sharks with acoustic tags will be removed in December from the ocean waters to avoid losing them in winter storms.

For those interested in white shark goings on, they will be here in New England for about 3 more months. -Tom

1 posted on 09/22/2021 9:33:42 AM PDT by Capt. Tom
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Capt. Tom

2 posted on 09/22/2021 9:37:58 AM PDT by Seruzawa ("The Political left is the Garden of Eden of incompetence" - Marx the Smarter (Groucho))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Capt. Tom
Good read thanks.
Me and the Dad used to hunt Swords off of Block in the 60’s. Harpoons, barrels, the old fashion way. Still have a few "Swords" hanging around from those days. Saw a few Whites out that way in the Fall
3 posted on 09/22/2021 9:40:53 AM PDT by Bell Bouy II
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Capt. Tom

I even check my bathtub before bathing.


4 posted on 09/22/2021 9:44:26 AM PDT by dvan (Send Them Home!Napolatono)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Capt. Tom

5 posted on 09/22/2021 9:45:20 AM PDT by PGR88
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Seruzawa

I think we need a bigger MF boat!


6 posted on 09/22/2021 9:47:00 AM PDT by Vaquero (Don't pick a fight with an old guy. If he is too old to fight, he'll just kill you. )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Capt. Tom

“You’re gonna need a bigger boat.”

5.56mm


7 posted on 09/22/2021 9:48:24 AM PDT by M Kehoe (Quid Pro Joe and the Ho need to go.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Capt. Tom

I’ve often wondered why shark is not eaten more often than it is.... It’s not bad tasting and it’s fairly easy to catch, aside from those pesky government regs....................


8 posted on 09/22/2021 9:53:14 AM PDT by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegal aliens are put up in hotels.....................)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Bell Bouy II; TMN78247; Makana; 1Old Pro; Roccus; Justa; Faith65; lurk; rlmorel; Red Badger; ...
Good read thanks.
Me and the Dad used to hunt Swords off of Block in the 60’s. Harpoons, barrels, the old fashion way. Still have a few "Swords" hanging around from those days. Saw a few Whites out that way in the Fall

People don't realize in the 1960s if those "maneaters" now called "white sharks", came close to shore, they would end up dead on the dock - the trophy Jaws removed ,and if possible the meat sold, or given way.

Times have changed. - Tom

9 posted on 09/22/2021 9:54:08 AM PDT by Capt. Tom (.It's COVID 2021 - The Events, not us, are still in charge -)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Capt. Tom

https://www.skilledangler.com/can-you-eat-shark-meat/


10 posted on 09/22/2021 9:59:31 AM PDT by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegal aliens are put up in hotels.....................)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Capt. Tom
Also, when a white shark attacks a person it seems it is always portrayed as some sort of a case of mistaken identity.leaving out, of course, that a mistaken mouthing by a GWS is like accidentally being pulled into a wood chipper.
11 posted on 09/22/2021 10:01:23 AM PDT by Tallguy
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger

I love shark steak. Pops up every now and then at the grocery store at a great price.


12 posted on 09/22/2021 10:05:55 AM PDT by BBQToadRibs2
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: BBQToadRibs2

Yes, even here, but people are wary of it, so it shows up at festivals and fairs as ‘Shark-on-a-Stick’ novelty food..................


13 posted on 09/22/2021 10:07:37 AM PDT by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegal aliens are put up in hotels.....................)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: Capt. Tom

One of the best articles on the topic I’ve read. You should do a whole layout in the Annual “Best of Cape Code Life” magazine ( if I have the name correct) that is a must for all us Cape Cod summer tourists. I’m sure people would really enjoy it.


14 posted on 09/22/2021 10:08:36 AM PDT by 1Old Pro (Let's make crime illegal again!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 1Old Pro

That or “Yankee”,which sad to say is not what it once was


15 posted on 09/22/2021 10:13:10 AM PDT by Bell Bouy II
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: Tallguy
Also, when a white shark attacks a person it seems it is always portrayed as some sort of a case of mistaken identity.leaving out, of course, that a mistaken mouthing by a GWS is like accidentally being pulled into a wood chipper.

A mosquito can draw blood on some people. Imagine what a shark who has teeth designed to rip off chunks of meat can do. Unfortunately we don't have to imagine.-Tom

16 posted on 09/22/2021 10:14:45 AM PDT by Capt. Tom (.It's COVID 2021 - The Events, not us, are still in charge -)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: Seruzawa

Man, that’s scarier than the original...


17 posted on 09/22/2021 10:25:35 AM PDT by major_gaff (University of Parris Island, Class of '84)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Capt. Tom
The fear of sharks, or large flesh-eating land animals, snakes, rodents, etc. is built into of the makeup of most people.

There are large, flesh-eating rodents?
18 posted on 09/22/2021 10:26:24 AM PDT by AnotherUnixGeek
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Capt. Tom

Jaws might end up in the cupola in Salivar’s!
LOL


19 posted on 09/22/2021 10:47:49 AM PDT by Roccus (Prima di ogni altra cosa, siati armati!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: Capt. Tom

This is a great thread....


20 posted on 09/22/2021 10:49:29 AM PDT by nesnah (Infringe - act so as to limit or undermine [something]; encroach onre)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-27 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson