Latest news with #greatwhiteshark
Yahoo
2 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Popular Mass. beach taking precautions after string of great white shark sightings
A popular Massachusetts beach has implemented new safety protocols in anticipation of great white shark sightings as the summer season heats up. After a string of surprising shark sightings off Crane Beach in Ipswich last fall, The Trustees of Reservations announced Tuesday the implementation of several measures focused on visitor and staff safety. 'The safety of our visitors and staff is our top priority,' Trustees Property Director Chris Moore said in a statement. 'We have worked diligently in preparation for the summer beach season with local public safety officials, marine biologists, and state wildlife officials to put in place staff training and several safety protocols in the event sharks return to Crane Beach this year.' In September 2024, multiple juvenile great whites were sighted close to the beach after officials say an oceanic upwelling caused water temperatures to drop 10 degrees, forcing bait fish to move closer to shore. The water was subsequently closed to swimmers for weeks as sharks were seen lurking close to shore near the bait fish. As part of the enhanced beach protocols, the Ipswich Harbormaster will perform routine patrols of the Crane Beach swim zone during the summer season, according to The Trustees. Crane Beach's lifeguard staff will also routinely surveil the marked swim zone from their elevated lifeguard chairs and with watercraft. If a shark sighting is suspected, The Trustees said visitors will be asked to exit the water until officials can determine if a shark is present. If a sighting is confirmed, it will prompt a water closure to allow for a thorough patrol of the swimming area. Crane Beach staff, along with Ipswich Police Department and marine biologists, will be installing at least one shark detection buoy in the area where sharks were confirmed to be present in 2024. Also new in 2025, all operational updates, including parking, safety, and greenheads, will be posted to the Crane Beach voicemail in real time and not on X. Guests can call 978-356-4354 to listen to a recorded message. RELATED: Shark tracker: See where great whites are lurking before hitting the beach Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts. Follow Boston 25 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch Boston 25 News NOW
ABC News
2 days ago
- ABC News
Shark attack victim Steven Jeffrey Payne did not use deterrent device before final surf, inquest hears
A man who was killed by a shark off WA's south coast earlier this year had decided not to wear his shark deterrent device before going into the water, an inquest has heard. Steven Jeffrey Payne was surfing at Wharton Beach, 93 kilometres east of Esperance, in March when he was taken by a great white shark. The Coroner's Court heard the 37-year-old had entered the water soon after arriving at the beach and was out for about 90 minutes when his partner, Catherine, saw a "commotion". "It took her a few seconds to realise she was witnessing a shark attacking a surfer," counsel assisting the court Acting Sergeant Craig Robertson said. There were only two other surfers in the water at the time and Catherine could see the victim was wearing the same hat that Steven wore. A tourist using a drone captured vision of part of the attack. "Investigators have viewed the footage and have no doubt the images show Steven sustaining injuries and blood loss which are incompatible with life," Acting Sergeant Robertson said. The shark dragged him down and he never resurfaced. Esperance Police Sergeant Harriet Collins, the only person to give evidence at the inquest, said Mr Payne would have succumbed to his injuries quickly. She said that when emergency services got involved "it was a recovery mission and not a rescue". Sergeant Collins told the court it was deemed to be too dangerous to put divers into the water. A multi-agency search got underway, with marine rescue vessels conducting grid searches. The search was suspended after two days. Mr Payne's sun hat, pieces of his wetsuit and part of his board were found on the beach. Mr Payne, who was described as a "gentle giant", was on a six-month caravan trip with his partner and their dog. The court heard that a few days before arriving in Esperance, the couple had visited Granites Beach, where there had been a fatal shark incident in January. "Following speaking with locals ... they ultimately decided not to enter the water," Acting Sergeant Robertson told the court. "Steven and Catherine both own shark deterrent devices and had discussed wearing them prior to their visit to Granites Beach. The type of shark deterrent device was not specified in court. Acting Sergeant Robertson said Esperance had experienced a significant number of shark attacks in recent years and the WA government had installed three shark warning towers. "However, there is always a known risk of attack in these waters," he said. Soon after the March incident, there were calls from some locals for stronger action from the WA government, and specifically for the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development to try to catch a shark involved in an attack and remove it. It was noted that the land-based warning towers which use lights and audio to warn beach users were at Twilight Beach, West Beach and Kelp Beds, but not Wharton Beach. The inquest was held because Mr Payne was considered a "long term missing person". Deputy Coroner Sarah Linton, who is yet to complete her full findings, said she was satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that he was deceased, saying it was a "horrific way to lose someone".
