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The Guardian

When beachgoers arrive at Cahoon Hollow Beach in Wellfleet on Massachusetts’ Cape Cod peninsula, the first thing they see is a large sign displaying a photo of a great white shark.
“WARNING” it reads.
“Great white sharks hunt seals in the shallow water at this beach. People have been seriously injured or killed by sharks along this coastline.”
It is a little less than a few kilometres north of here at Wellfleet’s Newcomb Hollow Beach that 26-year-old Arthur Medici was attacked and killed by a great white while boogie boarding last September.
His death represented the only fatal shark attack in the United States last year and the first such death in Massachusetts since 1936.
Steven Spielberg’s 1975 blockbuster Jaws, which takes place in a fictional New England sea resort town reminiscent of Cape Cod’s communities, branded a fascination and fear of great whites into the American consciousness.

Newcomb Hollow Beach in Wellfleet is closed to swimmers, police say, until town and beach authorities determine the water is safe. This comes after 26-year-old Arthur Medici was killed while boogie boarding here after a suspected shark attack. pic.twitter.com/iCqOY083rz
— Sonia Moghe (@soniamoghe) September 16, 2018

Cape Cod embraced the notoriety, making the animal somewhat of a mascot: the great white appears on T-shirts and shop signs and regular screenings of Jaws are held during the summer. In Massachusetts, you can even get the apex predator on your number plate.
But now, like the fictional town of Amity in Jaws, Cape Cod worries about what the arrival of deadly attacks will mean for its tourist economy.
Greg Skomal, a senior scientist with the state’s department of fish and game and Massachusetts’ leading shark expert, says an increasing number of great whites have travelled to Cape Cod in recent summers, drawn by a rebounding seal population.
Rare double shark attack closes picturesque Florida beach
Hunted relentlessly since European settlers first arrived in New England, the seal population has been recovering since the implementation of the 1972 Marine Mammal Protection Act, which prohibited the hunting, killing, capturing or harassment of marine mammals like seals and dolphins.
Meanwhile, the great white shark received limited protections from the federal government in 1997 that are believed to have increased its population.
“For every animal there’s a predator. And in the case of the seals, that predator is the white shark,” said Skomal.

Massachusetts has always been within the range of great whites, but now they are migrating here from the south in greater numbers every summer.
There have already been three shark attacks on people further south, off the coast of North Carolina, this month.
Skomal says there are probably more great whites along the rest of New England’s coast, but that Cape Cod’s topography – like a giant sandbar sticking out in the ocean – means humans run into the sharks’ hunting paths more often and that sharks get drawn into shallow water more easily.
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The attack on Medici in September came just one month after a New York neurologist was attacked while swimming in Truro, just north of Wellfleet.
Meanwhile, in the era of drones and phone cameras, images of sharks feasting on seals just off of Cape Cod’s shores have become almost routine in the summer.
Steps are being taken to try to keep surfers and swimmers safe. Signs like the ones in Wellfleet have been up for several years now while at beaches that lie within the National Park Service-administered Cape Cod national seashore, there are purple flags bearing the outline of a great white.
“[The flags] fly all the time because the sharks are always out there,” said Brian Carlstrom, the national seashore’s superintendent.

After last year’s attacks, bleed control kits are being placed on beaches and members of the general public are being encouraged to take “stop the bleed” classes.
Towns are investing in all-terrain vehicles so that injured persons do not have to be carried off the beach by hand. Towns are planning on keeping lifeguards on the beaches longer, past Labour Day.
And with spotty mobile phone coverage on some beaches, emergency call boxes are being installed to ensure that 911 can be reached.
A myriad of shark detection and prevention devices – from shark nets to buoys that detect sharks – have been proposed, but none have been implemented.
“No single old or new technology is a silver bullet,” said Skomal.
“And just because some technology might work some of the time in some part of the world doesn’t mean it’s applicable to Cape Cod, which is a much different environment.”

