As great white sharks return to feast on seals, local shark researchers are urging people to be “shark smart” and be aware of their surroundings.
This safety message from the New England Aquarium comes after the first white shark of the season was confirmed in Massachusetts waters.
Over the weekend off Nantucket, a white shark chomped on a seal. A person reported that they saw a pool of blood off Smith’s Point in Madaket. They then saw a seal swimming toward the beach with a shark following behind.
John Chisholm, an adjunct scientist in the Aquarium’s Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life, examined photos of the seal’s wounds and confirmed that the bite came from a white shark.
“This is the time of year when we like to remind people to be ‘shark smart’ as white sharks return to the inshore waters of New England, where they’ll hunt seals and other prey through the summer and into the fall,” Chisholm said.
“Shark smart,” Chisholm says, means being aware of sharks’ presence in shallow waters, avoiding areas where seals are present or schools of fish are visible, and staying close to shore where emergency responders can reach you if needed.
The public can report sightings and stay informed on shark activity through the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy’s Sharktivity app.
Sharktivity provides information and push notifications on white shark sightings, detections, and movements to raise awareness and help people and sharks co-exist.
As part of a partnership between the New England Aquarium and the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy, Chisholm serves as citizen science coordinator for the Aquarium — verifying shark sighting reports made by the public and identifying legitimate sightings to be posted on Sharktivity.
“Increased shark sightings can be a positive sign of a recovering marine ecosystem, but this recovery also means that people should take even more care while swimming or surfing,” said Nick Whitney, senior scientist and chair of the Anderson Cabot Center’s Fisheries Science and Emerging Technologies program.
“Our work in the Aquarium’s Anderson Cabot Center focuses on balancing ocean use with preservation, meaning we recognize the importance of the ocean for human use while trying to reduce the impact of humans on sharks, and vice versa,” Whitney added.
The New England Aquarium has a team of nine scientists in the Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life who study sharks — from porbeagle and nurse sharks to thresher, blue, mako, sandbar, and sand tiger sharks.
More than 15 shark species reside in New England waters depending on the time of year.
The researchers’ work focuses on monitoring these animals using innovative tagging technologies — including satellite, acoustic, accelerometer, and camera tags to track the sharks’ habitat use, life history, and impacts of bycatch during commercial and recreational fishing activities.