More "adverse encounters": Great white sharks are attracted to US east coast beaches

One of the most important beach accessories on the US East Coast this summer is not just sunscreen, but also the Sharktivity app: there have been significantly more great white sharks seen there lately.

More "adverse encounters": Great white sharks are attracted to US east coast beaches

One of the most important beach accessories on the US East Coast this summer is not just sunscreen, but also the Sharktivity app: there have been significantly more great white sharks seen there lately. This is a conservation success and attracts tourists, but makes bathing less carefree.

The number of great white sharks on the beaches of the east coast of the USA has increased significantly in recent years. What success means for species protection also leads to more unwanted encounters between sharks and humans. According to experts, the increase in shark sightings could also be related to global warming.

Great white sharks swim up the Atlantic coast of the United States towards New England every summer. Gregory Skomal, a Massachusetts fisheries scientist, believes measures to protect them have allowed their numbers to rise again after years of overfishing.

About 300 specimens of the world's largest predatory fish have been fitted with a tracking device over the years. Ten of them are currently off the beaches of Cape Cod, Skomal says. He estimates that about 100 great white sharks migrate through the waters around the vacationing Massachusetts peninsula every year.

At Cape Cod tourist spots, the animals are a major attraction, adorning baseball caps and T-shirts. But beach closures after shark sightings near the coast are more reminiscent of the cult film "Jaws," which was filmed in the region in the 1970s.

A major reason for the increasing number of sightings are the harbor seals, whose population has also recovered through conservation efforts and are high on the sharks' menu. "When more sharks feed near shore and more people swim there, the chance of unwanted encounters increases," says Skomal.

One means of avoiding such encounters is the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy Sharktivity App, which provides information on shark sightings. In the state of New York, Governor Kathy Hochul has also announced additional surveillance patrols after an unusual number of attacks by tiger and bull sharks off Long Island. Drones and helicopters will also be used.

According to Gavin Naylor, director of a shark research program at the University of Florida, the attacks are related to certain predator-attracting fish appearing more frequently off the Long Island coast this year, possibly due to warm currents.

Around five people die in shark attacks worldwide every year. There have only been two deaths on the US East Coast in the past 20 years: in Cape Cod in 2018 and in the state of Maine in 2020. However, Naylor warns that the number will increase in the future: "There are more great white sharks, so the probability of fatal bites will also increase."

Further south, in Florida, with its many tourist beaches and tropical climate, the number of shark attacks is much higher: It still accounts for 60 percent of US shark attacks - and 40 percent of global attacks.

Sharks are by no means the bloodthirsty monsters they are portrayed as, for example, in "Jaws". Studies have shown that they sometimes mistake surfers and swimmers for their usual prey. This is especially true for great white sharks, which have pretty poor vision.

"In view of the large number of people who are in the water around the world - if sharks preferred them as prey, we would have tens of thousands of attacks every year," says expert Skomal.

Usually, the shark season on the east coast of the USA runs from August to October. But Skomal anticipates that this period will gradually expand as ocean temperatures rise.