The Dorsal Fin

NECN reports that a ban on swimming between 5pm and 9:30am has been put into effect along east-facing beaches in Chatham, Massachusetts. The ban began Wednesday (August 10) after a white shark was spotted “a little too close to shore,” according to the report.

While the report notes that the feeding time for white sharks is “from dusk ’til dawn,” white sharks have been documented to feed during daylight hours. The ban coincides with times when officials are not able to patrol those areas for sharks, which is likely a more reasonable explanation for the time-frame of the ban, which was also pointed out in the report.

According to The Sydney Morning Herald a swimming ban has been imposed at beaches on the Riviera by French officials, after multiple witnesses reported seeing a 2m shark. The swimming ban applies to beaches at Cagnes-sur-Mer, Villeneuve-Loubet and Saint-Laurent-du-Var.

The head of public safety for the town of Cagnes-sur-Mer, Michel Gagnaire, said that the shark was spotted approximately 70m from shore. Gagnaire went on to speculate that the shark might be “disoriented due to illness or a wound and therefore more likely to attack swimmers.”

According to the International Shark Attack File, there have only been four unprovoked shark attacks recorded in French waters, since 1847. The Sydney Morning Herald report notes that last July a French Mediterranean beach was closed after a “shark” was reportedly sighted. Authorities later discovered that the animal sighted was actually a Mola mola (also known as an ocean sunfish).

According to ABC, a swimming ban was put into effect at multiple Chatham beaches after multiple great white shark sightings were confirmed in the area. According to WCBV-TV three white sharks were spotted Saturday evening. Chatham officials have placed the no-swimming ban in effect until at least mid-week for all east-side beaches. The good news is that researchers were able to tag two of the sharks, one of which was tagged within 75 yards of the coastline.

Two great white sharks have been tagged with satellite tracking devices off of Cape Cod

Greg Skomal of the Massachusetts’ Division of Marine Wildlife, along with a team of fishermen, were able to tag two of the great white sharks with satellite tracking devices. Skomal described the tagging of the two white sharks as being “fantastic,” from a scientific perspective.The event marked the first time that great white sharks had been tagged in the Atlantic, according to a WCBV video feature. Update: Multiple news sources are now saying that this weekend’s taggings of two great white sharks mark the second and third time white sharks have been tagged in the Atlantic.

It is also worth pointing out that the WCBV video feature makes note that at least one aspect of tourism in the area has received a bit of boost, due to the shark sightings. An interest in excursions to attempt to view the great whites has increased business for at least one excursion operator who typically runs trips to view seals.

Both the ABC report and the WCBV-TV reports managed to do a decent job of objectively reporting the story, without throwing in the typical hype. Hopefully, the tagging of the sharks will provide information that will help lead to a better understanding of a species that is often misrepresented and misunderstood.