A resurgence of gray seals, a favorite food, has been credited for the shark’s comeback on the Atlantic coast – but sighting has led to beach closures

Researchers in Massachusetts this week captured footage of a great white shark feasting on a minke whale carcass, off the coast of Cape Cod. The sighting led to the temporary and precautionary closure of three popular tourist beaches.

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The shark’s appearance was part of a resurgence for the species along the north-eastern US Atlantic coast. Researchers attribute this to a rebound in the population of gray seals, a favorite great white shark food when dead whales are not on the menu.

James Sulikowski, a professor of marine science at the University of New England in Portland, Maine, said: “They’ve been congregating in areas like the Cape because there’s a lot of food there, and they like that food. It’s a source for them, and they don’t have to work too hard for it.”



In a statement, the Center for Coastal Studies (CCS) said that by Thursday the 11ft whale carcass was in “radically different condition” from its discovery the day before. “At least two white sharks were attending the whale,” it said, “and had removed the tongue, internal organs and most of the muscle. The carcass was still floating but was essentially little more than the spinal column and skull.”

Beaches at Noons Landing, Cold Storage and Beach Point were subsequently closed to swimmers.

Sulikowski is based approximately four hours north of Truro, where the white sharks were spotted eating the minke carcass. Since a slate of new conservation measures went into effect in the 1990s, he said, white sharks have also appeared near his patch of coast.

“It would only make sense to see more and more sharks up our way, which honestly is a really good thing,” he said. “Everybody thinks there are these crazy sharks out to be raging predators, but they focus on the dead, the sick, the dying. They actually strengthen and cull older populations of seals.”

In late July, a possible great white sighting off Duxbury beach, near Cape Cod, prompted a warning that beachgoers swam at their own risk. This week, another unconfirmed sighting placed a great white in Wellfleet harbor, while swimmers were whistled out of the water off Martha’s Vineyard.

According to the Shark Research Foundation, however, only seven shark attacks on humans have been documented in Massachusetts since 1830. Three were fatal, all of them before 1936. Two were off Cape Cod.

Great white sharks were portrayed as rare in the 1975 blockbuster Jaws, which was filmed on Martha’s Vineyard. Researchers now believe substantial populations congregate around the long hook of Cape Cod in summer before heading to Florida in winter. In the north, whale carcasses are a vital food source.

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In the 1980s, studies of shark populations indicated precipitous decline, by as much as 79% in the white shark’s case. Data from recent studies shows some populations have rebounded, especially around Massachusetts.

In a 2014 study published in Plos One, researchers with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association wrote: “The recovery of north-west Atlantic gray seal populations over the last decade and their increasing concentrations at specific sites along Cape Cod, Massachusetts, appears to be producing new localized summer feeding aggregations for white sharks.”

Sulikowski said: “It’s not the doom and gloom, like it used to be. We’ve made great strides to protect those species. You can see they’re rebounding, which is good.”

However, many tournaments still encourage shark fishing, especially along the north-east US coast. According to fishermen the Guardian spoke to last month at a tournament in Rhode Island, many such contests are difficult to police.

“You’re always going to have species that need extra protection, just because of their past history,” said Sulikowski of the great white sharks. “We just need to make sure we reach out to other countries and continue this effect.”