Great white sharks are spending more time in waters off New England

3 days ago 5

New information shows that large achromatic sharks are spending much clip successful the chilly waters disconnected New England and Canada's Atlantic coast.

That means boaters, beachgoers and fishermen who walk clip successful the bluish waters are learning to unrecorded with the predators made celebrated by the movie "Jaws" 50 years ago. Sightings of the sharks are up successful places similar Maine, wherever they were erstwhile precise seldom spotted.

Scientists nexus the achromatic shark sightings to accrued availability of the seals the sharks feast on, and accidental beachgoers are mostly precise harmless from shark bites.

Here's a breakdown by the numbers.

Maine

The Maine Department of Marine Resources has been monitoring large achromatic shark enactment successful the Gulf of Maine since 2020. The section has said it intends to usage the information to amended recognize achromatic shark organisation disconnected the state's coast.

According to a report published by the section past year, 93 achromatic sharks had been detected successful Maine's waters betwixt the commencement of the monitoring period. Nineteen unsocial achromatic sharks were recorded successful 2024 alone, connected 47 antithetic dates, the section reported.

Earlier this month, drone video showed a large achromatic shark lurking adjacent immoderate of Maine's astir fashionable beaches, prompting constabulary to contented a informing successful 1 coastal municipality wherever a pistillate died successful a shark attack.

In summation to the large achromatic shark, astatine slightest 7 different shark taxon unrecorded successful Maine's waters. They are the basking shark, porbeagle, bluish shark, soil tiger shark, communal thresher, shortfin mako and spiny dogfish.

Most of these sharks airs a precise minimal menace to humans, and immoderate are harmless. Maine has confirmed lone 2 unprovoked shark attacks since 1837, with the astir caller 1 occurring successful 2020.

Nova Scotia

The fig of achromatic sharks detected disconnected Halifax, Nova Scotia, accrued astir 2.5 times from 2018 to 2022, according to a paper published successful May successful the diary Marine Ecology Progress Series.

Even farther north, the fig detected successful the Cabot Strait that separates Nova Scotia and Newfoundland accrued astir 4 times over, the insubstantial said.

Attacks stay rare

Maine's archetypal recorded fatal shark onslaught happened successful 2020, erstwhile a large achromatic shark killed 63-year-old Julie Dimperio Holowach off Bailey Island.

But shark experts picture fatal shark bites arsenic exceedingly rare, successful Maine and everyplace else.

The International Shark Attack File astatine the Florida Museum of Natural History keeps a grounds of documented shark attacks. While the large achromatic shark holds the grounds for astir documented attacks connected humans, the totals are inactive precise low.

The achromatic shark has been the root of 351 documented unprovoked shark attacks, and 59 of those person been fatal, the International Shark Attack File has reported. The Shark Attack File noted successful its latest yearly report that an uptick successful deadly attacks connected humans by achromatic sharks, observed successful 2023, did not proceed into 2024.

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