Cluster of sharks in one spot off Carolinas coast grows more intense

FEBRUARY 11, 2020

by Mark Price

The clustering of great white sharks off the Carolinas coast is growing more pronounced and mysterious, based on satellite tracking data shared Saturday on social media.

Eight tagged great white sharks are now practically on top of each other along the border of North and South Carolina—and they represent the only sharks currently tracking along the East Coast, according to a map posted on Facebook by OCEARCH.

"What do you think could be causing this big gap in where white sharks are pinging right now," the nonprofit asked in its post. "There are pings in the Gulf of Mexico and then a big grouping in North Carolina/South Carolina but none in the middle."

Researchers began noticing a convergence of great white sharks off the Carolinas in late January, but the group was more spread out.

Now the sharks are exhibiting a clear preference for the same spot off Southport, near Wilmington, the data shows.

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Cape Cod great white shark gives family a fright by snatching fish from line

Encounter captured on video shot from fishing boat

Captain: incident ‘just left everyone in awe’

Associated Press in Wellfleet, Massachusetts

Sun 21 Jul 2019 22.03 BST

A family fishing in Cape Cod Bay had a close encounter with a great white shark when it leaped from the water to snatch a fish they had caught.

Doug Nelson, of Franklin, who caught the leaping shark on video on Saturday, told New England Cable News it “gave us a pretty good scare”.

Nelson’s son Jack can be seen on the video jumping back as the shark breaches the surface to take the fish from the line.

The Atlantic White Shark Conservancy confirmed it was a great white, as did Marc Costa, captain of the Orleans-based Columbia Sportfishing vessel involved.

Costa said the boat was about three miles west of Great Island in Wellfleet when the shark made its move.

The captain told the Cape Cod Times the encounter “just left everyone in awe”. One local shark researcher tweeted that it was a “good reminder that they don’t just eat seals and always be cautious when retrieving your catch”.

Great whites have returned to waters off Cape Cod in recent years, thanks in part to federal protections which have also boosted seal populations.

Last September a 26-year-old man died after being bitten by a shark off Wellfleet’s Newcomb Hollow Beach. A month before that a man suffered serious injuries in an incident off Truro, just to the north.

On Sunday the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy confirmed a report of a white shark off Nauset Beach. According to an alert, the beach was closed to swimming for an hour in the early afternoon.

Source

Did a Great White Shark Really Enter Long Island Sound?

By Jeanna Bryner, Editor-in-Chief, Live Science | May 23, 2019 09:32am ET

A great white shark thought to have entered Long Island Sound — a possible first for a great white shark in that body of water — may not have been there at all.

Cabot, a 9-foot-8-inch-long (nearly 3 meters) male shark, seemed to pop up off the coast of Greenwich, Connecticut, Monday morning (May 20). When a tagged shark's dorsal fin breaches the water's surface, nearby satellites "ping" the location to whomever is tracking the fish. In the case of Cabot, the nonprofit Ocearch got the ping, suggesting the shark was in Long Island Sound.

The problem with these trackers is that they don't give an exact location. "There's a huge error bar to the right or left of whatever location they give you," said George Burgess, a marine biologist and director emeritus of the Florida Program for Shark Research at the Florida Museum of Natural History. "And that error bar can be the difference between one side of Long Island and the other."

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15-foot great white shark is being tracked off the Carolinas. It weighs 2,137 pounds

MAY 13, 2019

by Mark Price, The Charlotte Observer

Shark trackers say a 15-foot, 2,137-pound great white shark is traveling up the Carolinas coast on a path toward the Outer Banks.

That's a fish about the length of a Volkswagen Passat.

OCEARCH, a nonprofit that tags and tracks sharks, reported in a Facebook post that the 15-foot shark named Luna showed up on tracking records May 9 at 11:34 a.m. off Charleston.

It was swimming through a deep sea area known as the Charleston Bump, 80 to 100 miles off the coast. That section of ocean gets its name from a sudden rise above the largely flat coastal floor off Charleston, according to NOAA. Experts say the bump "deflects" the northward flow of the Gulf Stream offshore.

