DUUUN DUNN ...
Up to 5 great whites prowl our shores
Beware, beachgoers: Social-distancing violators might be the least of your problems.
At least three great white sharks lurk in local waters, with another moving our way and a possible fifth — the venerable Mary Lee, all 16 feet and 3,456 pounds of her — hanging around her old chomping grounds off the Jersey Shore.
The most recent great whites to take up residence in New York/ New Jersey waters, according to the Ocearch online shark tracker, are Caroline (12-feet, 9-inches long, 1,348 pounds), who pinged between Seaside Heights and Barnegat Light, NJ, on July 1; and Caper (8 feet, 348 pounds) and Cabot (9 feet, 533 pounds), whose electronic tags signaled on June 8 and 4, respectively, off the Hamptons.
New to the neighborhood is Vimy, a 1,164-pound behemoth nearly 13 feet long who was tracked on July 10 in the deep ocean off Delaware and southern New Jersey. It’s possible he’s just doing a dive-by as he heads for the cool waters off Canada.
Mary Lee’s satellite tracker stopped working in 2017, when its battery gave out, but scientists believe the locavore is alive and well.
News of the great whites within biting distance of our shores comes after a 7-foot shark washed up on Rockaway Beach on July 1. But that was only a thresher, a harmless species that poses a puppy dog’s threat to the bathing public.
Great whites, on the other hand, can have upward of 3,000 serrated, blade-like teeth that can each grow to 6 inches long. They fear no one, as Capt. Quint found while becoming shark bait in the movie “Jaws.”
Are we in for the same kind of summer as Amity Island? Probably not, experts say. “The drive to the beach is much riskier than swimming with sharks in the water,” said Paul Sieswerda, head of Gotham Whale, a New York City research and advocacy organization. Sieswerda said the appearance of great whites is a sign of healthy waters. Since 2010, cleaner water has led to an abundance of menhaden baitfish and seals — shark snacks, he explained. And even more great whites can be expected in the coming years if seals take up year-round residence here, he added. Chris Fischer, founder of Ocearch, also expects “a steady, slow increase in shark numbers.”
He said that the five great whites are “no more than normal,” and that they are following typical migration patterns.
For example, Fischer said, Mary Lee — “one of the true queens of the ocean” — could be summering off Long Beach Island, NJ, based on past habits and an annual route that takes her between the Bahamas and Massachusetts.
The growing population of great whites here is “a thing to celebrate,” he said.
They prey on the weak, which keeps marine stocks strong and ensures that “everyone will see an ocean full of fish for generations, and our great-grandkids will be able to enjoy fish sandwiches and lobster rolls deep into the future.”
But make sure you don’t become fish food yourself.
“Be smart,” Fischer said. “Don’t swim out into the ocean if you see a bunch of seals, bait fish crashing, and birds diving.”