The Dorsal Fin

It’s that time of year again in New England. MyFoxBoston.com is reporting that a 10′ great white shark was sighted off of Chatham, Massachusetts. This marks the 4th sighting in the area since the beginning of last week.

The Chatham Harbormaster confirmed the sighting and said the shark is where he “expected” a white shark would be. The shark was spotted off Monomoy Point, about 200-300 yards from the southernmost tip of Chatham.

Large seal populations have been drawing white sharks to the area during the summer months for a number of years.

NECN.com is reporting that three great white shark (Carcharodon carcharias) sightings have been reported in the Cape Cod area, including two sightings off Chatham, Massachusetts. NECN also reports that interest in the sharks has resulted in an increase in tourism in the area. Tourists are visiting Cape Cod beaches in hopes of catching a glimpse of a white shark. Local businesses have been trying to capitalize on the interest in the sharks by carrying shark-related products.

All in all a fairly objective report on the great white shark presence in Cape Cod, if you ignore the cliché “Jaws” reference from the anchorwoman.

Great white sharks are expected to return to Cape Cod waters as early as mid-June.

TheBostonChannel.com is reporting that great white sharks are expected to return to the Chatham, Massachusetts area as early as mid-June. The sharks are drawn to the area by an abundant seal population during the summer months when water temperatures hit the mid-60° F range.

Data from white sharks tagged in Chatham waters over the past two years has shown that the sharks tend to stay in the area until early fall, at which point they travel directly to Florida waters “without spending a lot of time in between.” Skomal hopes to tag more white sharks this summer with the goal of learning more about their movement patterns and behavior.

Massachusetts Energy and Environmental Affairs posted two shark tagging videos to their YouTube Channel earlier today. The video above was shot in July 2010 and features Greg Skomal (Senior Biologist) and Dan McKernan (Assistant Director) of Massachusetts’ Division of Marine Fisheries discussing the tagging program, which last year yielded new information about Atlantic great white shark migration patterns.

At least 8 great white sharks were tagged in Massachusetts water this summer (2010). Researchers hope to gain more insight into habitat preferences and migratory patterns from the data that will be recorded as a result of this year’s shark tagging.

In addition to the white shark tagging video, MassEEA also posted a video seen above, which was filmed into 2005 documents the tagging of basking sharks in Cape Cod Bay. The video features some nice surface footage of multiple basking sharks in the bay.

So far, eight great white sharks have been successfully tagged in Cape Cod waters this season.

Cape Cod Times is reporting that Dr. Greg Skomal tagged the eighth great white shark (Carcharodon carcharias) of the summer, in the Cape Cod area, earlier this month. This season, five white sharks have been tagged with satellite tags and three shark have been tagged with acoustic tags. The tags are expected to provide information about where the white sharks travel, how long they stay in a particular area, and their movement patterns based on seasons and tides.