OCEARCH has been tracking the 15-foot shark for months. It began its journey traveling south from the Canadian coast in October 2018 and made it to the southern tip of Florida before doing a U-turn toward the Carolinas, according to OCEARCH tracking.

Luna is one of eight great white sharks currently being tracked by OCEARCH off North Carolina and South Carolina.. Four of them are off the Outer Banks, says OCEARCH. The others range in size from 9 feet 8 inches to 14 feet 9 inches, says OCEARCH.

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White sharks flee feeding areas when orcas present

Electronic tag data reveals white sharks do not return until following season; elephant seals benefit

Date:  April 16, 2019

Source:  Monterey Bay Aquarium

New research from Monterey Bay Aquarium and partner institutions published today in Nature Scientific Reports challenges the notion that great white sharks are the most formidable predators in the ocean. The study "Killer Whales Redistribute White Shark Foraging Pressure On Seals" shows how the great white hunter becomes the hunted, and the elephant seal, the common prey of sharks and orcas, emerges as the winner.

"When confronted by orcas, white sharks will immediately vacate their preferred hunting ground and will not return for up to a year, even though the orcas are only passing through," said Dr. Salvador Jorgensen, senior research scientist at Monterey Bay Aquarium and lead author of the study.

The research team -- which included Jorgensen and Monterey Bay Aquarium scientist Scot Anderson, and research partners from Stanford University, Point Blue Conservation Science and Montana State University -- documented four encounters between the top predators at Southeast Farallon Island in the Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary, off San Francisco, California. The scientists analyzed the interactions using data from 165 white sharks tagged between 2006 and 2013, and compiled 27 years of seal, orca and shark surveys at the Farallones.

"The research in this paper combines two really robust data sources," said Jim Tietz, co-author of the study and Farallon Program Biologist at Point Blue Conservation Science. "By supplementing the Aquarium's new shark tagging data with Point Blue's long-term monitoring of wildlife at the Farallon Islands National Wildlife Refuge, we were able to conclusively show how white sharks clear out of the area when the orcas show up."

In every case examined by the researchers, white sharks fled the island when orcas arrived and didn't return there until the following season.

Elephant seal colonies in the Farallones also indirectly benefited from the interactions. The data revealed four to seven times fewer predation events on elephant seals in the years white sharks left.

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Enormous Great White Shark Pregnant with Record 14 Pups Was Caught and Sold in Taiwan

By Kimberly Hickok, Reference Editor | March 22, 2019 02:52pm ET

A large, female great white shark pregnant with a record 14 pups was accidentally caught by fishers off the coast of Taiwan and sold at a fish market on Wednesday (March 20). The enormous mamma was purchased for less than $2,000 by a Taiwanese taxidermy company, Taiwan English News reported.

The images from local news agencies of the great white shark (Carcharodon carcharias) and the pups that were cut out of her are hard to believe. At more than 15 feet long (4.7 meters), the shark is bigger than a small car and is probably not what most fishers want in their nets. The shark's 14 pups look as though they were nearly fully developed and ready to take on the open ocean but were stopped short when their mother was killed.

The 14 pups this mamma shark was carrying likely mark a record number for the species, said David Ebert, a shark scientist and the director of the Pacific Shark Research Center at Moss Landing Marine Laboratories in Moss Landing, California. "It is very rare to catch pregnant white sharks, so at least they were able to document this with photographs," Ebert told Live Science in an email. 

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Shark sighted off Majorca, first great white there in 40 years

30 June 2018

For the first time in more than 40 years, a great white shark has been recorded swimming off the Spanish Mediterranean island of Majorca.

A wildlife conservation group captured footage of the shark wandering around the Cabrera archipelago.

The last confirmed sighting of such a fish in the Balearic Islands was by a fisherman in 1976.

Great whites can weigh up to two tonnes, grow to lengths of 20ft (6m) and reach speeds of 40km/h (25mph).

