Great White Sharks Tagged For First Time Off Massachusetts

BOSTON — Massachusetts officials are using high-tech tags to track the movements of two great white sharks near Cape Cod – the first time the fearsome fish have ever been tagged in the Atlantic Ocean.

The electronic tag uses satellite technology to record the travels of the sharks, allowing scientists to better understand their migratory patterns.

The sharks were spotted Saturday by scientists investigating sightings off Monomoy Island in Chatham. Officials say a harpooner tagged them with help from a state shark expert.

Sharks are common in Cape waters during summer, though great white sharks are relatively rare around New England.

State officials have warned area swimmers to be on the lookout for sharks this weekend, and state environmental police are patrolling the area as a precaution.

Comments

[mamacat]

03:48 AM on 09/07/2009

Great White Sharks. Thank goodness they can't come up on the land.

[Yenzer]

08:20 PM on 09/06/2009

"So you go in the cage, the cage goes in the water,...sharks in the water."

I worked on the beach in Maryland every day for five straight years and I never saw a shark. I'm still looking.

[martiniandabotoxchaser]

03:00 PM on 09/06/2009

Would the shark be one of the many people vying for Ted Kennedy's Senate seat?

[StephenBarry]

11:01 AM on 09/09/2009

No, the shark was planted there by the Republicans to pick off any credible liberals going for Teddy's seat :)

[sibster]

02:31 PM on 09/06/2009

wow, was swimming in one of the chatham beaches recently. Probably were going after some seals that came close to the coast.

[MarsAmbassador]

02:27 PM on 09/06/2009

We're going to see predators like this range further and further out of their normal territory more and more. We're destroying life in the ocean and they will go where the food is, or travel far and wide to find it. There is more plastic in the ocean than plankton. The demand for sushi has made several species of tuna on the verge of extinction. 3-5 years and they will be gone. Then we'll move on to something else until there's nothing left in the oceans. Our land alone cannot support the food demands for our current and future populations. The Four Horseman are saddling up for the ride of their lives.

[cgrier61]

04:22 PM on 09/08/2009

Actually it is their natural habitat. Great Whites have been hunted and their numbers have been greatly reduced. They are a protected species now and they've been seen off the coast of Massachusetts. Look at this link to find out more. http://newenglandsharks.com/N.ENG.%20whites.htm

[moogrogue]

02:15 PM on 09/06/2009

I think they were just worried about more cars driving off bridges into their habitat. Now they know they are safe.

[eyepatch]

02:13 PM on 09/06/2009

Hey they should tag Dick Cheney
while they're at it..........

[martiniandabotoxchaser]

02:08 PM on 09/06/2009

It should be called Bruce the Shark as the one was called during the making of "Jaws."

[Adrienne Williams]

02:07 PM on 09/06/2009

I love sharks so much!!! When is shark week? I was the only kid that would just stand in front of of the shark tank in awe!

[Axekick]

02:56 PM on 09/06/2009

Personally I prefer bottlenose dolphins to sharks :p

If you are ever near Panama City Beach Florida, rent a boat and venture out into St. Andrews Bay dolphin watching for a day. It is an inexpensive trip to make and the boat rentals are relatively cheap too. Charter boats are far cheaper but you can rent your own boat for around $250/day.

The dolphins will periodically pop their heads up off the side of your boat, analyze your behavior for a while, submerge and resurface a few times, then suddenly appear with their babies and friends swimming circles around your boat, diving, showing off. They're absolutely precious !

http://s606.photobucket.com/albums/tt143/uploadTemps/PCB-ShellIsland/?action=view¤t=DolphinUpright-adj.jpg

[martiniandabotoxchaser]

02:59 PM on 09/06/2009

I love sharks as well and have always enjoyed the shark tank...but better outside than in. Have you considered a trip to South Africa where you can dive with the Great Whites? I have a friend who did it and thought it was the experience of a lifetime.

[heroine addict]

01:57 PM on 09/06/2009

...I haz next Jawz sequel.

[jonolennon]

01:39 PM on 09/06/2009

"Quint, we're gonna need a bigger boat!"