Daily Mail
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE I made a whole documentary tracking down a great white shark to swim with - here's why when I finally found one I had to give up my dream
Bertie Gregory's new documentary follows him as he tries to track down a great white shark to swim with. Sharks Up Close With Bertie Gregory sees the wildlife filmmaker and his team head to South Africa. They hope to dive and record great white sharks hunting seals, without the protection of a cage. Throughout the show, Bertie gets up close with a range of underwater animals including southern right whales and spotted ragged tooth sharks. However, the National Geographic explorer comes across unexpected hurdles in his search for a great white shark. Bertie revealed to MailOnline he thought it would be 'straightforward' to locate one of the most feared sea creatures. They hope to dive and record great white sharks hunting seals, without the protection of a cage 'I thought this was going to be our most straightforward Animals Up Close sort of episode in this season,' he said. 'We're in the third season, and we've done a lot of very challenging things and I thought this was going to be a slam dunk, super easy.' During the show, Bertie and his team eventually manage to locate a great white after much difficulty, swimming in the shallows of a beach. Though they finally get up close to the shark, the 'churned up surf' means the conditions are 'too dangerous' for them to dive with it. 'We had this amazing team there that dived with a lot of great white sharks there before,' he explained. 'The previous few years, the sharks would turn up like clockwork at that time of year, down the seals, and we turned up and Pat, our boat captain, was like, 'Yeah, so we haven't seen a shark yet this year, and the season has been running for two months'.' Bertie admitted: 'I was literally expecting to see several sharks per day for the month or so that we had filming there and that wasn't the case.' Reflecting on his search, Bertie says on the programme: 'Great whites are famous for being killing machines, but I've learnt that they're actually very fragile. And I'm pretty sure my mum will be relieved I didn't manage to dive with one.' Bertie revealed to MailOnline he thought it would be 'straightforward' to locate one of the most feared sea creatures He adds: 'We've spent far too long worrying about great whites when we should be worried for them.' Bertie does manage to get up close with other shark species and in one dramatic scene, dives into the 'Shark cathedral'. He described it as 'one of the most incredible sights I've ever had' and recalled how the sharks were 'hanging like spaceships' in the cave. 'Those ragged tooth sharks have terrifying mouths, just teeth, the teeth are just like pouring out of their mouths,' the filmmaker told MailOnline. 'There's something in the back of your head, your caveman instinct, that's saying this isn't a good idea. There's 50 sharks here that are more than two meters long each, and teeth pouring out of their mouths. 'But then I remember my biology and I'm lucky enough to have spent a lot of time around sharks, and know that we are not on their menu, and because of that, it means I could be in awe and enjoy it.' Despite their formidable mouths, Bertie revealed that ragged tooth sharks are actually 'shy' and can be spooked by simply the bubbles from breathing. He also has a keen eye for behaviours to look out for in sharks, to ensure he is safe when diving so closely with them. 'So sharks are very expressive. They have body language just like humans do, and you can read that body language to see how they are,' Bertie explained. The 'key thing' to note, according to the wildlife expert, is the shape of the shark's body, 'particularly their back and their pectoral fins'. He added: 'If their pectoral fins are flat, that means they're very happy, and if they're pointed down, that means they are either aggressive or spooked or they're not happy. 'They also arch their back when they do that. So if the shark's nice and flat, pectoral fins are nice and flat, they're very happy. 'As soon as those pectoral fins point down and their back arches, that means they're fired up and either they're on the hunt or they've been disturbed by something.'
