Latest news with #MassachusettsDepartmentofMarineFisheries
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Fifty years after ‘Jaws', great white sharks remain a Cape Cod fixture
Quint, Chief Brody, Matt Hooper — those were some of the characters moviegoers got to know 50 years ago this summer when the blockbuster 'Jaws' was released. And, oh yes, there was Bruce: the collective name given to the various mechanical maneaters who terrorized Amity Island. Back in 1975, the premise of the movie notwithstanding, great white sharks were rarely seen off the Cape Cod coast. In decades prior, their numbers declined precipitously due to overfishing, accidental catchment and loss of their favorite food in the area, seals. But in 1972, the Marine Mammal Protection Act became law — giving a boost to the seal population in New England. Twenty-five years later, Great White sharks gained federal protection, as well. The end result: shark and seal numbers are rebounding. In one recent four-year period, researchers counted more than 800 white shark sightings off the Cape Cod coast — and there's no reason to believe that number will do anything but go up. Human encounters with sharks remain exceedingly rare — but they have an over-sized effect on the psyche of Cape communities and its image as a vacation spot. The last fatal shark attack happened off a beach in Wellfleet in 2018 when 26-year-old Arthur Medici of Revere was killed by a shark while riding a boogie board. At the time, it was the first shark-related fatality on the Cape in 82 years. 'We're learning a lot about sharks and shark biology,' said Megan Winton, PhD, a scientist associated with the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy. 'But at the end of the day our work is really all about people. When Arthur Medici was boogie-boarding and was killed by a white shark it just tore the community apart. And that's always your worst day as a shark biologist.' Tuesday, the Conservancy held its annual media day, to reveal what measures it's taking to track shark movements off the Cape this summer and fall. 'We've got camera-tag systems, we've got drones,' said Greg Skomal, a marine biologist with the Massachusetts Department of Marine Fisheries and an avid shark researcher. 'We've got newer technologies that give us a sense of what these animals are doing every second of their day.' That invasion of shark privacy has a goal beyond learning more about the creatures. The Conservancy shares its data in real time so as to protect the public from potential encounters with sharks. It accomplishes this tracking with a series of data collection units positioned off the outer and inner Cape coasts. 'Those patterns will help us determine where the shark is most likely to be, what time of day and what areas,' Skomal said. 'It is the 50th anniversary of Jaws and many of us have that film in our mind. But the bottom line is sharks are not here to eat people. If they were here to eat people, we'd have a lot more shark bites.' Skomal said sharks identify preferred prey through smell — but that there are so many seals a nearby human's scent can get lost in the mix. His first bit of advice is to steer clear of seals which are usually found in shallow areas off the coast. 'They're not here to eat you, but they have made mistakes and can make mistakes,' he said. Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts. Follow Boston 25 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch Boston 25 News NOW
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Rare whale spotted in mouth of Boston Harbor
A rare whale has been spotted close to the shoreline of Boston, directly by the entrance to the harbor. The North Atlantic right whale — an endangered species with just about 370 whales left in the population — was first spotted closer to the shore of Massachusetts on May 7 by researchers from the Massachusetts Department of Marine Fisheries. It was seen again by NOAA scientists on Thursday. By Friday, the NOAA researchers tracked the whale in waters less than 2,000 miles from Castle Island in South Boston. It was right by the entrance to the Boston Harbor, according to The massive animal is so close that the public may be able to see it from land — but any boaters on the water should keep a very wide berth, said Nora Ives, a marine scientist studying North Atlantic right whales at Oceana. 'Because they're critically endangered, every whale counts,' Ives said. 'It's very exciting to have them close to shore, but also a little scary.... If you're on the water, go slow for those below‚' Ives said. There's also the possibility this right whale is not traveling alone, she added. As the two main threats to North Atlantic right whales are vessel strikes and rope entanglements, Ives reminded the public and boaters of laws mandating to stay at least 500 yards away from the whales. 'The issue with them being so close to Boston Harbor is that there's lots of people, lots of boats and lots of traffic,' Ives said. 'These are slow whales, they don't have a dorsal fin and they like to hang out at the surface of the ocean, so they're really hard to see. They can't get out of your way.' Ives said. But at a 500-yard distance, Ives encouraged the public to take pictures and share them with Whale Alert, an app designed to share public whale sightings. While it's not rare to see right whales near the Massachusetts shorelines, Ives said it's been a 'really unusual season all around' for where right whale populations have been traveling. Two female whales traveled all the way to calving grounds by Florida, but then went around the Florida panhandle and ended up in the Gulf of Mexico near Alabama, Ives said — something that's only happened 'five times this century.' Another mother and calf pair last seen in the Cape Cod Bay were able to evade researchers on their way back to New England after they'd went to the calving grounds. Boston Red Sox injuries: Starter signed in December throws first bullpen Woman sexually assaulted in North End home, Boston police seek suspect Boston mayoral candidates clash over city budget, housing and transit in first forum Why are Boston Red Sox wearing green uniforms, called 'Fenway Greens'? How Red Sox will line up in Chris Sale's return to Fenway Park on Friday Read the original article on MassLive.
