Martha's Vineyard Beaches Closed After "Jaws" Sighting

EDGARTOWN, Mass. — The island where "Jaws" was filmed had a real-life shark scare Thursday, when an unconfirmed sighting of a great white forced the closure of two beaches.

South Beach on Martha's Vineyard was closed for a short time, and swimmers were kept out of the water at State Beach in Edgartown, the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation said.

A plane was dispatched to try to confirm the sighting, but no shark was spotted, said Lisa Capone, a spokeswoman for the state Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs.

In 1974, Steven Spielberg chose Martha's Vineyard for filming the movie version of "Jaws," depicting a series of deadly great white attacks in the fictional community of Amity.

Shark attacks are extremely rare in waters off New England, but great whites have been known to occasionally prowl in the region.

Comments

[totaldisbelief]

11:26 AM on 07/12/2008

I've always wanted to do a Remoted Controlled shark fin .
I wonder what effect it would have on seals?

[NoMercy]

12:10 PM on 07/12/2008

Why do you want to scare seals?

Besides, the sharks come up from under, they don't cruise around at surface level among the frolicking herd.

[NoMercy]

08:14 AM on 07/12/2008

"Here's to swimmin' with bow-leggéd wimmin'"

[Texas4Obama]

02:05 AM on 07/12/2008

CNN on the front page has a link to this article:

http://www.thebostonchannel.com/news/16856246/detail.html

They are saying it was a HOAX and the man that reported the two sharks is being charged with reckless endangerment for allegedly making up the story.

Thought ya'll might want to UPDATE your article.

[monstabunny]

01:46 PM on 07/12/2008

That doesn't explain 2 lifeguards spotting "two-and-a-half feet of fin" breaching the water on the other side of the island from State Beach. Not everyone's a liar. I said they were over-chumming the water off the island for this weekend's Shark Tournament, a perfectly good explanation for seeing fins.

[eXcommunicate]

12:48 AM on 07/12/2008

Hooper: Mr. Vaughn, what we are dealing with here is a perfect engine, an eating machine. It's really a miracle of evolution. All this machine does is swim and eat and make little sharks, and that's all. Now, why don't you take a long, close look at this sign.

[refers to the graffitied billboard]

Hooper: Those proportions are correct.

Mayor Vaughn: Love to prove that, wouldn't ya? Get your name into the National Geographic.

[Destin]

01:06 AM on 07/12/2008

Hehe, nice memory, and wasn't that Mayor the same actor that played the General "I'd piss on a spark plug if it would do any good" from the movie Wargames?? Or was that a different guy??

[eXcommunicate]

12:43 AM on 07/12/2008

When he comes at ya, doesn't seem to be living... until he bites ya, and those black eyes roll over white and then... ah then you hear that terrible high-pitched screamin'. The ocean turns red, and despite all the poundin' and the hollerin', they all come in and they... rip you to pieces. You know by the end of that first dawn, lost a hundred men. I don't know how many sharks, maybe a thousand. I know how many men, they averaged six an hour. On Thursday morning, Chief, I bumped into a friend of mine, Herbie Robinson from Cleveland. Baseball player. Boatswain's mate. I thought he was asleep. I reached over to wake him up. Bobbed up, down in the water just like a kinda top. Upended. Well, he'd been bitten in half below the waist. Noon, the fifth day, Mr. Hooper, a Lockheed Ventura saw us. He swung in low and he saw us... he was a young pilot, a lot younger than Mr. Hooper. Anyway, he saw us and he come in low and three hours later a big fat PBY comes down and starts to pick us up. You know that was the time I was most frightened... waitin' for my turn. I'll never put on a lifejacket again. So, eleven hundred men went in the water; 316 men come out and the sharks took the rest, June the 29th, 1945. Anyway, we delivered the bomb.

[totaldisbelief]

11:27 AM on 07/12/2008

OUCH, talk about your Bad Karma.

