Over half of the number of white sharks spotted swimming around the Cape and Islands over the last week were off the coast of an island near Chatham.
Since Aug. 14, there have been 20 white shark sightings and one sign of shark predation on a seal, according to the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy based in Chatham. All of these sightings were catalogued on the conservancy’s shark-tracking app, Sharktivity.
Between the early afternoon on Aug. 15 and the mid-afternoon of Aug. 17, 11 white sharks swam the waters off South Monomoy Island off Chatham.
One shark was seen on Aug. 15, while five were spotted on Aug. 16 and another five were seen on Aug. 17. Most of them swam between 10 and 100 yards off the eastern side of the island, with some swimming toward the northern Atlantic Ocean.
The conservancy tags and names white sharks typically seen swimming around the Cape’s coasts. These acoustic tags transmit data from shark detections in real time, with the results appearing on Sharktivity.
Three tagged and named sharks swam off the Cape’s coast. Quadrilateral, a male white shark who has made multiple appearances this summer, was detected at around 2:12 a.m. on Aug. 14 off Nauset Beach in Eastham. Other sharks detected off the coast included Indo, Jimbo and Wannabe.
A frequent visitor to the Cape every summer, Wannabe was first detected on Sept. 19, 2022, according to the conservancy’s website. The male white shark measures 11 feet in length.
Two other notable sightings include two younger sharks, one north of Corporation Beach in Dennis at around 2:15 p.m. on Aug. 14, and the other spotted by a Captain John’s Whale Watch boat at around 12:02 p.m. on Aug. 16. The second shark “stayed at the surface for a while!” the app read.
The one sign of seal predation was a seal with “what looks to be a bite mark” on a sand bar near Nauset Beach North in Orleans at around 12:36 p.m. on Aug. 16, the app read. The seal was, as the description on the app stated, “still alive, but struggling.”
If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.
