Great white shark exercise once more ramped up alongside the Cape final yr, as apex predator detections hit an all-time excessive for the seventh straight yr with researchers tagging extra sharks within the area each summer time and fall.
The whole variety of shark detections approached 200,000 for the primary time final yr, based on the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy tagging tracker, which was not too long ago up to date with 2022 knowledge. The detection knowledge comes from acoustic receivers, which document the presence of white sharks which were tagged with transmitters.
The rely of 193,475 shark detections in 2022 was a record-high for the seventh straight yr within the Conservancy’s White Shark Logbook. The earlier all-time excessive from 2021 was 169,938 detections. The Logbook has detection knowledge from way back to 2010.
As researchers with the Conservancy and Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries maintain tagging white sharks every year, the shark detection knowledge is climbing. Last yr’s rely of 133 particular person sharks detected was probably the most ever — breaking all the way down to 1,455 receiver detections per shark. Dozens of receivers are deployed every year to trace the shark exercise.
“It’s important to remember that the receivers can only detect sharks tagged with acoustic transmitters, and there are still a lot of white sharks out there that haven’t been tagged,” Conservancy analysis scientist Megan Winton mentioned prior to now in regards to the Logbook knowledge.
“As scientists, we use the data collected from tagged sharks to give us an idea of what the population is doing as a whole,” she added. “People should think of the data provided by the Logbook the same way — as a proxy for shark activity off the coast.”
In the Logbook, folks can see the place and when tagged white sharks had been detected, be taught extra about particular person white sharks, and get an concept of the place exercise is concentrated in a relative sense.
The 2022 detection knowledge once more reveals that white shark exercise is highest alongside the Outer Cape particularly, the place seal densities are highest.
The high hotspot for shark detections final yr was once more off of Chatham’s Monomoy Island, the place the apex predators feast on seals.
The acoustic receiver at South Shark Cove off the island had 20,849 whole detections, probably the most shark detections throughout the whole Cape final yr.
Of the 133 whole sharks detected alongside the Cape final yr, 92 sharks had been detected at this Monomoy receiver. Behind the Chatham hotspot, the northern tip of the Cape off Truro was busy with shark exercise final yr.
“This app does not contain or constitute, and should not be interpreted as advice as to what beaches or parts of water are safe,” the Logbook warns. “The only way to completely prevent a close encounter with a shark is to stay on shore.”
August was once more the busiest month for shark exercise with 66,060 detections. The second-most lively month was September with 47,152 detections, adopted by October with 32,181 detections. Sharks had been detected from May to December.
To take a look at the Conservancy’s logbook, go to shiny.atlanticwhiteshark.org/logbook.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”