[Cobia]

11:59 PM on 07/11/2008

Great White Shark, Carcharodon carcharias
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_white_shark

A couple of years ago I caught one (and released it) in the Gulf of Mexico off Port Aransas, medium sized, about 8feet long, not a man-eater yet.

Absolutely awe-inspiring animal, had the most amazing teeth I have ever seen. Rows of perfectly triangular-shaped, knife sharp pearly whites from one side to the other, impressive as all hell.
And I just had to reach in (with pliers) to get the hook loose, not too dumb, even forgot about putting on my glove. But the shark (a female) was as tired as I was after a long battle, had her pinned against the boat, wasn't even snapping anymore. I was kneeling, leaning over the gunwale, it was hypnotizing looking into its eyes and just imagining about such an alien creature. But they have been around a lot longer, guess we're the aliens. Let her rest and then let her go, she slowly eased away, kinda looked up and took off.

And no bull(shark) about identification, I know most of the locals well. I was fairly certain it was a GW. I spent a month, starting the next day, researching it, no doubts ( I had taken pictures), dentition doesn't lie.

Glad I saved it, hope it's still out there, roaming and free. Bigger, and not 'too' hungry. ;]

Reads like a fricking love story, guess it is, damned shame they are being hunted to extinction..

[newworldman777]

10:30 AM on 07/12/2008

If anyone wants to see a good home video of a monster shark in waters that are too close for comfort -- only 30 yards off of Pensacola Beach, Florida -- watch this video:
http://www.snappertrapper.com/video.html
The mako was around 14 feet long and weighed approximately 1200 pounds. It was feeding upon a tarpon that had originally weighed around 250 pounds (before the mako bit off its hind quarters). Either fish would have qualified as a state record on rod-and-reel.

[totaldisbelief]

11:31 AM on 07/12/2008

that's it for me...no more baths !

[XCITIZEN]

11:22 PM on 07/11/2008

"Welcome to Amity Island"

I remember that sign! It showed up later in JAWS with a giant fin painted on it. I loved JAWS. Still an awesome movie! But I agree with other commenters. I think of swimming out in the ocean, and cannot avoid the thought of some monster grabbing me. That film scared the crap out of me. The opening scene. OMG. Thanks a lot, JAWS. :)

[LiarLiarIraqsOnFire]

11:11 PM on 07/11/2008

... and the shark spake to God and said, 'God, your humans have fished our feeding grounds bare, whatever shall we do?'

God answered, "Get thee to The Vineyard and eat the wealthy, over-privilidged f#@ks 'on holiday'.

[TheInsomniac]

10:51 PM on 07/11/2008

I have two shark steaks marinating right now in the refrigerator and I never thought I'd be so pleased to say that.

[LiarLiarIraqsOnFire]

11:06 PM on 07/11/2008

You lucky dog! I can't find a market that sells shark in my area.

[mergina]

10:13 PM on 07/11/2008

It is their world. Stay out obese humans, unless you want to be a meal.....HE HE HE HE HEH!

[AfricanLived]

08:02 PM on 07/11/2008

Omg- they used planes? Seriously? PLANES?

[Tommygun264]

09:01 PM on 07/11/2008

Of course they used a plane. Didn't you see how easily the shark gobbled up that helicopter in Jaws II?

[TheInsomniac]

10:50 PM on 07/11/2008

Very nice.

[newworldman777]

07:48 PM on 07/11/2008

Do you mean to say that at least one shark has avoided being de-finned by a Japanese fishing boat?

[Vyvjala]

05:58 PM on 07/11/2008

Limbaugh sighted.....................

[Vyvjala]

05:53 PM on 07/11/2008

Limbaugh can swim?..................

[monstabunny]

04:33 PM on 07/11/2008

No one mentions that the islanders were chumming the waters for the upcoming Shark Tournament which is big with tourists. Guess they threw in too much food...bye bye tourists...