Page 28 - ARUBA TODAY

A28 SCIENCE
Monday 13 March 2017

More great white sharks appear to be visiting off Cape Cod

MARK PRATT
Associated Press
BOSTON (AP) — Great
white sharks are discov-
ering what tourists have
known for years: Cape
Cod is a great place to
spend the summer.
The latest data from a mul-
tiyear study of the ocean
predators found that the
number of sharks in waters
off the vacation haven
appears to be on the rise,
said Greg Skomal, a senior
scientist with the Massa-
chusetts Division of Marine
Fisheries, and the state’s
top shark expert.
But that’s no reason to
cancel vacation. 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 In this July 25, 2016, file photo, released by the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy, a great white shark swims close to the Cape Cod
shore in Chatham, Mass.
where does it go are the Associated Press
questions we’re trying to nificantly more than the documented by this study. Great whites, made fa- towns would like to keep it
answer,” Skomal said. “But 80 individual sharks spot- Researchers have also mous in the 1975 movie that way.
for the towns, it’s a public ted in 2014, the first year tagged more than 100 to “Jaws,” about a mon- The last documented fatal
safety issue.” of the study , funded by track their movements. strous shark that terrorizes great white shark attack
Researchers using a plane the Atlantic White Shark The white shark popula- a fictional New England in Massachusetts waters
and boats spotted 147 Conservancy. tion is probably significantly resort town, are coming to was in 1936, Skomal said.
individual white sharks More than half the white larger, because the scien- Cape Cod waters to feast In 2012, a man bitten while
last summer. That was up sharks spotted last summer tists can’t possibly spot all on seals. Once hunted to swimming off Truro required
slightly from 2015, but sig- hadn’t previously been of them, Skomal said. near extinction, the now- 47 stitches and surgery to

CALL FOR OUR LIVE GIRLS SHOW Two of the more interesting protected seals are found repair damaged tendons.
findings are the increasing in great numbers. In 2014, two young women
number of young sharks, The seals used to be con- kayaking off Plymouth were
and that they appear to be centrated at the Monomoy attacked, although neither
swimming farther afield. Wildlife Refuge, off limits to was bitten. Nathan Sears,
“Last summer we saw humans, but as they have the natural resources man-
greater numbers of smaller moved farther north, so ager in Orleans, said the
sharks, including juveniles, have the sharks, Skomal study is invaluable and is al-
and that tells us that the said. The risk of a swimmer ready prompting changes
population is rebuilding,” being attacked by a shark in how the town manages
Skomal said. is minimal, and Cape Cod its beaches.q