A rise in great white shark sightings is causing panic on beaches on the US east coast, according to reports.

Authorities in Cape Cod have put up warning signs and shut down beaches dozens of times in response to an increasing number of sightings.

Between July and the first week of August, there have been at least 59 beach closures due to shark sightings on Cape Cod and Islands, in southeastern Massachusetts, according to the Boston Globe, with some 42 beach closures occurring in the first week of August alone.

One resident, AJ Salerno, told the Wall Street Journal, said he had considered moving after feeling compelled to ban his teenage son from surfing.

“We’ve been bullied out of the water by the sharks,” he said.

Sharks in Great Barrier Reef threatened by government program Show all 15 1 /15 Sharks in Great Barrier Reef threatened by government program Sharks in Great Barrier Reef threatened by government program Campaigners in Australia have today released photographs showing sharks in snared in hooks placed as part of the Queensland government’s Shark Control Program HSI/AMCS/N McLachlan Sharks in Great Barrier Reef threatened by government program Operating in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, the program is intended to reduce the threat of attacks in Queensland’s waters by capturing sharks with nets and drumlines, permanent fishing hooks buoyed off coast HSI/AMCS/N McLachlan Sharks in Great Barrier Reef threatened by government program A diagram showing the drumlines used by the Queensland government to catch sharks Queensland Government Sharks in Great Barrier Reef threatened by government program The Australian Marine Conservation Society (AMCS) and Humane Society International (HIS) are calling for the immediate removal of the drumlines HSI/AMCS/N McLachlan Sharks in Great Barrier Reef threatened by government program Though Queensland has seen a decline in fatal attacks since the program launched in 1962, campaigners argue that control measures are not proportional to the threat posed by sharks and lament the program’s devastating effect on certain shark populations HSI/AMCS/N McLachlan Sharks in Great Barrier Reef threatened by government program For example, nearly 9000 tiger sharks have been caught since the program was launched HSI/AMCS/N McLachlan Sharks in Great Barrier Reef threatened by government program “Their numbers have dropped by up to three quarters” says Dr Leonardo Guida, senior shark campaigner at Australian Marine Conservation Society HSI/AMCS/N McLachlan Sharks in Great Barrier Reef threatened by government program Citing the findings of the recent official Australian Shark Report Card, Dr Guida continues “numbers will keep dropping unless we make major improvements to the way they are managed” HSI/AMCS/N McLachlan Sharks in Great Barrier Reef threatened by government program “The government should not be sanctioning the culling of a species in such perilous decline” HSI/AMCS/N McLachlan Sharks in Great Barrier Reef threatened by government program The release of this footage comes weeks before the implementation of a law that would make its capture illegal HSI/AMCS/N McLachlan Sharks in Great Barrier Reef threatened by government program The Queensland Government’s Fisheries Amendment Bill 2018 outlaws being within 20 metres of shark control equipment on the grounds of public safety, but campaigners view it as a way to hide the impact of the Shark Control Program HSI/AMCS/N McLachlan Sharks in Great Barrier Reef threatened by government program Nicola Beynon, head of campaigns at HIS says “not only does the Queensland Government insist on slaughtering sharks, but it has recently passed legislation making it illegal to document the horror. The public has a right to see true cost of its Shark Control Program” HSI/AMCS/N McLachlan Sharks in Great Barrier Reef threatened by government program A diagram showing the nets used by the Queensland government to catch sharks Queensland Government Sharks in Great Barrier Reef threatened by government program Tiger sharks are a particular concern for campaigners HSI/AMCS/N McLachlan Sharks in Great Barrier Reef threatened by government program Tiger sharks are a particular concern for campaigners HSI/AMCS/N McLachlan

Some authorities have put up warning signs on beaches, reading: “People have been seriously injured and killed by white sharks along this coastline,” while a Massachusetts state researcher who tags great whites said he had his busiest July.

Footage circulated online this week showing a 17ft great white shark swimming around a family’s boat just off Cape Cod Bay.

One day later, the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy (AWSC), a non-profit that raises awareness of great white sharks and runs a project to count the existing population in around Cape Cod, posted a video online showing sea water turning red after a shark attacked a seal.

Great white shark numbers are decreasing, according to the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), which lists the species as “vulnerable”.

But they have flocked to Cape Cod in growing numbers and, according to AWSC, the cape is now the only known place in the northwest Atlantic where white sharks aggregate.

Researchers believe the rise in shark sightings might be drive by the US 1972 Marine Mammal Protection Act, which banned catching marine mammals including seals, whales and dolphins and made seal populations thrive just off Cape Cod.

With seals being one of the great white sharks’ favoured prey, their abundance attracted the ocean predators.

In September last year, a man who died after being bitten by a shark in Cape Cod became Massachusetts’ first shark attack fatality since 1936.

Arthur Medici, 26, was boogie-boarding off Newcomb Hollow Beach when the attack took place.

Joe Booth, a local fisherman and surfer, said he saw the victim kick something behind him and the flicker of a tail in the water.

“I was that guy on the beach screaming, ‘Shark, shark!’” said Mr Booth.

“It was like right out of that movie Jaws. This has turned into Amity Island real quick out here.”

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