600 Cape sharks now in books
Cape Cod shark researchers identified 55 new white sharks on research trips last year, bringing the documented total to more than 600 individual apex predators since the scientists began monitoring the population in 2014.
Atlantic White Shark Conservancy researchers, working with Greg Skomal of the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries, use underwater video footage to identify sharks along the Cape.
The scientists document and match each shark with previously ID’d individuals using the White Shark Catalog. The researchers look at whether a shark has been seen before. “New” sharks are added to the catalog and assigned a nickname.
From footage collected during last year’s 18 research trips, the researchers identified 55 new individuals and documented the return of 63 sharks.
Among the returning sharks was Danny, an 11-foot male that was first identified by the team in 2014. He has returned to Cape Cod every year since and was tagged by Skomal in 2019.
Since he was tagged, he has traveled as far south as Georgia and as far north as Maine and Nova Scotia. From the footage collected over the years, the team has been able to document Danny’s growth and evidence of his predatory interactions with seals.
“By comparing images of Danny collected over the years, we know he appears to be in good health and is feeding on seals off our coast,” said Megan Winton, research scientist at the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy.
Footage of white sharks from outside the region has been valuable for learning more about the species throughout its range in the northwest Atlantic. White sharks travel thousands of miles along the east coast of the U.S. and Canada during the year.
“The AWSC provides the most comprehensive publicly available information on white sharks in the Northwest Atlantic,” said Cynthia Wigren, CEO and cofounder of the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy.
“In addition to white shark sighting and detection data, the White Shark Catalog is another valuable resource,” Wigren added. “We encourage everyone on the east coast of the U.S. and Canada who encounters a white shark to send us video footage and photos so we can continue to build and enhance the catalog.”
The Atlantic White Shark Conservancy has updated its publicly available White Shark Catalog to include data from the 2022 research season.
The Catalog can be accessed via the White Shark Logbook, which is hosted on the Conservancy’s website. The link for the logbook is shiny.atlanticwhiteshark.org/logbook/.