It started gruesomely, when Leeanne Ericson was attacked by a 9-to-11-foot great white while swimming at San Onofre. (Fortunately, Leeanne’s recovery is going smoothly). Then there was a flurry of sightings and incidents, spanning across months and counties in a seemingly endless cycle. For a refresher, here’s some memorable moments:

As a predator known for its mastery of stealth – an art perfected over millennia in the shadows – the great white shark was uncharacteristically conspicuous in Southern California during the summer of 2017. It was almost as if the sharks thought humanity’s collective fear for them had dwindled, like they felt it was time to chum up some spanking new terror. And well, it worked.

And those were just a handful of the shark happenings, most of which occurred before August. There were many more (documented and undocumented) sightings and interactions with great white sharks over the past few months in California. But now that the hubbub has died down, the questions remain: Why did this happen? Where did they go? When will they come back?

For answers, we contacted leading shark scientist, Chris Lowe, of the Cal State University Long Beach Shark Lab, to hear about the sharky past few months.

Was this the sharkiest summer you’ve ever seen in Southern California?

This has definitely been the sharkiest summer that we’ve seen. It doesn’t differ that much from some of the other patterns that we’ve seen other years, it was just the numbers and the time. Things started earlier than they normally do in terms of shark activity. We’re not really sure why. A lot of that activity wasn’t from babies, which it normally is, it was from one to four-year-old white sharks.

Last year we tagged fewer sharks and we didn’t see as many aggregations. This year, they were everywhere. But all the places we saw them were all the same as we have historically in years past. It’s hard to say what drove that increase. Nonetheless, we tagged 29 sharks this summer.

With the summer now over, what can we attribute the increase to? Warmer water, an abundance of food, the effects of conservation, a universal network of cameras, or all the above?

Conservation is kicking in for sure, because it’s not just white sharks that we’re seeing more of, but other species that have been afforded protection as well. But it’s probably also water temperature. This year wasn’t particularly warm, it wasn’t an El Niño year, so some of this is what we’re expecting when it comes to global climate change. And that could be contributing to a potential shift in shark distributions.

Then, of course, there’s the fact that people are more aware and cognizant of sharks. When they’re seeing everyone posting about them on social media, that makes everyone else start thinking about it. Increased visibility certainly contributes to it. The other thing is that these sharks seem to be staying at these beaches for weeks and months at a time. So people are seeing them over and over again. In a way, it makes it seem like there are more sharks than there are. That’s hopefully where our tagging data will help us answer those questions.

Where have all the juveniles gone now? What about the adults?

Right now, the adults should start showing up. The ones that have been tagged at places like Guadalupe Island and the Farallons, those sharks should be returning from their ocean migration and moving along the coast. Here, along the California coast, this is the time when our adult white shark numbers go up because it’s pupping season for elephant seals. We can expect an increase in numbers, particularly along the central coast. This is when I tell people to be smart. This is when the sharks are close to shore to hunt seals. It’s our annual adult sharky season, and people need to be aware of that when they’re in the water.

The juveniles are starting to move south, but not quite yet. We’re still seeing numbers of sharks around certain beaches. There’s been a lot of shuffling going on – they’re moving between several beaches. But we’re still detecting a lot of sharks around Santa Barbara and Dana Point. They haven’t left yet.

What about with regards to shark research…was this season like the Superbowl for studying and tagging?

It was a pretty big year. We got a lot of animals tagged that we just weren’t able to in the past. They were forming these loose aggregations, so it was easy to find them and tag them. It was great for us, but of course, for the public, it was a little more disconcerting. The lifeguards were very busy, as you might imagine, this summer. Fortunately there weren’t any incidents, with the exception of the one at Churches. Fingers crossed we’ll be able to make it through the rest of the season and the sharks we’ll go about their merry migration. Accidents occasionally do happen, but there’s no indication that these animals pose a major threat to humans.

What makes Southern California an ideal destination for juveniles?

That’s one of the questions we’re still trying to figure out. We’re starting to answer them, however, with the help of tagging technology. What makes this beach so much better than the other one just down the coast, you know? And we started studying that this summer, but we ran out of money. We’re stalled. If next summer is anything like this one, I’ve got to find more funds. The great thing is that we finally have the right tools to answer these questions, but they’re expensive. That’s what I’m going to be spending the fall and winter doing, because next year could be even bigger.

So, what are we expecting for next summer?

I would expect something along the same lines. There were some sharks killed this summer – whether that was done intentionally or unintentionally. We don’t know how that will affect what they do next summer or how many babies will be born. We really have to wait and see.

And it also deals with the locations. This year, the area off Santa Claus Lane [in Santa Barbara], there were quite a few sharks there and they’ve been there for months. So, why there? The more of them we tag, the better we’ll be able to understand why they go where they go. And where will be the hotspot next summer, so that people can prepare.

One thing I want to touch on for surfers, especially those who go to remote beaches: between now and December is the adult sharky period. Places north of Point Conception, northern Santa Barbara county – people have to be really careful in the next few months. The adult white shark activity will be increasing and those remote, less occupied beaches will be hotspots. Everyone’s looking for that wave all to themselves, but those are the places most likely for a shark bite. If you want to be safe, you’d be much better off at a popular beach. There’s safety in numbers