Yahoo
7 days ago
- Science
- Yahoo
This was the best place on Earth to see great white sharks—then they vanished
Built like a torpedo with rows of terrifying 2.5-inch teeth, the world's largest predatory shark is an intimidating sight. So intimidating that some might think an ocean without great white sharks (Carcharodon carcharias) would be a good thing. But their loss causes a ripple effect that transforms the entire ecosystem. A new study in Frontiers in Marine Science shows what happens when sharks vanish. Seal Island, off South Africa's False Bay was once a great white hotspot—one of the few places on Earth where the sharks could be seen surging out of the water to capture prey. 'It was air Jaws,' says marine ecologist Neil Hammerschlag, executive director of the Shark Research Foundation Inc. and a coauthor on the new study. 'I don't think there's anything more remarkable in nature than seeing a 2,000-pound great white flying out of the air with a seal in its mouth.' When the predators disappeared, researchers and conservationists pointed fingers at both encroaching orcas and humans as the culprit. But Hammerschlag and his colleagues, who began studying the ecosystem around the island in 2000 long before the vanishing, saw some surprising changes. Twenty years ago, Seal Island was 'the greatest place on earth to see great whites,' recalls Hammerschlag, who also serves as president of Atlantic Shark Expeditions. Around 2010, white shark numbers around False Bay started dropping off, and the decline got steeper from 2015 on. By 2018, the great whites were gone. Exactly why the sharks vanished remains a mystery. 'The departure of the white shark is really open to discussion,' says Greg Skomal, a shark biologist with Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries who wasn't involved in the study. Some suggest the animals fled because killer whales moved in. Orcas can kill a shark in minutes by precisely carving out its nutrient-rich liver. Hammerschlag thinks humans could also be to blame, as nearby shark nets kill 'somewhere between 25 and 30 great whites a year.' Even a small loss can drive the population into decline, he says, because great whites become sexually mature late in life—males in their 20s and females in their 30s—and have small litters of up to 12 pups. (A baby great white shark led scientists to a huge nursery near NYC.) Sharks are thought to keep marine habitats healthy by removing weak and sick animals from the food chain and keeping things in balance. But proving these impacts in a real-world habitat this is challenging. 'These kinds of ecosystem effects are very difficult for us to tease out because they require long-term data sets,' says Skomal. In False Bay, Hammerschlag's and his colleagues partnered with an ecotourism company, allowing them to spend 'full days on the water, 200 days a year.' The team collected over 20 years of data, from before, during and after the great whites' disappearance. 'We saw things happen that we'd never expect,' Hammerschlag says. Broadnose sevengill sharks (Notorynchus cepedianus) suddenly appeared—sometimes as many as 15 in one day. These animals usually hang out several kilometers away in kelp beds, which offer protection from great white attacks. 'From nothing to double digits. It's just mind blowing,' he says. The Cape fur seal (Arctocephalus pusillus pusillus) population also increased. Safe from the threat of sharks, seals were rafting—floating in groups, like a living raft—and going after the cage divers' bait. 'That would have been suicide just a few years earlier,' he says. Both seals and sevengills were on the menu for great whites, so it made sense to see their numbers rise. But Hammerschlag and his colleagues also wanted to find out if the populations of animals that seals and sevengills eat had changed, too. Luckily, scientist Lauren De Vos had installed cameras in 2012 to get a snapshot of fish populations at the time for another study. Hammerschlag's team followed the same method—even down to borrowing the same equipment. As expected, the new data showed a decline in seal prey like anchovies and Cape horse mackerel and sevengill prey, such as smoothhound sharks and pyjama catsharks. This zigzag of impacts—white sharks vanish, their prey increases and, in turn, the animals they eat declines—suggests this isn't caused by problems like pollution or development. 'If habitat destruction was occurring, you would think everything would go down,' rather than some species declining and some increasing, Hammerschlag says. But the study numbers don't reflect that. The small area of False Bay, with relatively few species, made figuring out some of these food chain impacts easier. 'Hammerschlag has that connectivity mapped out because he knows what eats what,' says Skomal. The more species in an ecosystem, the more difficult it is to map the food chain and track the impacts when an animal is lost. Establishing the relationships between animals in a broader area, like the Gulf of Maine, which has hundreds of species, would be much harder, he says. (Cape Cod may have the highest density of great white sharks in the world.) Scientists in South Africa have noticed great white shark population changes in other ecosystems, too, and researchers believe the factors driving these changes are similar to the ones cited in False Bay. Shark behavioral ecologist Lacey Williams has seen 'pretty significant changes' in Mossel Bay and Plettenberg Bay, or 'Plett.' In Plett, shark appearances used to be 'random,' she says. Then around 2022, locals started noticing the sharks 'in a very predictable spot' around Robberg Peninsula. Before long, the sharks started arriving later in the season and then sightings dwindled. In Mossel Bay, great white sightings stayed relative steady until around 2021 but have declined since then. In May 2022, drone footage emerged of two orcas killing a white shark. 