Some have encouraged the more drastic measure of culling seal or great white populations, but that approach faces significant legal hurdles as well as environmentalist backlash.
Carlstrom said it is important for swimmers to be aware of the risks before entering the water and stressed that those who do go in should avoid areas where seals are present, stick close to shore and if surfing, do so in a group.
While the increase in great whites could give holidaymakers who plan on swimming pause, their presence could be a draw for some.
“It’s one of the few places in the world where you can see or have the opportunity to see white sharks from shore,” said Carlstrom.
At Wellfleet’s beaches, the shark signs appeared to be somewhat of a tourist attraction of their own recently, with visitors posing for photos and selfies in front of the warnings.
Those who live on Cape Cod are not writing off the beach entirely.


“If I see a seal, I’m not swimming,” said Karen O’Quinn of the Cape Cod town of Dennis Port as she looked at Cahoon Hollow Beach in Wellfleet.
While she did not rule out swimming on Cape Cod’s beaches this summer, she added “if you swim here, you take your life in your own hands”.
Veronika Alarie, 20, works at the Nauset Surf Shop in the town of Orleans. After the attacks last year, she says she’s seen a drop-off in surfboard sales and rentals.
But Alarie, who has a shark made up of flowers tattooed on her right forearm, said sharks will not deter her or others from the Cape.
“I grew up here. I’m going to be in the water no matter what,” she said.


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United States

‘Jaws in Cape Cod’: swimmers warned of great white shark attacks at popular Massachusetts holiday beach spot

A woman walks with her dogs at Newcomb Hollow Beach, where a boogie boarder was bitten by a shark and later died of his injuries. Photo: AP

A great white shark chases a seal off the Massachusetts coast in Monomoy. Photograph: Reuters

FILE - In this Sept. 16, 2015, file photo, beachgoers keep an eye on the seals swimming at Coast Guard Beach in North Eastham, Mass. A plan to develop an acoustic system to chase away seals in order to prevent shark attacks is the latest front in the debate about how Cape Cod should respond in the wake of last year’s shark attacks. Deep Blue LLC presented the idea for an “invisible fence” to the Barnstable County Commissioners on Wednesday, May 29, 2019, drawing support from some officials and residents but concern from local animal rights groups.(Steve Heaslip/The Cape Cod Times via AP, File)

In this May 22, 2019, photo, two children play in the surf at Newcomb Hollow Beach, where a boogie boarder was bitten by a shark and later died of his injuries the previous summer, in Wellfleet, Mass. Cape Cod beaches open this holiday weekend, just months after two shark attacks, one of which was fatal, rattled tourists, locals and officials. Some precautionary new measures, such as emergency call boxes, have yet to be installed along beaches where great whites are known to frequent. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

‘Right out of that movie Jaws’: Man dies after shark attack off Cape Cod

Two people look out from the shore after a reported shark attack at Newcomb Hollow Beach in Wellfleet, Massachusetts, on Saturday. Photo: AP

Steve McFadden, 49, of Plattsburgh, N.Y. gazes at Long Nook Beach in Truro, Mass., on Thursday, Aug. 16, 2018. Authorities closed the Cape Cod beach to swimmers after a man was attacked by a shark on Wednesday, the first attack on a person in Massachusetts since 2012. The unidentified victim survived the attack and was airlifted to a Boston hospital. (AP Photo/William J. Kole)

Rare double shark attack closes picturesque Florida beach

Fernandina Beach, Florida. Photo: Instagram

--LOW RES. IMAGE-- View of Fernandina Beach, Florida. Photo: Instagram

D167H2 The waterfront in historic Fernandina Beach, Amelia Island, Florida, USA. Photo: Alamy

News

World

United States & Canada

A booming seal population is drawing the apex predator to the Massachusetts peninsula where contact with humans follows


A booming seal population is drawing the apex predator to the Massachusetts peninsula where contact with humans follows.


‘Jaws in Cape Cod’: swimmers warned of great white shark attacks at popular Massachusetts holiday beach spot

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;}A booming seal population is drawing the apex predator to the Massachusetts peninsula where contact with humans follows

A booming seal population is drawing the apex predator to the Massachusetts peninsula where contact with humans follows