As the summer season kicks off and beachgoers flock to the ocean, researchers say there has also been an increase in great white sharks.
The researchers, who are stationed in the Atlantic Ocean, have been studying and tracking great white sharks, CBS reported.
“We’re seeing an ocean that’s teeming with life like we haven’t seen since the ’40s or ’50s,” Chris Fischer, the founder of the research organization Ocearch, told CBS. Ocearch has been at the forefront of studying and tagging great white sharks, and Fischer has noticed a remarkable increase in their population during this time. (RELATED: Authorities Recover Half Of Fisherman’s Body After It Was Eaten By Sharks: Reports)
SHARK SIGHTING: Whale watchers were in for quite the surprise Saturday as they watched a great white shark devouring its next meal just feet from their boat. pic.twitter.com/AQUpWX5QIw
— FOX Weather (@foxweather) May 23, 2023
The first great white shark of the summer season was spotted on Sunday in Massachusetts, Cape Cod Times reported. Another white shark was spotted off the coast of South Carolina this week, as reported by CNN. Earlier this year, a 1,650-pound shark was spotted in Florida, according to WINK.
While great white sharks are among the top three shark species most likely to injure humans, sharks rarely attack humans, as reported by the National History Museum. There were only 57 shark bites recorded in 2022, and that includes the entire species.
Dr. Bob Heuter, the chief scientist overseeing Ocearch, stresses that maintaining a healthy shark population is beneficial for the entire planet. “We actually need to retrain ourselves on how to play and enjoy a more wild, abundant ocean,” Fischer told CBS.
“Look at the ocean before you walk into it,” Fischer added. “You don’t want to walk into a bait ball with birds diving on it and game fish on it because the sharks are going to be on it. Certainly if you saw a mountain lion putting a stalk on a herd of elk, you wouldn’t walk out into the middle of the elk herd. So we need to approach the water the same way we approach the land.”
