The summer is about half over, but shark season is just getting underway. Great Whites are big stars on Cape Cod where a growing number of people seem to have stories of their own close encounters
The summer is about half over, but shark season is just getting underway.
Great white sharks are big stars on Cape Cod, where a growing number of people seem to have stories of their own close encounters.
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Don Parker operates a charter fishing boat out of Sesuit Harbor in Dennis. He says he sees a lot of sharks, but recently, a great white jumped out of the water, devouring a striper and leaving only its head.
"Ten to 12 feet is what we guessed," he said. "It was one of the largest I've seen."
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Beaches on the Cape have been filled with people for more than a month, but great whites are just getting here, with their high season running between August and October.
"It's pretty much a typical year so far," said John Chisholm of New England Aquarium, one of the state's top shark experts.
Chisolm is the lead investigator for the Sharktivity app, which tracks sharks with the help of citizen scientists. He says this year is typical, but overall, great white numbers are up.
"The white shark has been protected since the late 90s, so they're starting to rebound, and their prey has been has been protected since 1972, so that's coming back," he said.
A captain with the Harwich Fire Department, Parker has been fishing his whole life and he says the great white shark population has definitely grown over the years.
"Never remember seeing sharks going up, very rarely," Parker said. "Basking sharks, but never great whites."
More than 600 sharks have been identified in the waters off Cape Cod, and about half of them have been tagged, helping to give us a better understanding of these amazing animals.
