US researchers on Cape Cod are using “shark spy technology” again this summer to monitor the movements of sharks and help keep people safe in the waters off Massachusetts.
Memorial Day weekend is usually around the time when shark sightings begin off Cape Cod.
Earlier this month, the first sighting of the season was reported when a great white shark was seen biting a seal off Nantucket.
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Megan Winton, senior scientist at the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy, said researchers for a second straight summer will be attempting to put cameras onto the backs of some sharks when they tag them.
The camera tags are used to get a view from the shark’s perspective.
“We’re using the latest and greatest in shark spy technology, as I like to call it, to learn more about the movements and the behaviours of these animals here when they’re off of Cape Cod as well as when they move north into Canadian waters,” Winton said.
It helps researchers study interactions between sharks and fishermen.
“Cape Cod Bay is very similar but very different to the outer Cape, so we’re going to learn more about how the shark are using that environment there and we’re also hoping to get better information on interactions with fishermen, because every year we get more and more reports of white sharks stealing fish off of fisherman’s lines because for a shark that’s a free snack, right? And who doesn’t like free snacks?”
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When are sharks in Massachusetts waters?
Great white shark activity in New England peaks in July, August and September.
As the water begins to cool, the sharks start to swim south.
Winton said information learned by tagging sharks keeps people safe.
“It’s really important for us to understand not only how they’re feeding on seals here, but what they’re doing in the shallow water off our beaches so we can provide that information to the people, to the towns, to the beach managers so everyone can be shark smart when they go to the beach this summer,” Winton said.