'That was really the beginning of the significant changes of white sharks in Mossel Bay,' she says. Last year, the cage diving company that Williams works with saw 'less than one handful' of sightings between April and December, she says. South Africa's white shark population had already been declining 'prior to the arrival of these two very famous, sexy scapegoats,' Williams says. 'The orcas are like pouring kerosene on an already burning bonfire.' Human have driven the broader declines too, she says. Long line fisheries have targeted demersal sharks—that live just above the seabed, like critically endangered soupfin sharks (Galeorhinus galeus) and smooth-hound sharks—for decades. These species are a key food source for white sharks so removing them has a ripple effect. As in False Bay, shark nets are another concern. Many people mistakenly believe that these form a barrier to protect swimmers from sharks. 'It doesn't really protect people from anything,' says Williams. 'The only thing it really does is kill wildlife indiscriminately.' Although there's no silver bullet, potential solutions include Shark Spotters, drones, and SharkSafe BarrierTM technology. This magnetic device, which imitates kelp forests, seems to deter white sharks. These systems are expensive, but the investment is worth it, says Williams. 'If we don't have an ecosystem, we're going to lose tourism.' It currently seems too early to tell how the decline in white sharks in Mossel Bay and Plettenberg might impact the wider ecosystem. 'It's worth looking into, though,' Williams says. 'I think it's safe to say we'll see changes.' Back in False Bay, one possible outcome of all of these shifts is that seals and sevengills might run out of animals to eat. Could the ecosystem collapse? It's too early to know. 'That would be the next question,' says Skomal. 'Is it too many seals?' Today, great whites' incredible aerial displays are a thing of the past at Seal Island. 'You'd never know this was a great white hotspot,' Hammerschlag says. For him, seeing how the whole ecosystem has changed shows the importance of enforcing shark protections and using non-lethal methods to protect beachgoers from shark bites. 'We can't change the orcas' behavior,' he says, 'But we can stop the netting program. That's kind of archaic.'
Daily Mail
01-07-2025
- Science
- Daily Mail
The sad reason dead great white shark washed up on popular beach
Locals in a coastal South Australian town gathered in horror around the carcass of a great white shark that is believed to be the latest victim of a killer algae. Since mid-March, hundreds of fish, sharks, rays, and other marine life have been affected by Karenia mikimotoi algae along the Fleurieu and Yorke Peninsulas and Kangaroo Island, south of Adelaide. The toxic algae is microscopic and known for its harmful blooms which can also cause illness and irritation in humans. Months after it first emerged, residents along the coast continue to be shocked by the ongoing crisis in the waters. Community Facebook page Shark Watch South Australia shared photos and videos of a dead female great white, which was found washed up on the shore on Friday. A fisheries officer could be seen raising the fish, thought to be roughly 3.7m in length, onto a trailer in Port Broughton, roughly 170 km northwest of Adelaide. A crowd of adults and children could be seen in footage looking down on the deceased shark, prodding its sharp teeth. Locals took to the comments section of the Facebook post to share their upset over the death of the shark. One user called the loss 'devastating' while others said the death was 'such a shame'. A third said: 'This is absolutely heartbreaking. We have somehow managed to suffocate all the marine life in South Australia.' The SA Government's Department for Environment and Water confirmed on Saturday the algal bloom has affected various marine wildlife. The last large event of this type of algae recorded in South Australia was at Coffin Bay in 2014. 'It is a major concern that it could keep happening every warm season,' Dr Christopher Keneally told Daily Mail Australia. The microbial ecologist, who is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Adelaide, explained there is a risk of the bloom creating a cycle in Australian waters. 'As we start to see this bloom wrap up, we're worried that what we're going to see is some of these cells sink into the sediment and lay dormant until next summer. 'So, potentially, we might see this go on continuously, or even stop and then come back next summer, and maybe continue year on year.' Dr Keneally added the news that marine life was washing up on metropolitan beaches, like at Port Broughton, would help raise awareness. 'It's really concerning (and) it makes the issue a little bit more acute,' the ecologist said. '(It means there is) a little bit more knowledge and publicity about it, so something can be done and we can fix it faster.' Dr Keneally highlighted this is a global issue related to climate change and higher sea surface temperatures. 'What does fixing it look like? It's the same as a bush fire,' he said. 'All you can do is prepare and forecast and look towards the future and then maybe try and fix the issues around fuel and temperature on a broader scale, globally.' The Department for Environment and Water has said nothing can be done to dilute or dissipate the bloom. Government agencies are monitoring the situation. Signs are in place at public entry points to affected beaches and national parks. Beaches remain open.