"The presence of great white sharks in Spanish waters has been a constant rumour," biologist and documentary maker Fernando López-Mirones told Efe news agency.

"However, we've been unable to document their presence for many years."

Scientists with Spanish conservation group Alnitak recorded the shark for over an hour.

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Pool shark: rescued great white nicknamed 'Fluffy' released into ocean

Experts optimistic about chances of survival for 1.8m shark, which was rescued from Manly beach and transferred into nearby rockpool

Australian Associated Press

Tuesday 12 September 2017 09.29 BSTFirst published on Monday 11 September 2017 23.08 BST

A juvenile great white shark found washed up on Sydney’s popular Manly beach has returned to the ocean, with experts optimistic about his survival.

The 1.8-metre-long shark, nicknamed “Fluffy”, was found thrashing around on the shore on Monday and taken to a nearby ocean pool to rest, before spending the night at Manly Sea Life Sanctuary aquarium.

Experts determined the best course of action was to take him out into deeper waters so the animal didn’t become stranded again.

The shark was released from a boat four kilometres off Sydney about 2.30pm on Tuesday.

The sanctuary’s life sciences manager, Rob Townsend, said it was unusual to see sharks wash up because they’re strong swimmers.

 “We have been involved in dozens of rescues over the years but this one was certainly unique,” he said.

“It was truly a privilege to work with this species and it is always great to be able to release an animal like this back to the wild and to see the amount of public support he had.”

The rescue mission was tricky at times because the creatures don’t do well in enclosed areas.

“We had lots of divers in the tank last night making sure he didn’t bump into the walls,” Townsend said on Tuesday.

Experts say they have “high hopes” for the animal’s survival.

“From the condition he was first found in, flopping around on the rocks, to even just a few hours later to see how well he was swimming in the tank - it’s an indication whatever it was that caused him to end up on the rocks is something he can deal with,” Townsend said.

It remains a mystery as to why Fluffy tried to beach himself, but Townsend was able to shed some light on how the shark got its unusual nickname.

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Rising numbers of great white sharks headed toward Cape Cod, scientists say

Figure rises for second consecutive year, says Massachusetts’ top shark expert, warning of ‘public safety issue’ despite no deaths in state’s waters since 1936

Associated Press in Boston

Sunday 12 March 2017 15.20 GMT Last modified on Monday 13 March 2017 12.26 GMT 

Great white sharks are swimming toward the waters off Massachusetts in rising numbers, scientists say, after a second consecutive year showing an increase in predators to Cape Cod.

The latest data from a multiyear study of the ocean predators found that the number of sharks in waters off the vacation haven appeared to be on the rise, said Greg Skomal, a senior scientist with the Massachusetts division of marine fisheries, and the state’s top shark expert.

The sharks are after seals, not humans, and towns are using the information from the study to keep it that way. “How long does it stay and where does it go are the questions we’re trying to answer,” Skomal said. “But for the towns, it’s a public safety issue.”

Researchers using a plane and boats spotted 147 individual white sharks last summer. That was up slightly from 2015, but significantly more than the 80 individual sharks spotted in 2014, the first year of the study, funded by the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy.

More than half the white sharks spotted last summer had not previously been documented by this study.

Researchers have also tagged more than 100 to track their movements.

The white shark population was probably significantly larger, because the scientists could not possibly spot all of them, Skomal said.

Two of the more interesting findings are the increasing number of young sharks, and that they appear to be swimming farther afield.

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Great white shark recorded asleep for the first time ever

Previously, scientists did not know how the sharks took their rest

Will Worley 

Friday 1 July 2016

Scientists believe they may have discovered how great white sharks sleep.

How the creatures rested has previously been unknown, particularly as the species must be constantly on the move in order to breathe. 

But using hi-tech robotics and underwater cameras, they now believe they know how the sharks – which can grow up to six metres long – take their slumber.

Footage, shot by the Discovery Channel, followed a female great white, nicknamed Emma, as the sun set near the Isla de Guadalupe, west of Mexico’s Baja peninsula.

