A big tiger shark washed up on a Nantucket seaside this week, a “really unique” incident this early within the season for the nice and cozy water species, a number one shark researcher tells the Herald.
The useless shark, estimated to be round 8 toes lengthy, was swept out to sea at Tom Nevers Seashore earlier than the apex predator might be secured by beachgoers.
If anybody sees the tiger shark once more, researcher John Chisholm desires to know.
“We want to find this shark to do a necropsy and figure out what happened to it,” Chisholm, who’s with the New England Aquarium and confirms shark sightings for the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy, informed the Herald.
“Did someone offshore catch it and release it? Did it travel north in a warm water eddy and then succumb to the cold waters?” he requested.
Juvenile tiger sharks have been noticed alongside Nantucket later within the season in previous years, Chisholm mentioned. It’s fairly uncommon to see a bigger tiger shark on the island, particularly this time of the yr, he added.
“This is really, really unique,” Chisholm mentioned. “The bigger ones are usually down off the (Northeast) Canyons where the water is warmer in July and August.”
Latest analysis has discovered that tiger sharks are migrating farther north every year due to hotter oceans, he famous.
Whereas waters off the Northeast have traditionally been too chilly for tiger sharks, temps have warmed considerably lately and at the moment are appropriate for tiger sharks, in line with researchers.
“They’re definitely on my radar due to the increasing water temperatures,” Chisholm mentioned.
An uncommon & unhappy sight on the south shore this week. A tiger shark washed up useless on Tuesday.
It’s comparatively uncommon to see a tiger shark in the waters round Nantucket, and particularly in spring when water temperatures are nonetheless low. pic.twitter.com/WpKNVtOYua
— Nantucket Present (@ACKCurrent) June 7, 2024
Beachgoers on the Nantucket seaside tried to carry the tiger shark up on the seaside, however the surf washed it again out.
“Try to secure it if you can,” Chisholm mentioned. “Always be careful. I don’t want anyone getting hurt.
“Get it up above the high water line, so it doesn’t wash away,” he added.
Chisholm could be notified by way of his social media account on X: @MA_Sharks. He additionally suggested folks to contact the native harbormaster in the event that they discover the shark.
New white shark knowledge
The Atlantic White Shark Conservancy has up to date its “White Shark Logbook” with final yr’s detection knowledge for white sharks alongside Massachusetts.
Probably the most white shark detections but once more had been recorded on the Atlantic-facing seashores alongside the Outer Cape.
“Because that’s where most of the seals are located,” mentioned Megan Winton of the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy. “In Cape Cod Bay, the highest detections were off Manomet Point where seals typically hang out.”
Chatham’s Monomoy Island, the place there are large seal populations, had essentially the most detections final yr.
General, 128 white sharks had been detected off the coast final yr, which was barely down from 134 nice whites in 2022.
Complete detections dropped to 145,260 in comparison with 194,779 within the earlier yr.
“Every year is different, and the ocean is a rapidly changing place,” Winton mentioned. “We see fluctuations in shark activity every year.
“It’s important to continue monitoring the population to understand why things vary year to year, and month to month,” she added.
The highest month for detections was in October, a change from the earlier yr when the height month was August. November was additionally a powerful month for detections final yr.
“It could be related to the variation in the water temperature from year to year,” Winton mentioned.
The highest detection months final yr had been October (40,322 detections), August (29,837), September (25,559), November (24,382), and July (17,073).
Acoustic receivers are underwater listening stations that file “pings” from acoustic transmitters which were deployed on greater than 300 white sharks by the state Division of Marine Fisheries since its tagging program started in 2010.
The receiver array is deployed from the late spring into the winter of every yr to observe the prevalence and habitat use of white sharks in Massachusetts state waters.