[FZliveson]

01:20 PM on 09/06/2009

When I was being trained in SCUBA (Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus) my instructor, Dick Long (yes that's his name) asked the class why divers carry long sharp knives.
After the perfunctory answers were given, Long said;
"It is so, when a shark swims in view, you can cut your buddy and be assured the shark won't go for you!"
Dick Long also introduced me to "uni" (sea urchin "sushi") on our Ocean Dive near Monterey, CA, when we saw several small, non aggressive sharks. Fortunately that was several years before "Jaws" came out or you would not have caught me in that deep murky water, even with 4 or 5 "bangsticks."

[TBrennan]

11:35 AM on 09/06/2009

This story is so yesterday. It implies that these were the first Great Whites to EVER be tagged and released. Not true. Chris Fischer from his boat the Ocean has tagged and released over a dozen Great Whites, 3 of them over 4,000 lbs. This was done off of Mexico's Guadeloupe Island late in 2008 and again this past summer. It is all documented by NatGeo and will be on the air this fall on a show titled Expedition Great White. The sharks are tagged with GPS transmitters as well as the more conventional pop-ups. They did their work in a much more scientific and professional manner than harpooning the fish. The sharks were lifted from the water, hydrated, measured, blood samples, and tagged with gps transmitters designed to last for years. (the first one tagged was named Garmin). Chris Fischer and his crew make these folks off Monomoy look like beginners.

Be sue to catch the show on NatGeo this fall.

[wadenelson1]

11:56 AM on 09/06/2009

"Like to prove that, wouldn't ya"......

[TBrennan]

06:47 PM on 09/07/2009

It is hard to believe. Would you accept a photo as proof? Check out the LUBSEN web site below and tell me how much more than 4,000 lbs. that fish weighs. Also check out the you tube post.

http://www.jefflubsen.com/_/JEFF_LUBSEN.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVcaXccQBKk

Here is the boat...very unique.
http://www.offshoreadventures.tv/MVOCEANREVEALED.html

It's pretty hard to bullshit about something that Nat Geo is going broadcast.

[spartanmom]

01:49 PM on 09/06/2009

My map puts Guadeloupe Island off Baja California, not Massachusetts!

[TBrennan]

06:21 PM on 09/07/2009

My comment clearly states Mexico and I know where Cape Cod is, I own a house there.

[lungfish]

10:12 AM on 09/06/2009

I live in Kona, HI and there had been rumors of Great Whites in Hawaiian waters but nobody had ever documented them... until two years ago..... A large and pregnant female showed up off Maui and a dive boat put people with cameras into the water to document. She was in about 40ft of water.
These incredible sharks, pelagic like the Tigers, the Threshers and the rest of the open water sharks, are not well understood. They are critical to the food chain and deserve full protections...

Also, I teach freediving and spend a lot of time in the water. Like six hours per day on the average. We do see sharks from time to time and its always a treat. Hammerheads, Tigers, etc... they are beautiful and so rarely a threat...

But the drama continues with people who don't even get into the sea talking negatively about an animal they know less than nothing about.... we have nothing to thank Spielberg of Benchly for, they probably set humanity back 150years in shark conservation.

Of course the GOP use this for "death panel" analogies but I think it fits better to describe the hypocritical thugs that run their party by fronting basely fears... and the lack of respect for science and life that truly permeates the GOP mind...

[Pilate]

10:41 AM on 09/06/2009

"and the lack of respect for science and life that truly permeates the GOP mind..."

Actually, the GOP is very interested in science. For instance, see Genesis, Chapter 1, 20-23 for everything you need to know about sharks.

[stanschurman]

11:56 AM on 09/06/2009

Yes, I love it when they refer to a shark as a "maneater". You would think that sharks somehow prefer man to other prey when 99.9999% of sharks have never seen a human. When they do, on rare occasions, attack a human, it's because we are in their territory, not vice versa. It upsets me when there is a rare shark attack and every yahoo with a fishing boat goes out to slaughter as many as possible.

[hallowellboy]

09:08 AM on 09/06/2009

What about the "great white" in Massachusetts when Romney was governor? He had all the same qualities.