As night fell, the shark’s behaviour began to change. While in daylight hours, great whites tend to stay in deep waters to swoop on prey, at night they are known to move in closer to the shore.

Emma is “hugging the shoreline, staying close to the bottom,” observes one of scientists in the film.

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Shark 'As Big As Jaws' Clears Australian Beach

18 January 2016

A great white shark thought to be up to seven metres (22ft) long has been spotted off the coast of southern Australia, forcing the evacuation of a local beach.

A patrolling helicopter spotted the huge shark around 100m off Marino Rocks in Adelaide's south on Sunday afternoon.

The helicopter's crew members said it was around seven metres long, making it potentially as big as the fictional shark made famous in the Jaws films.

"It's the biggest I've ever seen as a crew member in the Westpac chopper. We put it down as 7m the photo really doesn't do it justice," one crew member said, according to a post on Facebook by Shark Alerts South Australia.

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Swim On! Rescued Great White Shark Likely Still Alive

by Laura Geggel, Staff Writer | August 17, 2015 01:22pm ET

A great white shark famously saved last month by Cape Cod beachgoers is likely still alive and swimming, said a shark expert.

The shark was rescued after it became stranded on a beach on July 13. Before it was released, experts pinned an acoustic tag to the shark's dorsal fin, which is on its back. A system of acoustic receivers — located about 3 miles (4.8 kilometers) south of where researchers released the shark — picked up the animal's unique signal within two weeks of the rescue, said Gregory Skomal, afisheries biologist with the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries, who helped save the shark.

"It's very encouraging that the shark was alive," he told Live Science. "If I had to guess, if it survived for a couple days, it's going to survive [in the long term]."

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Beachgoers help rescue stranded great white shark

Shark kept wet by beachgoers

UPDATED 11:53 PM EDT Jul 13, 2015

CHATHAM, Mass. —A great white shark that became stranded on a Chatham beach was kept wet by beachgoers until it could be pulled back into the water by officials Monday.

The shark, a 7-foot juvenile male, beached itself trying to get a seagull near the barrier breach on South Beach, a witness said.

"Last year we know that sharks were in that area, and that it got shallow and it was hard for them to get out," Cynthia Wigren, of the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy said. "It was hard for them to get out, but for a shark to be beached, is a big deal."

"There was no way for the shark to get to where it could swim, so it just kept flapping and moving over," witness Kelly Skanell said.

The shark was kept wet by beachgoers until it was pulled back into the water by officials who attached a line to its rear caudal fin.

"What we did once it was completely beached is throw buckets of water, because we though that would sort of help keep it alive," Isabel Hegland said.

It took about an hour to slowly tow the shark back out to sea. The shark was tagged by Marine Fisheries officials and returned to the sea.

Read on and watch video ...

The great white shark is in danger – but technology could save it

Ocearch, a non-profit organisation, is tracking sharks and other predators to focus conservation efforts. You can keep tabs too

Nicola Davis

Friday 9 January 2015 12.30 GMT

It might be huge, streamlined and powerful, but the great white shark is in danger. An estimated 100 million sharks, including great whites, are killed every year, threatening to throw our oceans, their populations and habitats into disarray. “They’re the balance keeper, they’re like the lion of the ocean,” says Chris Fischer.

As the founder of Ocearch, Fischer is taking action. Since 2007, his non-profit organisation has enabled researchers from institutions worldwide to tag and monitor the movements of around 80 great white sharks and a host of other predators. The result is a wealth of data that not only provides insights into behaviour, but focuses conservation efforts.

“You’ve got to know where [the sharks] mate, you’ve got to know where they give birth, you’ve got to protect the nursery and you’ve got to understand their full range so you can put policy in place across that range,” Fischer explains.

