The occasional recognizing of a hammerhead shark off of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket has turn into a extra frequent shark sighting this summer season, together with when a pair of hammerheads shut down a seaside to swimming earlier this week.
The warm-water species visiting the Massachusetts area increasingly might be an indication of issues to come back, in line with an area shark knowledgeable, predicting that different warm-water sharks will even come right here because the ocean heats up.
“It wasn’t unheard of before to see one (hammerhead) on the southern side of the Islands, but it’s unusual to see how many we’re seeing close to shore now,” mentioned John Chisholm, who’s with the New England Aquarium and has been monitoring shark sightings for the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy.
“We’re seeing more and more coming closer and closer to the Islands,” he added. “Hammerheads are the celebrities of the moment.”
The newest hammerhead sighting was off of South Beach in Edgartown on Monday, sparking the seaside to quickly shut all the way down to swimming. A drone photographer took a shot from above, displaying a pair of hammerheads close to the seaside.
The hammerheads’ favourite spots round right here have been on the southern aspect of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket. Earlier this summer season, a hammerhead was noticed off Nantucket’s Cisco Beach.
Hammerheads have even been noticed round Chatham’s Monomoy Island, a hotspot for excellent white sharks.
“This has historically been the northern extent of their range in the summer,” Chisholm mentioned. “We know it is a warm-water species, and because the water will get hotter up right here, they’re extending their vary.
“As the waters warm, we can expect to see more species like this,” he added, noting that blacktip and spinner sharks might be a few of these heat water species migrating north.
Tiger sharks at the moment are migrating farther north annually due to local weather change and hotter oceans, in line with a research launched earlier this 12 months.
While nice white sharks hunt for seals near shore alongside the Cape, hammerheads are fish eaters and luxuriate in feasting on striped bass.
“They’re not really a danger to humans, but they do have the potential to bite,” Chisholm mentioned, explaining why seashores have been closing to swimming following a hammerhead sighting.
Around the world since 1900, there have been a complete of 16 reported hammerhead chew incidents of individuals, in line with the International Shark Attack File. The most of these “unprovoked” shark assaults occurred alongside the Florida coast, and not one of the 16 hammerhead bites had been deadly.
Great whites account for essentially the most reported shark bites, with a complete of 354 incidents, together with 57 deadly bites. Tiger sharks are subsequent with 138 whole incidents, together with 36 deadly bites.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”