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It’s a team effort. Using a bespoke lift fitted to their research vessel, the Ocearch crew traps a shark and brings it – briefly – to the surface. Scientists then have 15 minutes to take blood and parasite samples, body measurements and muscle biopsies, tests that provide clues to the shark’s age, diet and reproductive status. Each shark is also furnished with a number of trackers: an accelerometer to capture data on pitch, roll, depth and tail beats per minute; a pop-up tag to monitor its dive profile; and an acoustic tag to reveal if it ventures near specially placed receivers.

Is this a great white off the coast of Cornwall? Fisherman films 14ft shark swimming alongside his boat sparking claims man-eater has reached Britain Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2756191/Is-Great-White-coast-Cornwall-Fisherman-films-14ft-shark-swimming-alongside-boat-sparking-claims-man-eater-reached-Britain.html#ixzz3DTRPtTl2 Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

Is this a great white off the coast of Cornwall? Fisherman films 14ft shark swimming alongside his boat sparking claims man-eater has reached Britain

Enormous shark was spotted roaming 20 miles off the coast of Falmouth 

Professional fisherman Nigel Hodge, 44, filmed it lurking beside his boat 

Shark experts who saw footage say it's not species native to British waters

One said 'probably a great white'; others suggested oceanic whitetip

Great white gained reputation as a terrifying man-eater in 1975 hit film Jaws

The oceanic great white is said to be even more dangerous to humans

Warmer British waters full of fish to eat may attract non-native sharks

By HARRIET ARKELL FOR MAILONLINE

PUBLISHED: 11:29, 15 September 2014 | UPDATED: 15:03, 15 September 2014

Footage of what appears to be a great white shark in the sea off Cornwall has ignited fears that a real-life Jaws is roaming Britain's coastline.

Fisherman Nigel Hodge, 44, was on his boat 20 miles off Falmouth when he spotted it on the port side of his boat and pulled out his mobile phone to film it.

Shark experts who have viewed his footage said it was certainly not native to British waters and that it was 'probably a great white'.

Mr Hodge, who runs fishing and boat trips with his Cornish Fishing business, was fishing when he spotted the enormous creature, which he estimated at more than 12ft long, circling his boat.

He said: 'I was fishing on the starboard side and went to the port side to get the deck hose when I saw it.'

Mr Hodge said he didn't want to suggest what he thought, but common consensus on his Cornish Fishing Facebook page, where he posted the footage, was that it was either a great white or an oceanic great.

David Turner, a shark specialist and author of The Shark Fisherman, said: 'If the fish was was 14ft long, it probably was a great white - it wouldn't be the first off Falmouth.' 

More...

Read more: 

Jon D and Lars P both think it may be a basking shark 

Great white shark spotted in north London boating lake

Joggers, dog-walkers and early morning commuters in Finsbury Park in North London this week were treated to the unexpected sight of what appeared to be a great white shark fin slicing through the water among a group of rowers on the boating lake.

Luckily for all concerned, the ‘shark’ was a stunt set up to publicise a series of shark-related programmes on the Discovery Channel next week.

The shark’s fin was made by BAFTA award-winning art director and special effects designer Jamie Campbell, renowned for his work on Sea Monsters and the originalWalking with Dinosaurs.

Campbell used a hand-carved polystyrene fin mounted onto a 3m tubular frame, with internal ballast and flotation devices to guide the shark. An underwater pulley system, connected between two points on the shoreline by an underwater steel cable, allowed the shark fin to travel at pace across the water.

Cameras were set up around the lake to capture the reactions of the unsuspecting boating enthusiasts. One person in every boat was aware of the prank. 

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Great white shark choked by sea lion

17th July 2014

3 hours ago

A great white shark that washed up on an Australian beach this week had a sea lion stuck in its throat which likely caused its death, fisheries officials said Thursday.

The four-metre (13-foot) white pointer was filmed thrashing around just off Coronation Beach, 430 kilometres (270 miles) north of Perth, and was later found on the sand.

The Western Australia Department of Fisheries said it had no visible signs of injury or disease, but had a large sea lion lodged in its throat.

"This could explain why the shark was exhibiting such unusual behaviour in shallow waters off Coronation Beach," said research scientist Rory McAuley in a statement.

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